Unit and lesson plans prepared by teachers using CongressLink resources and features.

An Introduction to Representative Government
In this lesson, students compare rule-making by one to rule-making by many through simulations, class discussions, and the creation of a Venn diagram.

Congress and the Courts
Students will analyze the United States Constitution to discern the relationship between Congress and the federal courts, the attributes they deem important in a judge, and how the courts can influence legislation. Students will also apply to principle of judicial review to legislation as they take on the role of a federal judge.

Congress' s Accomplishments…What Has Congress Done for You?
In this lesson, students use primary and secondary sources to become experts on a law Congress has passed and teach each other about the laws they have researched. Students then illustrate the impact of one of these laws with "before" and "after" pictures and justify the importance of the law in writing.

Creating a Citizen's Guide to Congress
In this lesson, students bring all previous lessons together by creating a citizen's guide to Congress.

Does it Matter if We Participate in Representative Government? A Socratic Seminar
In this lesson, students participate in a Socratic seminar to discuss and defend the importance of participating in representative government.

Getting Involved: How Can You Participate in Representative Government?
In this lesson, students examine the different ways people can participate in representative government through class discussions, group work, and investigation of primary and secondary sources. Students create commercials that inform viewers how to get involved in representative government.

U.S. Capitol
Students are linked to the United States Capitol, located in Washington, DC. Visiting the Capitol, even in the virtual sense, will help students grasp the idea that the House and the Senate are separate bodies within Congress, each with its own space within the Capitol.

Party Time
Using a variety of primary, or historical, sources, students will analyze their political beliefs and associate them with the basic tenets of the political spectrum. They will be able to determine if their partisan leanings are to the "left" or to the "right."

Hilary G. Conklin's "What is Representative Government?"
This 10-week unit is designed to engage middle school students in a series of creative and multi-disciplinary activities that will help them understand representative government - how the ideas for representative government evolved, how our current Congress functions, and how today's citizens can participate in representative government. In the 15 lesson plans presented here, activities include students examining primary sources, conducting a Congressional Scavenger Hunt, acting out scenes from a day in a Senator's life, and writing letters to members of Congress. These lessons include reproducible activity handouts and graphic organizers created to help students with varied learning styles both visualize Congress in the past and present and break information down in comprehensible ways. While the materials comprise a cohesive unit, the individual lesson plans stand on their own. This project is supported by a Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grant sponsored by The Dirksen Congressional Center, Pekin, IL. The author is Hilary G. Conklin who currently teaches 6th and 8th grade social studies at Lincoln School in Providence, RI.