Investigation:
Collaborate with your 2-3 group members and find a problem in our
community that you believe can be fixed by creating a new law.
Preparation:
Write a draft of a law that you create to benefit your community by
fixing the problem you've identified. Research political party
tendencies using provided data. Decide which demographics you will need
to convince to support your bill, and which demographics will likely
already agree with you.
Action: A. Create a plan to promote your bill among the demographic you will need to convince to support your bill. B.
Draft a form letter for your letter writing campaign. Collect filled
out copies of your letter to deliver to the appropriate government body.
Reflection:
10 minute quick writes at the beginning of each class reflecting on
your progress thus far, and your plans moving forward. On the day of
presentations, the quick write will be on what you would do differently
next time.
Demonstration: Student presentations of their promotion plan and form letter.
Evaluation: Self evaluation based on provided rubric. Predict if a bill similar to your own will be voted on and/or passed in the next ten years.
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY: Example Rubric The students are participating in a social justice and equity plan by creating their own laws. Many students who are going to be of voting age soon do not understand their role in a democracy. Students will explore the actions needed to propose a law and how they can make their voice heard through Congress. Students are actively taking part in changing their world by proposing laws and rallying for support. After presenting their law to the class, the students will have a strong grasp on how they can change their world for the better through the democratic system.
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS: In this activity, students will be able to use their creativity and technological skills to produce a commercial/advertisement. Students will be shown several different forms of media (posters, video commercial, print commercials, political cartoons) relating to Proposition 34. The students will fill out a graphic organizer while viewing to start their understanding of what makes a compelling commercial and how they themselves could implement this. This commercial/advertisement will be presented and analyzed by the class.
SERVICE LEARNING: Example Task Menu Students
will practice the skill of advocacy in their service learning project
by collaborating with their group members to apply the knowledge gained
during the preceding lessons of the unit. Students will participate in
learning what research and effort goes into creating a law to benefit
their community and then getting it passed. They will keep daily
journals reflecting on their progress and plans for the rest of the
unit, and they will give a presentation on their final project
consisting of their bill, the rationale behind choosing that topic,
their plan to promote it, and the results of their letter writing
campaign. There is a genuine need for young adults to gain hands on
experience participating in their government, so that they are prepared
to be involved once they are of voting age.
Students will be working collaboratively in groups to produce a law. Students will be placed into groups by the teacher. Students will, with their group, identify a social justice problem going on around them. With their group, they will draft a bill that attempts to remedy the problem they’ve identified. Groups will use their knowledge of the political parties (gained in previous lessons within the unit) to determine who might vote on this, who their target audience is, how they can refine an ad campaign to sway congress people or the public (depending if it was a ballot initiative or a bill in the California Assembly). Students have the option of using a variety of media types to promote their proposed law. They will be responsible for addressing the counterargument to their bill in the ad. Students present their proposal and their ad campaign to the class and complete peer assessments. This collaboration will help to prepare students for life out side of high school, teaching them how to work with others and share ideas/responsibility.