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Trust for Representative Democracy

America's Legislators Back to School Week

Return to: Middle School Lesson Plan VII: The Legislative In-Basket

The Legislative In-Basket

• For this assessment, your group will pretend that you are special assistants to the legislator visiting our class.
• Your group is in charge of responding to each of the documents in the "Legislative In-Basket" given to each group.
• Included in your in-basket are 10 items that require a response. Some are actual documents from the local news; some have been contributed by our guest legislator; others are somewhat "fictitious"-- developed especially for this class activity.

Directions:

1. First, as a group briefly examine all the documents. Take a few minutes to talk about what you consider an appropriate response to each document for your legislator.
2. Next, divide the task among group members, using the chart below. For example, if you have 5 group members, each member should write out responses that address two different documents.
3. When your group is finished, we will ask our guest legislator to critique your work and provide feedback on your responses.

The Legislator In-Basket

This project is supported by a Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grant sponsored by The Dirksen Congressional Center, Pekin, IL.

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