Latin School of Chicago

Latin Magazine Spring16

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"is time in their life is so important – right before they move away from home and have to come to their own conclusions about rights, justice and the law," said Gallagher. "I feel lucky to be able to say: 'Before you go out into the world, here is what you need to know to be able to make informed decisions.'" Real-World Connections Gallagher takes her role seriously and packs it in. e seniors study political philosophy, constitutional law, each branch of government, the Supreme Court, interest groups, the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment. Students also participate in a moot court, arguing a case that is currently before the Supreme Court. is fall, the upcoming presidential election presented another opportunity. Because the number of candidates in August was almost the same as the number of students in her class, Gallagher assigned each student (or pair of students) to take on the role of one of the candidates and run a full campaign. is included raising campaign funds and deciding how to spend them, creating a campaign strategy, producing commercial and digital advertisements, and providing feedback for the other candidates. In October, the class hosted an all-school primary debate, where upper school students could vote online immediately and class members could see the results as soon as the debate was over. "e seniors really took ownership of the fact that this is the first election they can vote in and that there are some really important issues for them to consider," said Gallagher. In fact, three of Gallagher's students were deputized as voter registrars along with her and ended up registering about 80 Latin students. A group of students then accompanied Gallagher to vote early in the Illinois primary. "To see them vote for the first time was one of my greatest moments as a teacher," she said. Bing Wang, who joined Latin this year as an upper school Chinese teacher, also embraces the opportunity to introduce real-world scenarios in her classes. In one project, she asked students to revamp the upper school. ey visited different locations and interviewed each other about how they use various spaces at Latin and what they think can be improved with regard to the design of the school. After the interviews and on-site visits, the students discussed a final plan and prototyped their ideal school. e entire process – from interview to group discussion, from negotiating the final plan to coordinating with the team to build the prototypes – all happened in Chinese. "e project replicated a real-life problem-solving process while immersing the students in meaningful language use," explained Wang. I feel lucky to be able to say: 'Before you go out into the world, here is what you need to know to be able to make informed decisions.'" – Cara Gallagher, upper school history teacher 26

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