Law
2022-2023 Course Overview
Wheaton High School
His Excellency King Nesin
Periods 1 and 3: 2006
Lunch: 2006
Email: seth.e.nesin2@mcpsmd.net
Course Overview
This course is designed to help students understand the processes by which American society seeks justice and order through law, and ways in which people can participate in those processes. Students examine history and philosophy of law, how the law works and can be made to work in actual situations, and major substantive areas of law including constitutional and criminal law.
General Course of Study for Law
| Unit 1
Introduction to Law and the Constitution |
What is law? How does the Constitution impact how laws are passed?
Students analyze and discuss the ways in which laws impact their lives; what characteristics make good laws or bad laws; and the challenges and tradeoffs associated with making laws that work well. Students will learn the role of the U.S. Constitution in creating a framework of limited power in which the government can only pass certain laws. |
| Unit 2
Criminal Law |
How does our criminal justice system operate? Does it achieve the objectives that we want it to? Does the criminal justice system treat people fairly?
Students will critically examine the criminal justice system to learn how it works and whether it achieves the objectives we want as a society. Students will engage in mock trials and other hands-on activities to learn about various aspects of how criminal laws are created and enforced. |
| Unit 3
Student-chosen subjects about law |
What do you want to learn about the law?
Law is a very big subject, there is no way to teach everything in one semester. Students will be able to choose the subjects that are most interesting to them in Unit 3. Possible subjects could include: tort law (suing someone that has injured you); contract law; housing law; family law; international law; tax law; campaign finance law; or many other possible areas. |
Student Responsibilities
- Expect to be challenged. Mr. Nesin will call on you even if your hand is not up.
- You are required to take notes every day. Mr. Nesin will check on random days to make sure that you are actually taking good notes. Mr. Nesin will decide whether the notes are good enough to get full credit.
- Be on time to class. If you are late to class without a pass Mr. Nesin may not decide to let you in at all.
- Mr. Nesin has the right to impose additional responsibilities that are not in this syllabus at any time.
Policies and Procedures
- Absences: After being absent, the student has three days upon returning to school to turn in a note to the attendance office. After a three-day period, any absence will automatically become unexcused. If you are not working hard enough Mr. Nesin may also decide to mark you absent even if you are in class.
- Tardiness: If you are late too many times, parent intervention or administration action will be taken. Mr. Nesin will determine how many times is too many times.
- Homework: Points for homework will vary from assignment to assignment. The amount that an assignment is worth will be determined by Mr. Nesin after all assignments have been turned in. If you are absent it you can ask to make up the work and Mr. Nesin may allow you to do so if he determines that your absence was legitimate.
| Category | Percent of
Total Grade |
|
| All Tasks/Assessments (Classwork, quizzes, tests, etc.) | 90% | |
| Practice or Preparation | 10% | |
| = | ||
| Total | 100% |
All Tasks and Assessments and Homework
- 90 percent of your final grade will be based on the All Tasks and Assessments category. This will consist of the following: In class assignments, Tests, Quizzes, etc.
- 10 Percent of your final grade will be based on the Homework category. This will consist of the following: Warm ups, Notes, Review Packets, Homework, etc.
- Failure to turn in an assignment will result in a Z in the gradebook. Z’s will now be calculated in the gradebook as a zero.Every three weeks your parents will be contacted if you have any outstanding Z’s. Grades can be made up for full or close to full credit until the end of the Unit.
Due Dates & Deadlines
Due dates are the date on which assignments are to be turned in for full credit. Deadlines are the last possible date for partial credit for any assignment. For almost all assignments, these dates will be exactly the same. No assignment turned in before the deadline will receive less than 50% if the student has tried to complete and has met the basic requirements of the assignment unless Mr. Nesin decides it is worth a zero.
Academic Integrity
You will be honest and accountable for your own work. If Mr. Nesin thinks that you have copied someone else’s answers for ANY assignment or allowed your work to be copied, all of the parties involved will receive a zero. This includes copying books, the internet or any other source. Plagiarism will not be tolerated!
I agree to all of the policies in this syllabus.
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