Reflection: 

When the benchmark was first assigned I thought that it would be very easy to do and I would be able to finish in no time, but as I started and looked into different branches I saw that it would be hard to find how they affect my life. I would say that finding different court cases that affect my life negatively was the hardest part of the project. I knew right away which cases affect my life positively but thinking about ones that had a negative impact was hard. Before doing this project I didn’t think my life was really affected by the government but after doing the project I learned that a lot of my life is affect by the government for example it has a input on the time I have to be in my house and when I can start drinking. 

Ashley Hinton
2nd Quarter Benchmark 

Link to Benchmark: 
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1cN1bSqGRcspJmrf2mtrBE_u-NYPkFluB2c-KWrOpCB0

Benchmark Reflection: 

 I’d have to say this benchmark was the most useful and straight forward project we’ve had in this course. I went about choosing the 4 cases, 4 laws and 4 offices by thinking about how exactly the government intervenes with my life directly and indirectly. With the help of Ms. Laufenburg i found some very useful websites that gave me lots of information on the curfew laws and drinking laws in Pennsylvania because they were most interesting to me. The only part about the process that was a little difficult was separating the cases from the laws and the laws from the offices and so on. Although we’ve spent a lot of time learning how to differentiate between the three its always a little confusing for me. As i get older i anticipate the government affecting my life more because there are a lot of laws in the world, most of which doesn't apply to minors. The thought process throughout this project was essential in getting the project done. Overall,i feel like this project was a great way to understand how laws directly affect our lives and this is extremely important to know.

When I started the assignment, my instinct was to look up laws or cases that revolved around education. Out of all my roles, I value my role as a student more than anything. Although, I had much difficulty trying to pinpoint exactly which ones I wanted to do, I was able to find some neat sources and websites. It was also nice to look into and play up on my minority card, which I don't do very often or use. I kind of anticipate my life becoming a bit more affected by the government as I get older because a lot of the ones I chose were about me being a student and a minor. As I get older, those won't apply to me as much anymore. But new and probably more laws and such will take the place of those. During my research, I was a bit surprised by how much my life would be different if certain bills weren't passed or court cases didn't happen. It was very interesting to see how they were ruled also. Learning this made me more interested in how government works and makes me want to stay more engaged or involved in the things the government do.

1.   Upload a link of your PUBLISHED work to the SLATE class blog.

2.   Write a reflection narrating these points:

a.    How did you go about choosing which items to include in your 12 identified laws, cases, or offices?

b.   Was this an easy or a difficult process? Elaborate.

c.    Do you anticipate your life becoming more or less affected by the govt. as you get older?  Explain.

d.   Any other thoughts on your learning process.

3.   DO NOT WRITE THIS AS A LIST.  Write paragraphs that flow like writing rather than like a worksheet.  Thanks!

Published Link!​

2) 
 I chose my items based on how easy they were to compare to my life. Al ot of the items were easy enough to compare to my life but others were difficult and almost impossible.  It was an easy, but time consuming process.  The idea of it was easy, finding all of the items and writing about all of them became a time consuming task as the days went on though. i believe that my life would become more affected by the American Government. I plan to diverge myself as much as i can into politics because i want to know exactly whats going on when im voting or buying things from stores.  

The link above will take you to a google doc the describes what effects me personally from Laws, court cases, and offices from the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. Choosing the item though was a bit of a challenge.  So what i did was ask my teacher for help in finding link the could help me. Also think about what thing I have to do now. Like Driving, College, Affirmative action plan so that was real bases on how i got them. It was a little bit because searching for them was no easy task. I do expect my life to get more difficult because their are more things i have to apply for. But also my things I will have to pay for.

LINK

A: I tried to choose topics that would most relate to my life, So I went about this process by searching through the most widely important cases I could find.

B: The only really difficult process to me was actually finding how each of these cases are classified.

C: Yes, I can see it getting way more dependent on the government seeing as I am going to be using a lot of government funds to get through college.

Click for a link

This benchmark turned out to be far more difficult than I originally anticipated.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to find examples, especially negative ones.  When looking for laws, court cases or executive functions, Just typing in "beneficial laws" didn't get so far.  I decided the easiest thing to do was to think of a life situation first, instead of trying to find any random law and make it applicable.  For example: I'd think of something that I wish I didn't have to do or could do, and then find the law that makes it so.  This helped mitigate my struggle a great deal.  

As I said before, this definitely wasn't an easy benchmark.   I wish I had organized myself more carefully.  I should have found all the examples I  wanted to use first, and then done all the paragraphs.  

I definitely think the government will affect my life more as I grow older.  It will happen as I gain independence and become more involved in politics and national interests.  Some laws won't apply after a while, like student education laws, but others apply more with age and work.