Fans of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show may have caught Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor the other day. It's an interesting interview. Check it out when you get a chance. You can find it at www.dailyshow.com. There's a short intro, but be sure to watch Part 1 and Part 2.
Back in the late '90s when I was in law school, Justice O'Connor visited my law school and gave a talk. I got a chance to hear her speak and shake her hand. I don't remember what she said -- probably because I was star-struck, but I remember appreciating that she took time from her schedule to visit with law students.
After you watch her interview, check out her project, Our Courts. They describe themselves as "a free, interactive, web-based program designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy."
You can find the website by clicking here.
Check out the website and poke around. Try some of the games. Afterward, post a comment here about what you think of the website. Is it effective? Do you think it'll make a difference?
Feel free to post a comment about the interview, your impression of Justice O'Connor, or Our Courts.
30 comments:
I like the lay out of her website. It seems to be pretty user friendly. I like the interactive games on it. The fact that she has pictures of children on there makes me interpret a message that she wants people to start learning about our nation at a very young age.
Sajen Claxton Hernandez
MW 2:00
She seems like a pretty cool lady. I kind of have a mental image of how a USSC Justice would be like, and it wasn't like her at all. I never would have guessed that a Justice would go on a show on Comedy Central. But, going on that show is probably a smart move. As they said on the show, more people can name an American Idol judge before a USSC Justice. Tapping into that majority's territory (like Comedy Central perhaps?...) may be a smart move for her cause as opposed to advertising on CSPAN or something like that where her target audience likely wouldn't see it. The site's layout is very well done, and it's good to have so much info for teachers and students to take. However, I can't imagine that too many young children will go to the site on their own free will as of now. It's good that O'Connor is making an attempt to enlighten Americans in a way that isn't overbearing, but it may take a few more tries before people are as excited about her cause as they are about American Idol.
I think the website is great. I like that it appeals to kids while also appealing to teachers with the lesson plans. It's great that O'connor went onto Comedy Central, it shows that she knows the different ways to reach certain demographics.
I saw the interview on the Daily Show last night and I was impressed by how down to earth O'Conner seamed. I, like most Americans, have an image of USSC justices as being very closed off from the real world, and we build them up as super human; I think Stewart brought up a similar idea with the "smoke-filled room" reference. However, in this interview O'Connor seemed more like my grandmother than a all powerful law maker. As for the website, I didn't initially visit it, even though I was on my laptop while I was watching her talk about it. I imagine that most people watching didn't check out the site, just like most people that watch the daily show aren't going to read all the books that gets pushed on there every day. After this blog entry was added I did visit the website. It seems to me that the site is aimed at children, but I don't think that's where the problem lies. Most children learn, or at least are taught, in school the basic government things that the website teaches. The problem that O'Conner is trying to address is grown ups that have long forgot what they learned when they were the age of the children pictured all over the website. Sadly, I don't think this website is going to have an impact on American culture at large. I don't think any website is going to make people all of the sudden care about general civics. Unless someone can find a way to sneak education into a porno site, most Americans are going to continue to be ignorant.
I thought the website was great. I think it will do a great job in teaching kids about the government and the court system. I was so surprised by what she said on The Daily Show though, about only 1/3 of Americans knowing the three branches of government. I wish our country could stop being so ignorant and learn that this is our democracy and we need to understand it and know what it is all about or we won't be able to make educated decisions.
Sandra Day O'Connor seems like a fun interesting woman. I figure she would be borring, but I was wrong. As the first cowgirl to serve in the USSC she must have had to be a tough minded person. Her website was cool, I think it will have a great appeal to the kids that visit it.
The 'Our Courts' website is a great idea to get information about civic participation to children. There is no better way than through a free interactive website dedicated to both teachers and children to ge this infomration out. People like simple and easy navigation sites and this one is very welcoming and easy to navigate for both kids and adults. I think the site will help Sandra Day O'Conner get her message out to the right audience.
the webpage has a very trendy, hip look to it. the game i played took me like 20 minutes to learn/complete. it might be a little confusing to younger kids, but it is a cool way to teach them.
