Lesson 1: Why Government?

Teacher Script
3/4 Class Periods

Plan:
This lesson is designed to introduce students to why we have structured government using practical and
philosophical views used through-out history. Students will have the opportunity to learn how the
nature of human beings helped influence the reasons why government was deemed important. This plan
was borrowed and adapted from Oakland Schools Rubicon Atlas.

Day One
Good morning class. I want you to begin writing in your government journal today. For bell work
today I would like you to answer the following question [Write on board] What is Government and
why do we have it? This is going to be an opinion piece, which means just write what you know or
do not know. What I am looking for is to see what prior knowledge you may have about government
along with your views on what it is and what it means to you. Please begin, and when you are finished,
close your notebooks so I know that you are finished.
[Wait 5 to 10 minutes, or when every student is finished.]
I have a story for you, some of you may have heard it, some of you may not have. There was a plane
that was full of students who were traveling across the ocean with their teachers and parents. While in
the air, the flight suddenly had problems and crashed. When the students awoke, they found themselves
on a deserted island with no adults. All they had were the clothes on their backs. There were no cell
phones, no computers, no flashlights, nothing. How do you think the students would have felt over
something like this? [Allow accurate time for student responses]

Lets pretend you were one of the students on that plane that crashed. You may work alone, with a
partner or in groups of three. What you are going to do is look at this worksheet [hold up Deserted
Island worksheet, then hand it out]. This is about what life would be like for you if you were on a
deserted island. You will be designing your own government to figure out what would happen with the
absence of government. Remember, all you have are the clothes you were wearing when you became
deserted, no cell phones, computers, etc. Also, imagine that there are a lot of other students stranded on
this island with you as well. When you have finished with your own government, turn to another group
or person and share answers with them. Feel free to compare your governments to see if there is
anything you would do that is the same or different. We will be having a discussion on what you guys
came up with. [Let them do the activity, then come back to the discussion part. Write important things
on the board]. Everyone now please turn that in. As long as it is filled out, you all have an A! How
awesome is that!

Let's shift to the ideas behind government. Governments are usually influenced by old philosophers
who have contributed information as to what a government should be like in order to help citizens
inhabit the area. [Start handing out Ideas about Government]. This next handout, Ideas about
Government, is beneficial to you because it includes some vocabulary you will need to know and it will
help you understand more about the concepts of government. Please fill in the information as best as
you can from the PowerPoint that I will be showing. I will not collect these, but if we have a test over
this information, you will want to know it. [Start PowerPoint and read from PowerPoint and Ideas
about Government Teacher Reference Guide, make emphasis over power and authority].

Day Two
[Write on board: What is one thing you would need to have a peaceful living space? In your
journal, answer the question on the board. [after 5 minutes] Though-out time, many people have
given thought as to what Government is and the purpose behind it. We're going to get into groups.
Remember your number [Number students and direct them to the correct areas of the classroom].

Group 1: Plato Group 2: Aristotle Group 3: Machiavelli

Group 4: Hobbes Group 5: Locke Group 6: Montesquieu

Each group is going to receive a certain philosopher in which I need you to do a little bit of research on
in order to fully understand what people thought about government for centuries. Each member in your
group will receive a sheet of paper that contains information on your philosopher, including an
organizer to record any information. If you have access to the internet through your phone or laptop,
please use it. It will give you more information to add. [Hand out Philosopher Views organizer and
Thoughts about Government sheet. For Thoughts about Government, attach the appropriate
philosopher to each group Philosopher View organizer sheet.] If you notice on your philosopher
organizer sheet, I have already entered information for Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was an 18th century
philosopher who published a treatise known as The Social Contract, where he stated that Man is
born free, and everywhere he is in chains. He believed that people are born good and compassionate
and if left alone with no government, they would be able to live in harmony with one another. It was
only after people began to claim ownership of property and other things that inequality, murder and war
resulted. Rousseau believed that Government and other like institutions corrupt the individuals. He
believed that democracy would be hard to maintain. Now, look at the information on your philosopher
and try to find out the following: [write on board as you are relaying it to the students]
Views of the nature of man
Purpose of Government
If he was on your island, what government would be created by your philosopher?
[After the students have taken 10 - 15 minutes] Choose the person who is the oldest. This person is
going to be the one who provides the information on your philosopher to the class. The rest of you I
want to listen and fill in the information as it is given to you. If you have any questions, please don't
hesitate to raise your hand. [Start with Plato and continue through the philosophers until the last one is
covered.)

Science and reasoning were big forces behind the way to improve human life back in the olden days,
and I mean like 420 B.C.E. and 1469. The influence from the philosophers from the Enlightenment
period, which were John Locke, Charles Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, placed a huge
emphasis on science and reasoning. These were being valued along with religious tolerance, which they
called natural rights, which are life, liberty and property. They each developed a theory that
governments could flourish if all the people would govern it. This had a huge effect on the American
and the French Revolutions, resulting in democratic governments for each country.

I want to compare two philosophers that you've already researched a little more in depth, Hobbes and
Locke. Hobbes described human nature as brutish, or something of an animal and that humans required
a contract of sorts to ensure a peaceful existence. Locke on the other hand, disagreed. Locke didn't
believe that natural rights could be taken away or given up voluntarily. To him, these were inalienable
rights, or unable to be taken away. Locke also disagreed with Hobbes that no contract was needed,
rather just a simple agreement between the people and the sovereign. Locke didn't share Hobbes view
of nature being brutish. In his Second Treatise, Locke stated that nature was perfect freedom and
equality and that people acted in accordance with nature. People can't do whatever they want and
people have to be their own judge and jury if they violated natural law. To him, people's good nature
would prevent chaos from occurring.
I want you to now go back to your journal entry. Now that you've worked on your own island
government and talked about the philosophers, see if you would make any modifications to your
thoughts on government. For next time, we are going to perform some scripts that focus on different
issues found in government.

Day Three
Meet students by the door, as they walk in have a deck of cards with 5 or 6, depending on number of
students, each with different symbols on them, but only four of each symbol. Hand each student a card
as they walk in. Instruct students to place the cards on their desk. Once all the students arrive, have
them check responses in their journals and see what questions they may have and have them respond..
If they have none, tell students to pass their card to the person sitting to the direct left of them. Now
have the students find their group by placing papers on the wall signifying which group goes where.
Then begin passing out the skits to the groups, making sure to have four copies for each group.
Group Star: Security
Group Circle: It's legit!
Group Square: Checks and Balances
Group Triangle: Equal
Group Octagon: Fairness
Group Pentagon: Access

We're going to be perform skits today, also known as reader's theater. I'm going to hand out scripts to
each group. Take about 20 minutes to assign parts and read through the script. Practice a few times and
you can use any object in this classroom as props. I have paper and markers in case you need any. The
second half of class we are going to perform the skits for your classmates. You will each have a
worksheet that needs to be filled out after each skit is performed. At the end of all the skits, we will go
over the worksheet to see what questions you may have. [Provide students with 20 minutes to go over
scripts.]

To begin, I'm going to pick a symbol from the jar. [Pick symbol from jar, and announce what group has
been pick that is going to go first. After the first group goes, say:] Now you have about 2 minutes to fill
in the worksheet for Skit number (___). [Continue this for all skits. At the end, go over the answers to
the worksheet then ask what questions the students may have.] Turn over your worksheet. I want you to
reflect on what we have learned today through this activity. Just a few lines and then turn it in along
with your worksheet. Next time we will be discussing the different types of government. For ten extra
credit points, research and type up a list of the different types of governments that exist in the world.