Flashback: This past week

Ok so this isn't really a very distant flashback since I'm just going to talk about this past week but it will be great none-the-less! So this week I was able to attend a conference where we learned about the 3 branches of government and discussed civics education. It was offered to any social studies teachers and also to any Utah State student who was going to teach social studies. It was so much fun! They put us up in a hotel downtown for free and we did a lot of really neat things. Here is a recap by day:

Monday: The Drive
I drove down with 2 other people so that we could share gas money. We had to be there really early Tuesday morning so the hotel let us check in Monday night. We weren't sure exactly what to do next so we went for a walk around downtown Salt Lake and got ourselves oriented as to where we would need to go the following days.

Tuesday: The Legislative Branch

On Tuesday we learned all about how a bill becomes law and we were able to tour each part of the State Capitol building as we did so. We started out in a committee room where my neighbor Representative Chris Herrod sponsored a bill concerning immigration and education. We had some very heated debate. All of the teachers seemed to have strong opinions on the issue. It was really hard for me to debate because I could see the logic in both sides. That is when I decided not to run for congress. We agreed on some amendments and "tabled the bill." When that step was over we took it to the House for voting.

Melissa and I considering how to vote for the bill

After we debated whether to accept the bill and it's amendments a former Speaker of the House, Representative Ure, (I think he's an uncle to my friend Melissa....) we traveled to the Senate where we met with a Senator and he explained to us the next steps in the process of making a law.

Leaving the Capitol after a long day of making laws

After we finished the days activities we went to the Gateway mall for some dinner. We had been given vouchers at the Capitol for lunch and so most of us had really eaten way too much. (We had to get our free money's worth!) So for dinner I just had an Orange Julius and the cookies I had added to my tab at lunch because I could. I then got to spend some time with Kim Hines. Kim was my roommate when I lived in Alaska and I hadn't seen her for quite awhile so it was really nice to spend even just a few minutes with her as she was on her way into the city for a hot date.

Wednesday: The Judicial Branch
Wednesday morning were able to attend a Naturalization Ceremony where we witnessed 190 people become citizens of the United States. This was by far the most moving experience of the conference. I take so many things in my life for granted and one of them is for sure the fact that I am a natural born citizen of the United States and I never had to fight for the rights and freedoms that I enjoy.

The Ceremony

We were able to sit right among the new citizens. This gave many of us mixed feelings since the families of the people were required to sit in balcony seats above us. This was just one of the things that showed me the great respect that people actually have for teachers. When the oath was finished Judge Alba talked to the crowd and shared the story of how he too became a naturalized citizen when he was in college. He was studying to become a lawyer and learned that he needed to be a citizen to take the bar exam. He went from being a migrant farm worker to becoming a Federal Judge. His story was really inspiring. He then interviewed the audience and allowed people to take the time to speak if they had something to say. He asked them about their struggles to get where they are now and what this experience meant to them. It was moving. My roommate Melissa took video of some of the responses that people gave and I hope to get those videos from her. Our friend Randy had a really neat experience this day. As we were walking into the theater where the ceremony was held Randy ran into his brother. His sister-in-law was becoming a citizen in this very ceremony and Randy had no idea. Randy had lost his cell phone and his brother had been trying to contact him to invite the family but had given up hope of reaching them. It was really neat for him to be able to be there with his family without even knowing that was taking place on that day. After the ceremony we were able to talk to the judge and learn more about him. Turns out he just might be the inspiration for the character of Pedro in the movie 'Napoleon Dynamite.' He moved to Preston in the ninth grade and ran for Sophomore class president at the insistence of his friend. He's pretty sure he's the only Mexican to have done so from that Preston High so he claims a small credit for the inspiration.
After the mornings festivities we were able to go to the Matheson Courthouse and meet the Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court. She spoke to us and then we were able to go to a courtroom where we met another judge, Judge Carolyn B. McHugh of the Utah Court of Appeals, and she presided over a mock trial that we held in the courtroom.

Part of the mock trial that we held with Judge Carolyn B. McHugh

We were also able to go to the Moss Federal Courthouse where we were able to learn about the different types of cases that are heard there. We ended that days lectures in the Utah Supreme Court chambers. It was an amazing day and we got to see and do a lot of really neat things.

Thursday: The Executive Branch
Thursday was spent discussing the Executive Branch and when I say discussing I mean listening to. Turns out the Executive Branch doesn't have any fun activities where you get to role play anything. This will be the branch I struggle to most with when it comes to teaching. It is the most visible branch but it sure was the least fun to talk about. It was still great though and we got to spend the morning sitting in the City County Building in Salt Lake which just might be my favorite building in Utah now. Those aren't alien lights above it.... This picture was taken out of the window on the 5th floor of the courthouse so it's just reflection. It is such a neat old building. I wished we had more time to learn about it while we were inside. I guess I'll just have to request a tour someday. We also got to have lunch at the Governors Mansion. It was a very interesting experience and MaryKay Huntsman seemed like a lovely lady. It was some good times and I'll have more pictures on my facebook account for anyone who has facebook and cares to look at my pictures. It makes me excited to become a teacher and do these kinds of things more often. The best part about it is that everyone invited us to bring our classes to do the same things we did. They even offered to send someone to any school if we just asked. Our government is so open and really isn't secretive at all, we just have to make the effort to be involved and to participate. We got contact information from every person in every different agency we worked with and with every different level so now it's just a matter of making it happen. I'll leave you with a picture of 5 of the 7 pre-service teachers who participated in the conference along with all of the seasoned teachers.