About the Simulation

The information below is taken from the introduction in the Teacher's Guide. It will give you a comprehensive view of what the simulation looks like.

How to Use the Teacher’s Guide

The Teacher’s Guide will guide the teacher through the entire simulation. The simulation has a lot of moving parts. Following this guide closely will be invaluable. The following information will provide details about how to run the simulation, what certain icons mean, sections, assignments, materials, etc. Reviewing this section often will help keep all the moving parts straight.

Adaptability

Self-Government Works (SGW) is designed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate a variety of age groups, class size, and physical accommodations. Simulation should be adapted to classroom needs.

Things to Know When Administering the Simulation

Human Nature

The struggle between a desire to be free and a desire to be safe and secure are real and powerful. Yet, these two human instincts are at odds more often than in sync. The simulation purposely taps into these human desires. The two desires are why humans seek self-government. This can create an emotional environment in the simulation. It is important to observe each student to determine when it is necessary to step in. Knowing when to step in is difficult. Feelings of frustration, anger, etc. are part of the self-government discovery process and should be allowed to occur within reason.

The simulation is designed to bring out the best in human nature, not the worst. The first few days of the simulation may appear to cultivate a culture of rebellion. It should not. The goal is to help the students discover that discipline is part of self-government. This includes respect for authority and rules. The simulation will help them understand when it is appropriate to “rebel” and when it is not. By the end of the simulation they should understand the value of avoiding the extremes of chaos and oppression by finding a stable balance between the two. Allow for some rebellion to take place, but know that in the end the class should seek to avoid rebellion and tyranny.

While it is in our human nature to seek freedom and security, we are not born with the knowledge of how to best balance the two. Thomas Jefferson said that “the qualifications for self-government in society are not innate, they are the result of habit and long training.” The skills required for self-government in society require experience.

The ability to self-govern is not inherent in the students, only the desire to do so. A mistake often made when teaching youth is that their abilities are underestimated while their experience is overestimated. Just because they cannot self-govern right away does not mean they are not capable of it, they simply do not have the experience. Be patient, they’ll get it.

Teacher’s Human Nature

It is often surprising to teachers who administer the simulation how their own human nature is revealed and tested. Teachers may discover that they lean more toward chaos or more toward oppression. They should try to resist their own urge to either let the students be too free or urges to “take control.”

Student Engagement

Students will engage in the simulation in various ways. Typical engagement is rebellion, submissiveness, silent, aggressive, passive aggressive, thoughtful, reserved, reckless, cautious, competitive, etc. These are all the same manners of engagement that can be observed in society. If the simulation is running correctly, the same variety as in society is observed.

Be mindful that engagement is not always outward and apparent. A student may be quiet, but fully engaged. It is important to determine whether the lack of engagement is engagement or if the student is actually not engaged in the simulation. Rather than apply expectations of particular types of engagements on the students, observe their behavior closely and build on whatever engagement method they have chosen.

How to Introduce the Simulation

The simulation should not be a “secret.” Students who have been through the simulation before, or adults who have done the simulation as a student knowing full well what the simulation entails, have not been effected by their previous knowledge or experience. Human nature rejects oppression and chaos, even if they are self-imposed, even if they know it is just a simulation.

Let the students know that they will be engaged in a self-government simulation that will help them understand how the United States governing system evolved. That is all they need to know. The simulation will take care of itself from there.

The Science of Self-Government lessons are designed to allow students to make their own connections. Do not indicate that the Science of Self-Government lessons are part of the simulation. It does not need to be kept a secret, simply don’t mention that the lessons are part of the simulation. However, if class discussions or student comments during the lesson turn to the simulation, allow the discussion to continue. Give the students every opportunity to connect their experiences with the science of self-government.

How to Refer to the Simulation

Refer to the simulation as “the simulation.” Toward the end of the simulation you can use “Self-Government Works,” but this should be avoided at the beginning so students are not conditioned to have a preconceived opinion that self-government does work. Let them discover that on their own.

Teacher’s Rules

Teacher’s Rules are given by the Director and enforced by the teacher. The rules are common classroom rules initially, but become more and more oppressive. The teacher will determine the consequences for breaking the rules to adapt to school policies. For students to feel the effects of oppression, Teacher’s Rules should be strictly and unfairly enforced.

Even after students have chosen to self-govern, there is always the threat to return back to Teacher’s Rules if the teacher chooses to do so. If the teacher reverts the class back to Teacher’s Rules, only low and medium intensity consequences should be used. High intensity consequences are extreme and not intended to be enforced. 

