Subjects: Civics, US Government, US History
Grade Level(s): 9-12th grades
Time Frame [Based on 50-minute periods (e.g., 4, 50-minute
periods)]: 3-4, 50-minute class periods
Objectives [What the student should know and be able
to do at the end of the lesson]:
1.0 Overall: This lesson will address the role of standing committees in Congress. Students will learn how to depict the standing committees in Congress kinesthetically and visually. They will be able to explain why each committee is important to Congress and analyze the difference between standing and select committees.
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. If you are preparing a lesson, be sure to read the detailed
information about the taxonomy -- it will be a big help.
2.0 Knowledge: Students will be aware of the wide variety of topics standing committees deal with, that is, their jurisdictions. Students will bring in an object(s) that represents their assigned committee and place the object in the House or Senate Committee Chest.
3.0 Understanding: Students will understand how to depict the standing committees in Congress kinesthetically and visually.
4.0 Application: Students will be asked to apply their knowledge about congressional committees to committees in their school.
5.0 Analysis: Students will explain why each committee is important to Congress.
6.0 Synthesis: Students will explain how congressional committees and school committees compare in the functions and operations.
7.0 Evaluation: Students will write a reflection suggesting how congressional committees might be improved.
Procedure/Sequence
Vocabulary
- Subcommittee
- Select committee
- Joint committee
- Conference committee
- Standing committee
- Committee jurisdiction
Step 1: Assign students a standing committee from the House and/or Senate. (For smaller classes you may need to assign students multiple committees to make sure they are covered.)
House Committee |
Senate Committee |
- Agriculture
- Appropriations
- Armed Services
- Budget
- Education and the Workforce
- Energy and Commerce
- Financial Services
- Government Reform
- Homeland Security
- House Administration
- International Relations
- Judiciary
- Resources
- Rules
- Science
- Small Business
- Standard of Official Conduct
- Transportation and Infrastructure
- Veterans’ Affairs
- Ways and Means
|
- Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
- Appropriations
- Armed Services
- Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
- Budget
- Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Energy and Natural Resources
- Environment and Public Works
- Finance
- Foreign Relations
- Homeland Security and Government Affairs
- Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Judiciary
- Rules and Administration
- Small Business and Entrepreneurship
- Veterans’ Affairs
|
Students will visit the Web sites of the House and the Senate and link to their committee web site in order to determine their committee’s jurisdiction.
Step 2: The students must bring in an object(s) that represents a subject with their assigned committee’s jurisdiction. Have them place the object in the House or Senate Committee Chest.
Step 3: Students come up one at a time and pick an object from one of the boxes. They must guess which committee the object represents. (It helps if you have the list of committees on the board and you erase them as you go.)
Step 4: The student who brought in the object must then come up in front of the class and explain why the committee is important and why it is a standing committee instead of a select committee.
Step 5: Students will identify various committees and groups within their school and determine their “jurisdictions.”
Step 6: Students will compare the two sets of committees.
Step 7: When all of the committees have been explained, the students will write a reflection. They must write about their committee and why they chose that object to represent its jurisdiction. They must also suggest how congressional committees might be improved.
Materials
Two large boxes, one labeled “House Committee” and the other labeled “Senate Committee.”
Access to the House and Senate Web sites.
National Standards Addressed by Lesson [based on National Standards for Civics and Government, Center for Civic Education, http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=912toc]:
IIA. How are power and responsibility distributed, shared, and limited in the government established by the United States Constitution?
IIB. How is the national government organized and what does it do?
Evaluation/Assessment: Grading presentations and group participation checklist.
Author(s):
Sara Piotrowski
Plainfield Central High School
Plainfield, IL |
