Welcome to Government & Politics

Welcome to Government & Politics with Mr. Daly at Charlottesville High School.  We will be using this blog and your own blogs to discuss current events, analyze political events, and debate policies and ideologies.  These will take a few weeks to really get going, but I envision these blogs as a way to bring interesting articles and essays to the attention of your classmates.  I expect that our classroom discussions and debates will borrow from our online blogging and vice versa.  We will use this as an additional medium for student expression and collaboration. We're going to keep these blogs outside of the moodle website (www.mrdaly.com) as I am comfortable with Blogger and think that it will allow use to post articles, photos, and links quickly and easily.  These blogs will be visible to the public (although I will not be listing them on Bloggers site).  Please keep this in mind and conduct yourself in a safe and professional manner.  Please do not use full names or include pictures of yourself or fellow classmates.  This warning does not mean that you should censor your opinions or beliefs; in fact we should be encouraging each other to be open, honest, and even controversial. Government and Politics is an ever-changing subject and we all should have passionate feelings about many topics that will come up.  If you find that some postings challenge your beliefs, you should feel free to respond with your own thoughts and ideas.  This free exchange of ideas is vital (both in politics and blogging).  I expect classes to start off with "I saw something interesting on _________'s blog last night" or "I linked to an article in the Times that really made me think about something _________ said in class last week."  We may wander a bit from the syllabus and calendar, but that's perfectly ok (and a much more realistic way of learning).  If these blogs are only viewed as "homework" it will be a great disservice to us all. Again, welcome to Government & Politics at CHS.  We're going to have a great year. - Mr. Daly