A lesson, one period, grade 7 and up
A legislator's week
What a legislator does all week, and how little of it shows on the record of their own bills. Read your school's Three against the numbers.
- Grades
- 7 and up
- Time
- About 45 minutes
Standards
D2.Civ.1 C3 Framework
- Grades 6-8
- Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.
- Grades 9-12
- Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions.
D2.Civ.5 C3 Framework
- Grades 6-8
- Explain the origins, functions, and structure of government with reference to the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, and selected other systems of government.
- Grades 9-12
- Evaluate citizens' and institutions' effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
D3.1 C3 Framework
- Grades 6-8
- Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
- Grades 9-12
- Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
The C3 Framework and Common Core publish these by grade band, so each is shown at every band it has. Neither framework goes above grade 12.
Objectives
- List the kinds of work a legislator does in a week and say which ones appear on the record of the bills they sponsor.
- Use the record's own numbers to describe how often a legislator's own bills have any action.
- Explain why the calendar, including breaks and the weeks before an election, shapes what the record shows.
- Read their school's Three against those numbers and describe what the record can and cannot tell them about how busy a legislator is.
Words this lesson uses
Sponsor · Any action · Hearing · Committee
Defined on the student handout.
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