On Oct 17, 2024, Erin Eisen and her AP Gov. students began preparing for an upcoming Teen Court discussion in the Reading Room where they talk about important real-life situations that happen within probation cases around the Buckeye area and get a deeper understanding of how the court system functions in the U.S today.
What goes on in Eisen’s room is similar to what goes on within our government today. The U.S. has three branches that help build our government today: legislative, executive, and judicial. These branches either make our laws, enforce them, or explain them. Teen court projects provide students with examples to help them if they wish to pursue these types of jobs, providing them with experience on cases and how the judgments are made in some instances that the Probation Officers provide them with. They get taught those skills to improve their communication skills with others and with lessons that could match the profession they would like to pursue.
Eisen, who has been teaching AP Gov. for 10 years, dives into political science topics that include topics such as Teen Court and other deliberate political science topics. Ms. Eisen adds, “AP Government is a collegiate-level political science force that goes over the basics of government, plus the basics of politics like the political behavior of American leaders and voters.”
Eisen encourages her students to engage in her class activities because she adds, “I think it’s really important to be part of the justice system because, you never know what’s going to happen and if you get arrested, you want a group, or jurors who are knowledgeable about the process, who understand rates, who might be willing to listen to you.” She believes these assignments can help define her students into what they want to be after High School and College.
These Teen Courts allow students to discuss the important issues that happen within their City. They give them real-life issues that have happened that they can discuss amongst themselves, with a probation officer guiding them along the way to help them realize the clues that are in these cases. This gives students the ability to grow in their communication with one another and to have their brains process new information that they might not have known throughout their entire lives about different types of court cases.
These kinds of assignments will help students with discussing theoretical knowledge of their government by applying real-world issues. It gives students more of a deeper understanding of the role that our government plays in today’s society and gets them thinking about their future careers if they have not yet decided on anything for the moment. It is a good opportunity to take this class if you have not already decided what your plan is after High School/College.