Self-Government

There are a number of ways to define and practice self-government, in relation to the simulation, self-government is the action of students being responsible for their own actions. To self-govern, they must have a system of government, even if it is very basic. They should operate under that system to achieve class assignments and challenges. Their system should help the students govern the complex relationships and student interactions in class. 

The class should be afforded every opportunity to exercise their system of government, but the teacher may suspend the simulation, Teacher’s Rules, and self-government during non-simulation lessons and class activities. However, it may be surprising how effective the student’s self-government can be in day to day activity.

Hints & Tips

The students will be given hints and tips periodically to help guide them to self-governing actions. Most of these hints come from the Student Hacker / Instructor. Others will be in homework, documents, videos, etc. The lessons indicate when a “hack” is to be expected and what hints and tips will be given. Hints and tips that are given in the homework will be indicated at the end of each day in the Teacher’s Guide.

Initially the hints and tips will seam as though they are encouraging the students to rebel. They are to some degree, but throughout the simulation the students will learn that rebellion is rarely a good solution because there is a high risk of rebellion turning to chaos.

Alternate Assignments

Periodically the hints and tips may guide the students to complete an alternate assignment from the one given to them by the teacher or Director. It is important that the teacher be aware of the alternate assignment. Often the teacher has specific actions that should be taken during or after the alternate assignments.

In-Class Handouts

There are some worksheets, quizzes, documents, etc. that the students do not have in their Student Workbook. These items can be found in the back of the Teacher’s Guide. The lessons will indicate when to use them.

Time Capsule

Letters written to themselves in Phase 1 and a class history written on Day 10 will be placed into a time capsule as directed at the end of Day 10. The teacher should be prepared with an envelope, box, or the like, for this purpose. It is up to the teacher if and when the time capsule should be opened. It may be when the class is having a particularly hard time self-governing, the end of the simulation, the end of the school year, any other time, or let the students decide. The teacher may elect to open it for a future class and not the one that created it.

Preparing for the Next Phase

At the end of Day 5 and Day 10 there is a “Preparing for the Next Phase” section. This section will list some key items that will need to be taken care of well in advance. Securing volunteer judges for Days 8 and 9, for example.

Teacher’s Guide Segments

There are three types of segments found in the Teacher’s Guide (TG):

Science of Self-Government Lessons - These lessons deal with self-government theory. They are designed to allow student to either prepare for their self-governing experiences or to reflect upon them. Aspects of the science of self-government are built into the simulation, but it is still necessary to highlight specific concepts in stand alone lessons. The Science of Self-Government Lessons are taught before, between, and during the Phases 1-3, and can be intermingled within Phase 4.

The simulation itself will provide a rich educational experience for the students. That experience is greatly enhanced by the Science of Self-Government Lessons. The lessons will give the student a greater understanding about what they experienced and will help them apply what they have learned to real-life situations.

Simulation - The simulation is divided into four phases. Each phase must be administered in order. Phases 1-3 are designed to take 1 week each and Phase 4 can be adapted to the needs of the students. Do not eliminate any phase, or portion of a phase, but they can be adapted as needed. Phase 4 is critical to teach the students the most difficult part of self-government – keeping or maintaining it. Phase 4 is critical in teaching the practical application of self-government and serves as the best assessment of the effectiveness of Phases 1-3.

Interim Challenges - There are a number of in-class self-government challenges within the simulation and are additional challenges that should be given between phases. These interim challenges, some of which are optional, will act as a stress test on their systems of government. They will help the students discover important strengths and weaknesses in their systems. The interim challenges will help the teacher keep the simulation in motion between phases.

Meet the Players

The Teacher - The teacher is the key to the success of the simulation. They will act as the officiator. They will keep the simulation moving forward while taking every opportunity to guide and teach. The teacher will be the bad guy from time to time as they enforce Teacher’s Rules.

The Director - The Director is the tyrant. He is injected into the simulation via videos. The Director allows the teacher to preserve the student/teacher relationship. While the teacher may from time to time be a tyrant, they are not the tyrant.

The Student Hacker / Instructor - In the early part of the simulation, the Student Hacker will hack into some of the videos, have notes on documents, etc. to give the students hints and tips for securing their right to self-govern. Later, the Student Hacker, becomes the Student Instructor. They will continue to give the students tips and hints.

The Student Hacker / Instructor is a real student that went through the simulation in 2016 and was a student mentor in the simulation in 2017.

Student Mentor(s) - The Student Mentor(s) are not 100% necessary, but makes for a better experience, lightens the teachers, load, and provides more options for the Royal Colony / Parliament. Ideally they should be students who have been through the simulation previously, but not required. Student Mentor(s) can be teacher’s assistants, volunteers, etc.

