Lesson on Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Aim: What are the different sectors of conventional political participation?

Bell Ringer: Ask students to form small groups for discussion. Tell them their topic is unconventional participation. Ask each group to brainstorm a list of unconventional methods that they have heard about or in which they have participated. (Allow a free flow of ideas with no censorship or debate.) After the brainstorming session, students can evaluate those methods using the following discussion questions:

a. What methods of political participation are most effective?

b. Can participation be satisfactory for the activists even if they do not achieve their original goals?

c. What are some unintended results of activism, both positive and negative?

Give the groups about fifteen minutes, and then reconvene the class to compare notes. Let a representative of each group summarize that group’s discussion and key points. Facilitate the exchange between students by remaining nonjudgmental and interested in their views.

(20 min)

Objectives: 

7.3 Distinguish between supportive acts and influencing acts of political participation. 

7.4 Trace the expansion of suffrage in the United States and assess the impact of expanded suffrage on voting turnout. 

Agenda: (slides 10-

1. Bell Ringer (25 min)

----
7.3 

2. Review Journal 37
3. "If people must operate outside government institutions to influence policy making, as civil rights workers had to do in the South, the system is not democratic."

4. Journal 38 - Describe two types of conventional political behavior: supportive behavior & influencing behavior. Give one example for each. (10 min)

5. Class Action Suits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IlXiZeDd1Q (play till 3:52)

7.4

6. Suffrage/Franchise: What does it mean to be disenfranchised?

7. Expansion of suffrage in the United States

Important years in suffrage: 1787, 1830, 1865, 1919, 1971

8. The Initiative Process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xBh6PxIxtE (9 min)

9. Initiative Assignment: (in the same small group as the Bell Ringer assignment)

A. Formulate an Initiative that will be submitted to your state legislature/council (title and summary).
B. Make sure it's constitutional; it must receive a stamp of approval by the class attorney general.
C. Make sure that your proposal has 5 of your classmate's signatures. (25 signatures in real life) Students who sign this support your initiative.
*note: members of your group cannot sign this initiative. You must walk around the class in order to get your signatures.
D. Calendar of Filing Dates (skip this part, since the Filing Date (due date) is tomorrow)
E. Tomorrow the class will vote on your initiative. (51% of registered voters must vote for this initiative in order for it to become law)

*note: your initiative must be on something that we as a society lack, or that people want that we currently don't have.

Home Learning:

1. Journal 39 - The U.S. often likes to think of itself as the world's greatest democracy, yet this chapter shows that voter participation in the U.S. lags behind most other democratic nations. What changes could be made to encourage more voter turnout?

2. Prepare your initiative to be presented in class to persuade voters. (5 min max)