The roots of the Office of State Attorney General run deep in American jurisprudence. All 13 American colonies had an Attorney General and today all 50 States and the District of Columbia have opted to provide legal services through an Office of State Attorney General.Each office possesses broad jurisdiction and to varying degrees is independent from the executive and the legislative branches of state government. Attorneys general in 43 states and the District of Columbia are elected statewide on a partisan basis. The combination of sweeping jurisdiction and constitutional independence has given rise to a unique American legal institution of growing importance.This Syllabus covers the day-to-day challenges faced by attorneys general and their staff in delivering the legal advice that will guide state government in a constitutional and ethical manner. It also covers the relationship of attorneys general with Governors, state legislatures and agencies, the federal government, the private bar, and a myriad of advocacy organizations. It focuses both day to day responsibilities as well as on some of the most controversial legal issues affecting society today. Although attorneys general are often in the news litigating both in favor and in opposition to Presidential policies, the focus of this Syllabus is not on suing or defending a President.Although each state is unique, the course demonstrates the remarkable congruence that exists among state attorneys general when addressing similar challenges and issues. The course is weighted toward those decisions by attorneys general that reflect their independent status, which is most often revealed when attorneys general assert that Governors, legislatures, other elected officials, state agencies or the federal government exceed their constitutional or statutory authority. The course also considers also the unique ethical issues that attorneys general and their staff must confront.This Syllabus contains federal and state statutes and case law, law review and descriptive articles from a variety of sources, and hypotheticals that describe the nature and function of the Office of State Attorney General. The numerous hypotheticals are drawn from actual cases that, because of their nature, have not been studied or, in most cases, ever made public. All materials have been collected from over 40 years of studying and participating in the decision making of attorneys general and their staff.There are numerous ways to teach a course on attorneys general. This Syllabus is specifically designed to give to law school instructors or continuing education providers information that may not be otherwise available. This format also allows an instructor maximum flexibility in designing a course or training.There are many ways to evaluate the performance of students. In Harvard classes students are evaluated based upon either a final take-home examination or, if approved by the instructors, a paper. Given the dearth of academic writing on state attorneys general in particular, and on state issues in general, students are encouraged to consider writing a paper as attorneys general present fertile ground for academic research.Readings that are marked “supplemental reading" are optional resources that enable students to take a deeper dive into that week’s topic.  At several law schools instructors ask each student is asked to "adopt" a specific incumbent attorney general and follow them throughout the semester. For a list of courses at a sampling of law schools, see:https://www.stateag.org/initiatives/teaching-about-attorneys-general-in-law-schoolAlt Harvard all students are expected to participate in some fashion each week in class. Because many, if not most, of the decisions of attorneys general and their staff are based upon judgment, and thus are not obviously right nor wrong, the class seeks to create an atmosphere where students of differing political perspectives will feel comfortable contributing diverse viewpoints to the class discussion. Class participation can be taken into grading decisions.In anticipation of the first Harvard class, all students are required to watch this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeNZ6_Vzy7I&feature=emb_title): A Brief Introduction to the World of State Attorneys General

This activity uses an assortment of digital resources relevant to exploring resource development on Native American lands. The activity is based on a website that uses an Earth System approach to help students understand how Native American lands have been impacted by resource development. In the role-playing exercise, students are assigned one of several roles, including consulting geologists, the mining industry, tribal elders and public health officials. Each student uses the web-based learning materials to research the issue from the perspective of their role. This type of exercise could also be used as a debate by dividing a class into groups that play the roles of the Navajo people and the Federal Government.

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How do we make choices in the face of uncertainty? In this episode of TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT professor Kerry Emanuel joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to talk about climate risk. Together, they break down why the climate system is so hard to predict, what exactly scientists mean when they talk about “uncertainty”, and how scientists quantify and assess the risks associated with climate change. Although this uncertainty shrinks every day — as researchers refine their work, computing power grows, and models improve — what we do and how quickly we act will ultimately come down to how much risk we are willing to accept.

This resource was created by Lana Maas, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.

This lesson is designed to build communication as a class and individual.  With covid please consider having students wear masks and using 2ft. noodles instead of physically tagging with your hands.

This resource was created by Sandy Pearson, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.

This resource was created by Sandy Pearson, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.

This lesson is designed to build goal setting as a class and individual.  With covid please consider having students wear masks and using 2ft. noodles instead of physically tagging with your hands.

Social Emotional Learning imbedded into Instructional TaskThis resource was created by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

This unit by Northshore School District, Washington, contains four progressive lesson activities created for primary grades which connect Washington Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Standards 1, 4 and 5 with Washington Music Standards 1, 2 and 8 using the creating/responding processes to generate original songs and express personal feelings.

This unit, developed by Northshore School District in Washington, contains four days of lessons with suggested extensions that connect with SEL Standards 1, 2, 4, and 5 and Music Standard 2, 3, 4 and 11. The class will create the verses to the song “Floating in Space”. Students will engage in activities where they analyze emotional characteristics of music, practice emoting without words, review “song form” and rhyming patterns, and review space vocabulary words.

Through a sequence of activities using songs, creative movement, and picture books,  students will learn about each others’ similarities and differences, gain an appreciation for cultural diversity, and identify ways that various social and cultural groups bring new ideas to society.

This unit, developed by Northshore School District in Washington, contains four days of lessons where students engage with music from a variety of cultures and analyze how emotions are communicated through different styles of music. Students will make connections between showing emotions with their words, their bodies and with instruments and will perform instruments as an ensemble to communicate different emotions. 

This lesson is designed to build problem solving strategies as a class and individual.  With covid please consider having students wear masks.

This lesson is designed to build trust in your classroom.  With covid please consider having students wear masks and using 2ft. noodles instead of physically tagging with your hands.

This lesson is designed to build community in your classroom.  With covid please consider having students wear masks and using 2ft. noodles instead of physically tagging with your hands.

Students will choose books from SEL list to read, analyze and do SEE Paragraph of why books should be added to approved English Book List

Social Emotioal Learning at the beginning of the school year and every math class: Brain Breaks!

This is part of a series of six documents from Mount Vernon School District educators that provide lessons that integrate Washington's Social Emotional Learning and Physical Education learning standards along with educator guidance and strategies.