Unit 1 Final Assessment:
Creating a Handbook:

Principal Values of the Constitution

Unlike the giant and rather vague example above, handbooks are designed to provide clear, concise, and easily accessible information. In this manner, people may be able to answer their own questions about the topic covered by the handbook.

The greatest obstacle that individuals encounter when they are trying to accomplish a task is general misunderstanding. Think about it. Trying to assemble a child’s toy, installing a ceiling fan, baking a casserole, or creating a Constitution Handbook all require individuals to follow a linear, step-by-step process that is usually written down in an owner’s manual, recipe book, or set of directions. It is comical to watch those people who like to skip instructions or discard directions flail and eventually fail in their efforts. However, you are not one of those people! In fact, you are so unlike those folks that you want to create (JUST GO WITH IT!) a handbook of the Principal Values of the U.S. Constitution so that those folks who do not follow directions may at least have access to understanding the basic ideas of the chartering document of our nation! Utilizing your expanded knowledge from your completion of Unit 1, you will be composing a user-friendly Handbook to the Principal Values of the United States Constitution as a final assessment.

To complete the Unit 1 Final Assessment, please follow the steps below:

STEP 1

You will complete the following tasks using the Planning Chart for Constitution Handbook before you ever actually start writing on the handbook you will be submitting. All of the following tasks are also located on the Planning Chart for Constitution Handbook. You must use all of your own words for each element of this process unless you are quoting text directly from the Constitution.

Your Principal Values of the Constitution Handbook must include the following elements:

  1. Title section:
  1. Your name
  2. The title of your handbook—Make it catchy...yet appropriate!
  3. Image that captures essence of your work

  1. Historical Background of the Constitution
  1. Important documents that influenced the Constitution
  2. People that influenced the Constitution
  3. Ideas that influenced the Constitution
  4. Events that influenced the Constitution
  5. Include two (2) related images

  1. Six (6) principles of the Constitution
  1. Name of each principle
  2. Description of each principle
  3. Significance of each principle
  4. Include two (2) related images

 

  1. Constitutionalism
  1. Explain the three main ways the Constitution limits government power: Separation of Powers, Federalism, and Checks and Balances
  2. Include two (2) related images

  1. Politically Formative Events
  1. Describe 2 events in U.S. History that have greatly influenced the development of its political system
  2. Include two (2) related images

  1. Conclusion:

         A well-reasoned and researched one (1) paragraph responses to the following questions:

  1. Based upon the constitutions of other countries, what should the United States incorporate into the Constitution? What should it not?
  2. Why is the U.S. Constitution still important today?
  3. Include two (2) related images

 

STEP 2

Following the completion of your Planning Chart for Constitution Handbook, use the Constitution Handbook Template to create your handbook. Your handbook should be neatly completed using the Constitution Handbook Template. However, if you decide to use Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher then you must follow the same format that is used on the Constitution Handbook Template. Use the Rubric for the Unit 1 Final Assessment to ensure that you are including all the necessary items.

Note: The order of place-holding items as they appear on the template is correct. Since your handbook is formatted as a brochure, after you print it you will need to fold it properly. Once properly folded, each section will be in its proper place.

STEP 3

Save your work on Google Docs or your own computer. Once Completed with you handbook, use each of the 8 elements of the Rubric for the Unit 1 Final Assessment to grade your own handbook and provide a written explanation of why you graded yourself in the way you did.

STEP 4

SUBMIT YOUR COMPLETED PLANNING CHART, HANDBOOK, AND THE WRITTEN EXPLANATION OF YOUR PERSONAL GRADE THROUGH THE ASSIGNMENT MODULE BELOW.

Submit your work
o Open document on your computer
o Complete the assigned tasks
o Click "Save As" and save it onto a special place on your computer
o Submit the work as directed by your teacher

o Click Save. You will repeat these same directions for the planning chart, handbook, and written
        explanation of your personal grade.