TeachingAboutCongress.org

During our annual Congress in the Classroom® workshop — http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm – participants are asked to introduce the lesson plans, resources, and techniques that have proven successful in teaching about Congress in their classrooms. A 2010 participant presented a lesson entitled, The U.S. Constitution Power Grab Game.

Overview
The highest law of the land in the United States is the Constitution. This is the basic principle we want young people to understand and support in our social studies classes. Associated with the knowledge of the Constitution are several fundamental ideas: checks and balances, separation of powers, Bill of Rights, and amendments.

Purpose
The purpose of this lesson plan is to encourage students to comprehend these points of emphasis and relate them to the study of the three branches of the federal government. Several activities are described. The culminating activity is the “Power Grab Game” given before the final test on the Constitution unit.

Objectives
Students will be able to (1) identify the three branches of American government, (2) describe the function of each branch of government, (3) explain how the “checks and balances” system functions to protect the individual citizen from power-hungry politicians, (4) describe how each branch of government is “separate” in its powers from the other branches of government, and (5) explain how the amendments to the Constitution function today.

Find The U.S. Constitution Power Grab Game at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_powergame.htm

A contest challenging seventh through twelfth-grade educators to submit lesson plans based on selected content on The Dirksen Center’s web suite.

Who Can Participate
The contest is open to seventh through twelfth-grade educators who have attended one of The Dirksen Congressional Center’s Congress in the Classroom® workshops.

About the Contest
The objective is to use one of our selected resources on our web suite to create a new lesson plan to be posted on our website. Here are the selected resource links: http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/index.htm ; http://congressionaltimeline.org/ ; http://www.congresslink.org/civilrights/index.htm ; http://www.dirksencenter.org/1945trip/index.htm ; http://dirksencenter.org/leadershiprace/index.htm ; http://dirksencenter.org/guides_emd/Minutes%201961-1968/index.htm
The entry deadline is January 31, 2011. Winners will be notified by February 15, 2011.

Submission Details
Please submit your lesson plan using the following link: http://www.congresslink.org/PHPMailer-FE_v4.0.6/lpcontestform.html

Award
Two teachers will be chosen to present their lesson plan at a panel discussion during the 20th edition of Congress in the Classroom 2011. Your registration fee of $125 will be waived. The Center will pay for your transportation (subject to limitations) and your hotel stay for the duration of the workshop.

During our annual Congress in the Classroom® workshop — http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm — participants are asked to introduce the lesson plans, resources, and techniques that have proven successful in teaching about Congress in their classrooms. A 2010 participant, Jodi Robertson, Bunsold Middle School, Marysville, OH, presented a lesson entitled, Finding Purpose in Political Propaganda Mailers.
This lesson will help students learn how to critically analyze political propaganda mailers. They will understand how political mailers can be used to better inform themselves on a political issue or candidate. Students will use research to develop an informed opinion on a political issue or candidate and they will participate in the political process via letter writing.
Find Finding Purpose in Political Propaganda Mailers at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_polpropmailers.htm

     This lesson invites students to compare and contrast the campaign brochures of two candidates for the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1950 in order to (1) determine what elements make for an effective brochure (both content and design); (2) assess the relative effectiveness of the two examples; (3) understand what messages a campaign brochure intends to send; and (4) appreciate the similarities and differences between political campaigns of today and half a century ago.

     Find this lesson, What Makes a Great Campaign Brochure, created by the staff of The Dirksen Congressional Center at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_campaignbrochure.htm

Looking for a simple classroom simulation of congressional activity? Check out http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_simulatecongaction.htm located on The Center’s CongressLink website. After completing this lesson, students will have a practical understanding of the congressional system of committees and floor action. Students also will have engaged directly in informal negotiations with fellow student-legislators in order to get legislation passed.

Visit http://www.congresslink.org/print_expert_voice.htm to read “The Voices of Your Classroom are the Voices of Our Future” by Everett M. Dirksen (The Instructor, 1967). In his words:

Political apathy is dangerous in that, while it causes no concrete destruction, it also offers no positive contribution. Couple apathy with the often negative and destructive activities of political dissidents, and we have a cause for concern. When there are in evidence no positive demonstrations to counter draft protesters, flag burnings, looting, and the destruction of private property, we must ask why. Where are the strong and enthusiastic youth we would expect to rally to the defense of their nation and its heritage?

The answer, I believe, lies in apathy. The young, strong voices that we need so much to hear at the present time lie dormant. Youth is indifferent. Our young people are not solely to blame for their lack of commitment and involvement. They are merely imitating the example that most Americans have set for them. “We learn anything,” wrote William Heard Kilpatrick, “in the degree that we live it, in the degree that we count it important to us, in the degree that we accept it in our hearts for use in life.”

Dirksen continues by stressing the importance of teaching good citizenship.