About Us
CongressLink in Brief
Congress: The Context
SUBJECTS
U.S. Government, Civics, U.S. History, Comparative Political Systems
GRADE LEVEL
9-12
OBJECTIVES
The general purpose of this unit is to introduce high school students to the powers of the United States Congress through the use of CongressLink and other related Internet resources. In this unit students will develop a fundamental knowledge concerning the powers of the United States Congress, compare the powers of the U.S. legislature with that of another nation, and assess the current role of the Congress with reference to the ideology of the framers of the Constitution. This unit will help students learn to classify legislative powers, compare and contrast legislative powers, and evaluate the status of Congress today.
LESSON PLAN
Class 1
Divide students into pairs and have students access Article I of the U.S. Constitution using the CongressLink site to do the scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt questions can be based on information found in the Glossary and Historical Notes in the CongressLink site. After students are acquainted with the site and have finished the scavenger hunt, reemphasize the powers given to Congress through class discussion and develop a chart or graphic organizer on the board. Have each student choose a congressional power and create a political cartoon for homework.
Class 2-3
Divide students into pairs and assign each pair a country using http://confinder.richmond.edu/. Sample countries include Iraq, Rwanda, Haiti, Vietnam, Libya, Australia, and China. Students should compare and contrast the legislative powers of the assigned country with those given to the U.S. Congress. Using the information found, students will prepare a live news report in which one student acts as a news reporter on location and interviews a political leader in that foreign country about that country’s legislative powers. (Videotaping these news reports allows students to make comparisons among the legislative powers of all assigned countries.) For homework, have students develop a song or a poem on congressional powers.
Class 4
Students continue to work in pairs and are given one of the Federalist Papers to find in the CongressLink site. Federalist Papers Number 33 and 44 deal specifically with congressional powers. Students will read the assigned Federalist Papers and will compare the intent of its author with the actions of the current Congress using news articles on congressional powers students have found and placed in an electronic scrapbook they have created. After this research is completed, each student will write an editorial judging whether today’s Congress is in agreement with the ideas found in the Federalist Papers. These editorials may then be posted on the WebBoard for other classes to critique.
RESOURCES
CREDIT
Dan Richardson
Lead Teacher
East Troy High School
P.O. Box 137
East Troy, WI 53210Jennifer Mantlo
Peggy Caldwell
Lead Teacher
Warren East High School
6867 Louisville Road
Bowling Green, KY 42101
Lead Teacher
Morrow High School
2299 Old Rex Morrow Road
Morrow, GA 30260
