About Us
Congress: The Context
SUBJECTS
U.S. Government, Civics, U.S. History
GRADE LEVEL
9-12
OBJECTIVES
This is a very useful lesson plan when discussing the process of creating laws. It is also a way to help make students aware of current situations in American government. While it does not cover all aspects of creating laws, it is a great way for students to have a definite opinion about a current political issue, which helps in discussing policy standards of presidential candidates.
LESSON PLAN
Step 1: Review the newspaper for three current event issues. These issues should be more broad than specific. Examples would be: punishment for sex offenders, gun control, and gay marriage.
Step 2: Write these topics on the whiteboard or the like. Explain that the students will be divided into groups of two, and three of these groups will be responsible for writing five laws dealing with one of the topics. The choice is theirs.
Step 3: Using the State Selection Sheet, have each student draw out a slip of paper with a state name on it. This will determine the teams. The teacher should use discretion with random selection to make sure all teams are as equal as possible.
Step 4: Once teams are selected, the teacher picks the three “states” that must work together to create the laws. These teams then select an approved topic and announce the choice to the class. While these “states” are busy with brainstorming, the other “states” need to be reading news or magazine stories dealing with the chosen topic. Each group must come up with five ways to improve the current situation with regard to the chosen topic, plus any questions they believe should be addressed by the presenting teams.
Step 5: Theteams which wrote the laws must have each member present one law along with the reasoning behind it. One of the team members will have to present twice. During the presentation, the teacher rates each member using the State Evaluation Sheet.
Step 6: After the initial presentation, the other “states” must debate whether the initial laws meet all the needs of the issue and ask any questions needed for clarification. The teacher should be a part of this discussion in order to keep it on track and to bring up any issues that the students have neglected.
Step 7: After the time allowed for the debate, the laws are put to a vote to see who supports them. In case of a tie, the teacher is the breaking vote.
RESOURCES
Whiteboard and marker or chalkboard and chalk
CREDIT
Jessica Hunsberger
Englewood Christian Academy
Independence, MO
