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Trust for Representative Democracy

America's Legislators Back to School Week

Return to: Lesson Plans--High School, Middle School, Elementary School

Middle School Lesson Plan VI - How Should Our Guest Legislator Decide?

Introduction

Students and a guest legislator participate in a simulated legislative hearing in which the legislator and his/her staff seek input from constituents about a bill to raise the age at which teenagers can obtain a driver's license from age16 to 18. Students take on the roles of parents, insurance companies, state highway commissioners, police officers and used car salesmen. Students groups present testimony before the guest legislator and several students role-playing staff members. The guest legislator debriefs the lesson with students, comparing the simulated hearing to an actual hearing.

Objectives:

At the conclusion of this activity, students should be able to:

• define common welfare in the context of competing interests in their community;
• explain the importance of a legislator seeking input from diverse members of the community;
• participate in a simulated legislative hearing.

Materials:

Teaching Time:

Procedure:

1. As students learned in an earlier lesson, What Is a Public Policy, the main responsibility of the legislative branch is to pass policies that protect individual rights and promote the common welfare. To begin this lesson, ask the guest legislator to conduct a short brainstorming session (5 minutes) in which students list all the ideas that come to mind when they hear the term, common welfare. The teacher should list their ideas on the board.
2. Ask the guest legislator to explain to students how he/she learns about a problem (letters, phone calls, emails, debates, committee meetings). Distribute Handout #6 to students. After reading the handout, divide class into 8 even groups. One group should work with the guest legislator and represent his staff. The other groups should represent constituents in your state by assuming the following roles: parents, insurance companies, youth, state highway commissioners, police officers, and used car salesmen.
3. Allow about 5-7 minutes for groups to develop a position based on their roles and to prepare a short presentation for the public hearing. Each of the groups should tell the legislator and staff how the legislator should vote on this issue at a public hearing to be held in several minutes. Groups should select a primary spokesperson, though others may make additional comments.
4. While the constituent groups are preparing their testimony, the guest legislator and students assigned to role play staff members should brainstorm several questions they will ask each group following each group's testimony.
5. Arrange the classroom so that the guest legislator and his staff are in the front of the room for the public hearing. Teachers may wish to make name cards for the legislator and staff. Ask the guest legislator to call on each of the groups (7) to hear their testimony. Teachers should act as timekeepers, making sure that students' testimony does not exceed 2-3 minutes.
6. After each group has presented, the legislator and his/her staff should discuss the problem and decide what action to take. This group should then explain their decision to the class. This discussion should ocurr in front of the class. Only the legislator and his/her staff should be allowed to speak.
7. To debrief this lesson, allow students to ask questions of the guest legislators. Suggested follow-up questions are also given below:

• How realistic was our legislative hearing compared to real hearings? What are the similarities and differences between our class hearing and actual hearings?
• What happens when constituent needs and wants conflict with what a legislator believes to be right?
• What happens when constituent needs and wants conflict with the common welfare?
• What issues do you think our class should watch for in this legislative session?
• Of these issues, which may pose similar dilemmas between constituent views and your own personal views? Between the common good and your constituents' interests?
• What are the powerful interests in our state?

* This lesson is adapted from: We the People.....the Citizen and the Constitution (elementary edition), Center for Civic Education, Calabasas, CA, p. 84-86.

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

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