Subjects: U.S. Government, U.S. History
Grade Level(s): 9-12
Time Frame: 3-4, 50-minute periods
Objectives [What the student should know and be able
to do at the end of the lesson]:
1.0 Overall: Students will know what the State of the
Union Address is and who is involved in it, understand the
purposes of the State of the Union Address, know the constitutional
powers of Congress, recognize examples of how the President
asks Congress to use its powers, explain how and why the State
of the Union Address has changed over time, identify important
issues in their surroundings and be able to write a speech
to address the issues, recognize the elements of an effective
State of the Union Address, and understand how politics plays
a part in the State of the Union Address and setting a congressional
agenda.
Bloom's Taxonomy: CongressLink lesson plans are built
around Bloom's
taxonomy. The purpose of the taxonomy is to provide a coherent
format for lessons and to make it easier for teachers to design
them according to CongressLink's standards.
2.0 Knowledge: Define: State of the Union Address,
legislative branch, executive branch. State the purpose(s)
of the State of the Union Address. Locate the section of the
Constitution that states that the president will inform Congress
of the State of the Union. List the powers of Congress as stated
in Article I of the Constitution. Read George Washington’s
first State
of the Union Address and list the powers of Congress that
he mentions.
3.0 Understanding: Summarize the setting for the first
State of the Union and Washington’s goals for Congress
and the nation. Students act as a reporter witnessing President
Washington’s address and write a newspaper article.
4.0 Application: By completing previous steps in this
lesson, students have discovered that Washington’s first
State of the Union closely follows the powers of Congress as
outlined in the Constitution. Students will next read the most
recent State of the Union Address and give examples of how
the president is asking Congress to use its constitutional
powers. Determine what congressional powers identified by Washington
seem less relevant in today’s world. Students create
a three column chart. The first column will list the powers
of Congress, the second will list corresponding examples of
how Washington wanted Congress to use the powers, and the third
column will list examples of how the current president wanted
Congress to use the powers.
5.0 Analysis: Compare and contrast the president’s
most recent State of the Union Address to Washington’s
first. Compare what was happening in the U.S., the setting
of the address, issues raised, and the purposes of each address.
Investigate the history of the State of the Union. Create a
time line, marking significant changes in how the message was
delivered, the purpose of the message, and the audience for
the message. Examine reasons why the changes might have occurred
and how the changes affected the tone of the message. Students
read the most recent State of the Union Address and compare
it to the first.
6.0 Synthesis: Acting as a speech writer for the president,
write a State of the Union Address (students use their own
political interests). Acting as the student body president,
write a State of the School Address for your student council
and school.
7.0 Evaluation: Based on each of the State of the Union
Addresses and acting as a congressional leader, set an agenda
for the 1st Congress and current Congress. Prioritize top five
goals and justify reasoning. Act as a political analyst and
write a critique of the president’s ideas and performance
in his State of the Union Address. Students create congressional
agendas and state their reasons for the priorities they set.
Students explain what they think are the strengths and weaknesses
of the speech and state how they believe Congress will respond
to the president’s ideas, based on the political party
divisions in Congress and in legislative- executive relations.
Materials:
Students require access to the Internet to do research, primarily
on CongressLink.
Comprehensive
guide to recent State of the Union messages, responses, and
media coverage
Congressional Quarterly, Congress A to Z. Washington,
DC: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1988
Bacon, Donald, Davidson, Roger, and Keller, Morton. The
Encyclopedia of the United States Congress, vol. 4 (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1995)
National Standards Addressed by Lesson [based on National
Standards for Civics and Government, Center for Civic Education,
1994. Citation based on section, subsection, standard of the
document]:
Distributing governmental power and preventing its abuse (III-A-1)
The institutions of national government (III-B-1)
Major responsibilities of the national government in domestic
and foreign policy (III-B-2)
The public agenda (III-E-1)
Political communication: television, radio, the press, and
political persuasion (III-E-3)
Evaluation/Assessment: See: http://www.congresslink.org/rubric/pdf
Author(s):
The Dirksen Congressional Center
fmackaman@dirksencenter.org
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