I really like the website. It seems like it would be fun and interesting for children to look at and learn.
The interview clips just showed how down to earth and respectful she is. She's even pretty funny. ;)
I admire Justice O'Connor's efforts to educate people about the court system and about government in general.
I liked how the Our Courts Web site had a place where people can post questions for O'Connor to answer.
The one thing that impressed me the most was the state resources link under the learn about civics tab. One can click on any state, then on a particular branch of government in that state and find out who the representatives in that area of government are. That's the one resource on the page that can be used by students of all grade levels. In all, the Web site seems like it has potential to be an effective tool as long as it is able to keep up with the changing times (technology wise).
-Carline Schwartz
MC 4301 T,R, 9:30-10:50 a.m.
Lauren Miller (9a.m.)- Justice O'Connor's appearence on the Daily Show was a very smart publicity move on her part. By appearing on the Daily show she reached out to a different mind of public that might not watch news television.
Justice O'Connor's website was very well done. Her main purpose was to owelcome teahcers and students to the site to inform them about different topics in the government. The site is easy to navigate around and user friendly. My main concern is that children may not understand this site without having someone older view it with them.
The daily show interview was interesting to me being that i am slightly illiterate about the world of politics. Sadly i would have to say that i would have fallen into the 2/3 of people who could not name the three branches of government but could name an american idol judge. haha That of course has changed as i had my knowledge refreshed thanks to media law. The website is great also. I like that she is taking it into her own hands to teach our youth about government and politics when today's school systems will not. I will probably be frequenting the site to gain a little more knowledge of how our court systems work.
I really enjoyed the website. I think the games were informative and fun, even if they are designed for a younger group. I liked the ability to test my knowledge and then have informative links. I think the site works but the layout is a little bare. Sure it has pictures of kids that students can relate to, but it needs a little more moder feel, perhaps streaming video, maybe an RSS Feed, and maybe a blog for students to chat or leave ideas about current issues in politics. I think O'Connor is really opening up the world of civics and history for a generation that is not getting what they need.
Mackenzie Smith 2pm MW
I really liked the website. It had a lot of good information on it and I really liked the games. I liked the part where teachers could actually add to their curriculums. The website also seems easy for kids to use.
Wow! What a horrible site! No, I'm kidding. I wish ourcourts.org was available when I was in elementary school. The website is intuitive and functional; it should help to engage kids as well as educate them. And like most other people have said, Sandra Day O'Connor seems much more "human-like" than I imagined. There's a tendency to think Supreme Court Justices are robotic, justice- delivering drones. Fortunately, hearing her speak removed my ignorance. As for the site, civics students are now in luck.
I enjoyed the interview and the website. That's kind of sad that two-thirds of the nation can't name the three branches of government, but can easily remember useless American Idol information. The website was great. Hopefully, teachers will utilize it in their lesson plans. Interactive teaching seems to be more and more effective with current generations.
Jacob Glover
This website would be a good tool for teachers to use in a class room setting. It is very important that our youth understand the political and judicial system. This tool will allow them to actively gain knowledge using a mode that children are very apt to using in our modern day technological world. Also, her appearance on the Daily Show just goes to show how effective role models can be in our society as well.
Silvia Irizarry T&Th 9:30am I must admit that her website is perfectly laid out for young children AND adults to learn! This type of website makes children want to learn about important issues in life versus playing video games or watching Hanna Montana dance on stage all day. It's sad that grown people can't name a USSC Justice but they can tell us when and where Paris Hilton was spotted the night before. I admit I USE to be one of those people...but not anymore! I think Justice O'Connor has the right idea on this website...lets include children at a young age to learn what real life is about.
