Victor Lynde

Education 302-303
Prof. Sara Leo
Professional Literature Section
Professional Literature

Article #1: The Evolution of a Bill: Teaching Legislative Process

This article, which deals with explaining the legislative process in a

simple and easy to understand way, if very helpful to my Unit in regards to

its impact on the shaping of one of my lessons that deals with the process of

putting a bill through both houses on Congress. This lesson functions as a set

up for upcoming lessons, which will be taught by my mentor-teacher, as he

goes into more detailed and nuanced explanation of the creation of a Bill and

its passing into law.

To summarize, Christine Blackerbys article, which appeared in the

Teaching Content and Process section of the Journal of Social Education,

explains the legislative process by using a simplistic, but effective, historical

example of the passage of a Bill through Congress. The example looks at a

bill submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives on February 8, 1954 by

Congressman Edward Rees of Kansas to establish a national holiday to

celebrate and honor veterans of the United States military. Blackerby careful

goes through each step of the process, at times inserting a quote for the US

Constitution to show how this process is determined and where is comes

from. For example, on page 369 Blackerby discusses how the Bill to make

Veterans Day a holiday has to go through both the House of Representatives

as well as the Senate, and it has to do so with identical wording; as she

points to the specific events along happening in 1954, she also cites Article I,

Section 7 of U.S. Constitution and prints the section mid-paragraph.

This has helped inform an activity I have planned for my final lesson,

which deals with factions within Congress, a simplistic demonstration of the

difficulties surrounding partisanship, and provides a segue into the following

lessons, which as I mentioned before will cover the process on making and

passing a Bill. Specifically, after the digital/social media activity I have

planned, which demonstrates factions, I draw from this article in how I

construct the follow up activity. In the following activity the class,

incorporating the factions developed from the previous activity, attempt to

pass a series of national holidays which surround hot-button issues. For

example, the National Gay Rights Day and National Self-Defense Day will

have support from the factions within specific parties, but likely wont a

general assembly of Congress, while a National Drug Sentencing Reform

Day would be more likely to pass because there is enough bipartisanship

between the parties on this issue that such a national holiday could be

affirmed.

Additionally, other details I wasnt aware of can be incorporated into

the activity; such as that the President of the Senate, who is the Vice-

President, has to stamp and sign the legislation before it goes to the

President. And the President is required to sign or veto the law within 10

days or the Bill will become Law automatically. Because of the class election,
these formalities can be fused into the activity by having the class President

and class Vice-President fulfil these roles of stamping and signing.

Article #2: Simulations Engage Students In Active Learning

This article, which deals with the benefits of simulations and their role

in promoting active learning, has been extremely helpful for me in this unit

and has influenced my use of simulations and similar activities to help

students better understand the content. Three of my four lessons contain a

simulation or similar activity.

This article, which is an interview by Education World of Max Fischer,

who is a National Board Certified teacher in the area of early adolescence

and the author of a book of simulation activities for the social studies

classroom, serves as a great touch off point for some basics surrounding

simulations. According to Fischer, a simulation is a staged replication of an

event or concept through the teacher's manipulation of the classroom setting

in order to enhance students' understanding of the nature of the concept or

event (Fischer 1). To break that down, a simulation helps enrich students

understanding of different concepts or events that might otherwise be

difficult for some to grasp; it does this when a teacher facilitates and guides

students into an activity which is a simplified replica of that difficult concept

or event. For Fischer, a simulation can last as short as a few minutes in

length to as long as several days. Fischer also notes the importance of

engaging and analyzing student reactions to certain simulations. He tells the

story of how a simulation regarding the African slave trade had been

sensitive to some students. While it was effective in many ways, because he

felt if might put some students in a difficult and very uncomfortable position

he never used that simulation again.

By contrast he speaks on how a powerful simulation, like his King

M&Ms simulation really hit home the effects of King Georges taxes so that

the students could really understand the historical event more thoroughly.

According to Fischer, simulations should be built around the idea that basic

human emotion has driven many events and figures in world history; as

looking for emotional catalysts within historical events or concepts will help

you develop better simulations.

In application, this article on the use and importance of simulations has

informed the fact that I have a number of them. In my first lesson I create a

simple simulation to emulate the structure of Congress in a way that gets the

students moving and helps them visualize it more clearly. In my third lesson I

use a simulation surrounding the committee system, which helps students

better understand the nuts and bolts of the legislative process. And in my

fourth lesson I integrate social media into a simulation to demonstrate

political factions within parties and how this leads to coalition building as well

as partisanship.

Works Cited

Fischer, M. (2017, February 6). Simulations Engage Students In Active

Learning. Retrieved April 18, 2017, from
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr391.shtml
Blackerby, C. (2005). The Evolution of a Bill: Teaching Legislative Process.
Social Education, 366-370. Retrieved April 19, 2017, from
http://www.socialstudies.org/publications/socialeducation/november-
december2005/evolution-of-a-bill-teaching-legislative-process