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Lesson Plan: Context
Teacher
JoEllen Ambrose, who has taught social studies for 23 years, currently
teaches the ninth-grade U.S. Government course and the senior-level Law
course at Champlin Park High School in Champlin, Minnesota. While at Champlin
Park, she has been a department chair, worked on several curriculum committees,
supervised student teachers, and developed a mock trial team. Previously,
she taught political science and geography at a local junior high school
and was co-director of the Minnesota Center for Community Legal Education
at the Hamline University School of Law. JoEllen Ambrose holds a Bachelor
of Science degree with high honors in secondary social studies education
from the College of Education at the University of Minnesota and a Juris
Doctor (magna cum laude) degree from the William Mitchell College of Law
in Minnesota.
School
The school district that includes Champlin Park High School is one of
the most rapidly growing areas in the nation with a population that
has an average age of 29.9
years. It is primarily a working-class population with the lowest per
capita income in the metropolitan area. The school enrolled 3,028
students
in 2001-2002 and is among the largest high schools in the state; 16 percent
of its students are people of color. Its four-period day schedule
(also
called a block or extended-day schedule) allows students to take the
equivalent of 16 full courses each year. The school has won many state
and national
awards and has an extremely low student drop-out rate (roughly 3.5 percent).
Course
The Law course covers both constitutional and criminal law and is taught
daily over a nine-week period in 85-minute periods. The course text is
Street Law: A Course in Practical Law, Sixth Edition, by Lee
P. Arbetman and Edward L. O’Brien (West Educational Publishing,
1999).
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