• Hello Students!
    Welcome to Participation in Government!

     
         My name is Jim Gill and I will be your child’s Participation in Government teacher this semester.  In many ways PIG (the shortened name for the course) is the capstone course for the Social Studies department.  Students will constantly apply their communication and critical thinking skills they have developed in their history classes to current issues.  This course is not only designed to teach students about local , state and national government but to teach them how they can be an effective citizen no matter what their passions in life are. 

          PIG is a graduation requirement and at the end of the semester students will be taking a local final exam.  For class, students will need a notebook and a pocket folder.  Their assignments will all be posted in the Google Classroom but we will be analyzing articles and making notes in class so the notebook and folder will be essential.  The course will be centered around 4 projects.  Each project will be due at the end of the 5 week marking periods.  The projects are designed to provide students with the opportunity to learn more about the levels of government, rights of citizens, powers of citizenship as well as more philosophical aspects of American democracy.  Projects typically include completing research, finding current events involving the topic, communicating findings, attending local meetings and completing community service.


         A total of twenty hours of community service will be assigned for the semester.  If students completed community service over the summer or through another club or organization that service counts.  There are a couple forms located on my high school website that need to be completed and one involves your signature.  The students may dedicate all twenty hours to one community service project or they may try multiple places to complete their service.  In the past students have benefited from choosing an area of service that they are interested in.  We will be having numerous conversations about community service including how to find appropriate places to complete service hours during the first few weeks of class.


         As stated at the beginning, PIG is a semester course.  Each quarter is worth 40% of the overall grade and the final exam is worth 20% of the overall grade.  The projects included related quizzes will be worth 80% of the quarter grade and community service 20%, If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  I am looking forward to a successful semester.


    Sincerely,

    James E. Gill

    James Gill

    845- 256- 4175 ext 69522

    jgill@newpaltz.k12.ny.us
     
     
    "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. " Margaret Mead 

     

     
    		 
Last Modified on September 20, 2023