Royal Colony / Parliament - Usually made up of students who choose to remain loyal to Teacher’s Rules, the Royal Colony will do the Director’s and Teacher’s bidding. They will help enforce Teacher’s Rules and will implement and enforce oppressive Class Acts as Parliament.

If there are no, or too few, students who remain loyal to Teacher’s Rules, Student Mentor(s), teacher’s assistants, volunteers, or even the teacher can fill this role. One person can fill this role, but a few is best. As a last option, a few students can be appointed even if they chose to flee Teacher’s Rules. Pick students that are more on the fence between Teacher’s Rules and Self-Government than others.

Materials

Certain materials should be on hand throughout the simulation. Additional materials needed for individual lessons will be listed under the “Additional Materials” section at the beginning of each lesson. Everyday materials are:

 

• Teacher’s Guide
• Paper
• A/V Equipment for Videos
• Pencils
• Videos
• Chalkboard / Whiteboard
• Student Workbook
• Chalk / Dry Erase Markers 
• Pocket Constitutions
• Timer
• Class Documents Binder
• Tickets Out (Sticky Notes)

 Videos

There are in-class videos and homework videos. Each video file name is identified by Phase, Day, number, and title. For example, Day 1 videos are:

1_1_1 Day 1 Directors Welcome,

1_1_2 Top Ten Greatest Monarchs Part 1,

1_1_3 Directors Right of Kings Speech,

1_1_4 Magna Petition Homework

The videos can be accessed via Google Drive. You must have authorization to access the folder. Feel free to download videos to be played on your own system, PowerPoint, uploaded to Google Classroom, etc.

Homework Videos

The homework videos can be searched on YouTube by searching for “self-government works homework.” This will allow you to direct the students to their homework videos if you do not have a platform like Google Classroom to use. Do not be concerned about students watching videos intended for future homework. Most students will not do more than what is assigned, but when it does happen, those are the students that are seeking to increase their advantage in their self-government. This is a good thing.

Video Transcripts

Video transcripts for most of the videos can be found in the back of the Teacher’s Guide. This will allow the teacher to really digest the content in the videos and provide for a much quicker review of each video.

Student Workbook

The Student Workbook has all of the primary source documents and other resources the students need to complete homework and some in-class assignments and challenges. There are additional primary source documents not assigned in homework that allows the students to do additional research if they choose. This also allows the teacher to assign additional work for higher grades. The Student Workbook provides space for notes and observations. Each student should have a new Student Workbook at the beginning of the simulation. Students will hand in their workbook at the end of each phase to be graded and returned prior to the next phase.

Pocket Constitution

Pocket sized Declaration and Constitution should be provided for each student, allowing them to acquire the habit of keeping a knowledge of their governing system at their fingertips.

Class Documents Binder

A binder, with sheet protectors, should be provided for each class for copies of each of their class documents to be kept. Compacts, charters, declarations, petitions, constitutions, etc. should be placed in the binder. Keep the binder in the classroom for students to reference when needed. Students can keep their own copies, but the binder provides a safe, consistent place for the documents.

Timer

Many of the in-class assignments and challenges are timed. It is helpful if the students can see the timer to better manage their time. Some assignments and challenges have timers in the video. If a timer is not available, a 60 minute video timer is also provide in the Google Drive Video folder. Move the video ahead to the desired time and play.

Ticket Out (sticky notes)

Periodically the students are required to produce a “Ticket Out” before they are able to leave at the end of class. The best method is to use medium sized sticky notes. The students complete the assignment on the sticky note and place it on the wall or door as they leave. This gives a tactile activity to enhance the experience.

Some days do not have a Ticket Out assigned. The teacher is free to assign their own Ticket Out or not have one for that day.

End of Day Sections

At the end of each day one or all of the following section will give additional direction:

Personal Notes

Students will record their thoughts, feelings, observations, and impressions as instructed in this section. There is space available in their Student Workbooks for this assignment.

Ticket Out

See “Materials” section above for explanation.

Homework

This section includes a brief description of homework and any hints or tips that will be given in the homework. Teachers can add to the homework by adding additional primary source reading. If a reduction in homework is needed, student can be instructed to read the bolded portions of the documents only.

Extensions

Additional assignments that can be given to students if the teacher chooses.

Preparing for the Next Phase

Instructions on Days 5, 10, and 15 are provide in preparation for the next phase. These instructions are for items that need the teacher’s attention well in advance to starting the next phase.

Teacher Observation Notes

Overall teacher notes about each Day, Phase, or simulation as a whole. These notes will help the teacher remember student actions and behaviors for future classes.