I liked the website and I think it is an innovative idea. I think that the use of games to help our children learn about our legal and court system is creative and fun for the younger generations, but I think the website needs to make up it's mind. Graphics and pictures seem to indicate that this is a children centered website, but I don't imagine that any child would sit there and read all the paragraphs that are published on each page. If this is a website dedicated to the teaching of the court and legal system as a teacher resource, I really like it and think it will be useful, but it is not browsing friendly for a child.
Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor cracks jokes. I love it! I'm not surprised that less that 3% of Americans know what the three branches of the government are.
I took a look at her project's website, ourcourts.org. Someone obviously did a good job of designing the site to target a younger audience. The game area has video and the doodles in the background of the page are youthful.
O'Connor's camp did a great job of making an easy to use collaborative site for student and teachers. The site itself is appealing from the time visitors get to the home page-it just makes you want to click around. The games are an awesome learning tool. The features are educational but still interesting enough to engage and capture a young audience. This is an effective campaign to show the Justice wants to try to relate to a younger generation, the comprehensible level in which Our Courts does so is specific to target browsers. About O’Connor’s interview…it’s always cool to see prominent successful political figures loosen up on shows like this.
i think that the website is easy to navigate. It is also very informative and helps students to understand more about the government. I think that O'connor has a very wholesome personality, one that most people might not think a former USSC judge possesses. I think it's great that Jon Stewart had someone like O'connor on his show, it offers some variety to the many viewers of comedy central.
First off, it was really cool to see Sandra Day O'Connor come to life in person! Coming from San Antonio, our high schools are named after Supreme Court Justices and O'Connor high school was in my district. (Northside)
She seems like a really amazing woman with so much knowledge. I enjoyed listening to her speak. It caught me by surprise to see how friendly she is.
Her website is a very good idea! Although law and government may not seem important to all, it is an important part of being an American and students should be aware of it. It's nice to see her trying to start early and reach students in a way that will capture their attention.
T think she seems like a nice lady. I would imagine a justice to be a strict mean old person, but she doesn't seem that way at all. I really enjoyed the Daily Show episode about her; she has a great sense of humor.
It was to my surprise to find out that not very many people can name the 3 branches of the government. It is kind of sad. I also thought the website was a very good a idea to reach and teach about civics. Very interactive for students that need to have hands on learning skills and it also reaches to those that enjoy playing game online.
I know civics was not my favorite subject, but would have definitely played the games.
I really enjoyed the interview with former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. For some reason I think people have this idea that the Supreme Court Justices are not like the "average everyday" American and that they are disconnected from the public. However, listening to O'Connor completely challenges that idea. She was very down to earth and I enjoyed listening to what she had to say.
I think the success and impact of the website will depend on how well they get out the word about the site. I had never heard of the site before, but once I visited it I thought it was interesting. I definitely would have enjoyed exploring the site and playing the games when I was a kid. I also think teachers can get valuable information about how to incorporate information about the court system and government into their curriculum.
I was shocked to learn that only 1 out of 3 Americans knew the 3 branches of government. I think that is extremely pathetic and scary. I hope the website does have some sort of impact because that is terrifying. However, I agree with Jon Stewart; with those statistics, I think we are going to need more than a website!
Justice O'Conner makes a good point in the video on the Our Courts Web site. In order to reach the younger generation and to get them interested in civics and the way our government works, you have to put the information on the internet and make it more interactive. I think this is a great idea to get students interested in democracy and lets them make informative decisions.
Always fascinating seeing former or current USSC Justices interviewed. Stewart showed proper deference to the retired Justice and she allowed herself to go into a forum that is certainly not the typical destination for a person of her stature. The website is an interesting idea that should work for helping educate more than were educated about civics before the sites creation.
John Seidner
T-Th 9:30am-10:50am
The website looks very good. It sounds like it has a lot of information for teachers and students and could be a very good resource. I think that O'Connors website is a great tool that students could use to help them understand the court system better. However, it appears to me that the website is geared more toward teachers and it might have some trouble keeping students attention. Great resource though!
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