Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional Center's Communicator - a web-based e-newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to enhance civic education and improve the understanding of Congress -- http://www.webcommunicator.org

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NEWS FROM THE DIRKSEN CENTER
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Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grants

DEADLINE: May 1, 2003

The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for grants totaling $35,000 in the two selection rounds, October 2002 and May 2003, to help teachers, curriculum developers, and others improve the quality of civics instruction, with priority on the role of Congress in our federal government. Areas of interest include designing lesson plans, creating student activities, and applying instructional technology in the classroom.

Teachers (4th through 12th grades), community college faculty, and college and university faculty are eligible as are teacher-led student teams and individuals who develop curriculum. Priority will be given to the following disciplines: history, government, social studies, political science, and education.

Institutions and organizations are eligible under certain conditions. Inter-institutional consortia and other groups of individuals may apply, but grant funds may not be used to defray indirect costs or overhead expenses. The funds are intended solely to produce "deliverables" of use to classroom teachers.

Final proposals must be e-mailed or postmarked by no later than May 1, 2003. Complete information about eligibility and application procedures can be found at The Center's Web site -- http://www.dirksencenter.org/grantmichelciviced.htm. The Center does not provide an application form. You may find it helpful to review the sample grant proposal at --
http://www.dirksencenter.org/grantmichelcivicsample.htm. Frank Mackaman is the program officer.

Congratulations CongressLink!

Tech Learning: The Resource for Education Technology Leaders - selected CongressLink as the site of the day based on its functionality, content, design and organization, and use of technology. Find this citation: www.techlearning.com/content/outlook/webpicks/archive/2003/3-10.html Selection criteria can be found at: http://www.techlearning.com/content/outlook/webpicks/criteria.html

Clickschooling Citation

Clickschooling: Curriculum Ideas for Homeschoolers - searches the Internet to recommend one educational Web site each day: Monday-Math; Tuesday-Science; Wednesday-Language Arts; Thursday-History and Social Studies; Friday-Virtual Field Trips, and Weekends are for electives - art, music, foreign languages, and more. Congress for Kids, falling under the history and social studies category, was recommended as the site of the day on March 13.

Government Printing Office -- GPO

The United States government is well represented on the Internet. Many government agencies have designed Web sites to disseminate information and advertise products and services. Physical access to U.S. Government Documents is important. In the age of the Internet, the complexity of access can be navigated and achieved with the assistance of resources posted on The Dirksen Center's Web suite - http://www.dirksencongressionalcenter.org.

U.S. government documents are essential in supporting teaching and research in many academic departments, schools, and programs. Through the Government Printing Office (GPO) and its predecessor agencies, the government provides online access to a variety of information since 1790. Find our AboutGovernment hot link, Government Printing Office (GPO) at: http://www.aboutgovernment.org/legislativebranch.htm

GPO Access is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). It links the public, at not cost, to electronic information available from all three branches of the federal government. This reliable and timely service can be found at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/. GPO Access includes the Congress Record, the official daily record of the floor proceedings of the House and Senate. It reports on all floor debates, including material submitted by the members in support of their positions on various bills and issues of the day. The GPO publishes the Congressional Record and offers an online, searchable database for 1995, 1996, and 1997. Find The Congressional Record via GPO Access at: http://www.congresslink.org/websites.htm

GPO Access also contains over 1,900 databases. Those that pertain to Congress are listed below:

(1) Congressional Bills - Contains all published versions of each bill of Congress

(2) Congressional Directory - The official directory of the U.S. Congress, prepared by the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP).

(3) Congressional Hearings - Meetings of a committee or subcommittee to take testimony in order to gather information and opinions on proposed legislation, conduct an investigation, or review the operation or other aspects of a federal agency or program.

(4) Congressional Record - The official record of the debates and proceedings of the House and Senate.

(5) Congressional Record Index - Serves as the index to the Congressional Record.

(6) GAO Reports - Contain reports on audits, surveys, investigations, and evaluations of federal programs conducted by the General Accounting Office (GAO).

(7) History of Bills - Lists legislative actions on bills that are reported in the Congressional Record.

(8) House Journal - The official record of proceedings of each legislative day in the House of Representatives.

(9) Public Laws - Contains laws signed by the President.

(10) United States Code - The codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States.

To link to resources that detail these legislative applications, find Government Printing Office at: http://www.congresslink.org/websites.htm

Teachers can use many of these sources in combination. For example, the Congressional Bills, History of Bills, Congressional Record, Public Laws, and United States Code sources can be used to obtain a detailed history of a bill. The GPO Access Training Manual is available on the Internet in PDF format and includes a section that demonstrates how various sources relate to each other. On page 47 of this training manual, you will find an example of how to use GPO Access to obtain to detailed history of a bill or to track legislation currently proposed in Congress. Download the training manual at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/help/trainingbk/index.html

Teachers, do your students know that the executive branch of our government is made up of more than two hundred different agencies and corporations? These agencies and corporations administer government programs in all areas of American life. We know many of these agencies and corporations by their acronyms. Have your students polish up their familiarity with the acronyms' names by taking the Acquired American Acronyms quiz on Congress for Kids at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/executivebranch/ 2_execbranch.htm

Featured Project

This month our featured project is a $4,000 Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grant awarded to Plainville High School in Connecticut. This project, Curriculum Units for Civics and American Government Courses, developed a comprehensive concept-based curriculum for both the civics course and the American government course at Plainville High School. Each curriculum unit will include Performance Based Learning and Assessment tasks that engage students in learning about government. Teachers will be able to determine what the students know and how they apply their knowledge about the critical concepts in civics and government. Learn more about this project and others at:
http://www.dirksencenter.org/grantmichelciviced.htm#2002

Do you have a project? Submit a grant proposal! For more information about how to submit a Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grants proposal, please visit: http://www.dirksencenter.org/grantmichelciviced.htm

Department Dim or Agency Able?

1. What U.S. government department or agency gathers strategic information about other countries, evaluates it, and passes it on to the president?

A) General Services Administration
B) Central Intelligence Agency
C) Environmental Protection Agency
D) Bureau of Labor Statistics

2. Lobbyists for school administrators try writing letters, testifying at agency hearings, and other ways to influence the decisions of what U.S. government department or agency?

A) Department of Labor
B) Commerce Department
C) Department of Education
D) Food and Drug Administration

3. The United States Secret Service, which provides protection for the president, vice president, and other officials, is a branch of the _____.

A) Department of Justice
B) Department of Treasury
C) Department of Defense
D) Department of Labor

4. The main difference between private and government corporations is that _____

A) One has a board of directors and the other has executive officers.
B) Investors support private corporations and Congress supports government corporations.
C) One reinvests profits and the other returns them to taxpayers.
D) Private corporations are flexible and government corporations are rigid.

Answers to the March issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link here: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0303ans.htm

That's all for April! Encourage your colleagues to subscribe to the Communicator. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, contact Cindy Koeppel. Your feedback makes a difference!