How should citizens utilize their state's legislative process to accomplish their goals?
In this lesson, students will explore the ways that they can use their state’s legislative process to accomplish their own civic goals. In particular, they will focus on their right as citizens to testify at a committee hearing.
How can citizens participate in their state’s legislative process?
- Explore the structure and functions of the state legislature
- Learn about the steps in the state legislative process
- Identify and evaluate opportunities for average citizens to participate in the state legislative process
- Reflect on the importance of citizen participation in the state legislative process
What are committee hearings, and how should citizens participate in them?
- Learn about the sequence of events involved in a committee hearing
- Reflect on multiple testifier perspectives
- Evaluate citizen testimonies and create a best practices guide for giving a strong testimony at a committee hearing
How can we use committee hearings to accomplish our goals?
- Analyze the act of testifying at a committee hearing from their own perspective (especially in reference to the Solution Plan Project)
- Consider the pros and cons of both direct and indirect forms of participating in a committee hearing
Discipline: Social Studies
Sub-discipline(s): Civics
Grade level: 9-12
Summative Performance Task
Description: The students will respond to a series of reflection questions, either in an essay or within the context of a dialogue, about the citizen’s right to testify at a committee hearing.
Assessment method(s): Essay, dialogue
Assessment criteria:
- Did the student demonstrate a basic understanding of the legislative process in their state?
- Could the student correctly list multiple ways that an average citizen can participate in this process?
- Did the student make strong arguments, backed by evidence/reasons, about the value of a citizen’s right to testify at a committee hearing?
- Did the student make strong arguments, backed by evidence/ reasons, about how they could further their own civic goals via a committee hearing (either directly or indirectly), and whether or not this kind of civic action would be worth their time and effort?
Taking Informed Action
Description: The students will create infographics that explain how they could accomplish their civic goals via a committee hearing.
Assessment method(s): Infographic
Assessment criteria:
- Is the student’s infographic neat, clear, and well-organized?
- Did the student correctly identify steps they would need to take in order to set their plan into action?
- Did the student identify individuals they might need to contact to set their plan into action?
- Did the student identify and describe the perspective of the testifier(s) featured in their plan?
- Overall, does the student’s infographic describe a detailed and well-thought-out plan of action related to civic action via a committee hearing?
Types of activities featured in this lesson plan...
C3 Standards
- D1.4.9-12. Explain how supporting questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge.
- D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
- D3.1.9-12. 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.
Interdisciplinary Connections
Give your students a more integrated educational experience
Overlapping standards and skills
- English: Activities in this lesson that involve writing (including the summative performance task) offer opportunities to assess the students’ writing skills. Language arts standards related to grade-level writing skills will be relevant.
- History: In this lesson, the students will identify the many perspectives from which a citizen can testify at a committee hearing. As they evaluate testimonies for their persuasiveness, they will also “identify how differing experiences can lead to the development of perspectives” (SS HS.4.3.a (US)).
- History: Learning about the unicameral structure of Nebraska’s Legislature also offers an opportunity for the students to dig deeper into the history of how the state’s government was created, as well as how it has evolved over time. In this way, the students would “analyze and evaluate patterns of continuity and change over time in American history (HS.4.1 (US))
- Fine Arts (Visual Arts): The taking informed action activity for this lesson involves creating an infographic to visually communicate a civic participation plan. As they complete this activity, “students will use the creative process to formulate a plan and implement aesthetic choices in artwork” (FA 12.2.1)
Relevant lessons from other disciplines
English Lesson: How can we write an effective paragraph using CREW?
Part of the "Civic Action - A Closer Look" collection
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