Communicator: [Archives] February 2006

COMMUNICATOR UPDATE: February 2006

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Leadership in Congress
2. The Job of Leading Congress
3. The 1960s: A Multi-Media View From Capitol Hill
4. Apply Now!: Congress In The Classroom® 2006
5. Diversity in Congress
6. Postscript Information

1. LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS

Representative John Boehner of Ohio was chosen by his colleagues as Republican Majority Leader for the United States House on February 2, 2006.

The following information is available about Representative Boehner: Biographical, Issue Positions (NPAT), Campaign Finances, Interest Group Ratings, and Public Statements. This information can be found on Project Vote Smart at: http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H3092103.

You will find Project Vote Smart among many other sites related to politics posted on our AboutGovernment site.

A full list of the leadership in Congress can be found on CongressLink.

2. THE JOB OF LEADING CONGRESS

The Dirksen Center has developed a WebQuest to introduce students to the duties of a leader in the House of Representatives. What jobs do these people, elected by their colleagues, fulfill? What are their qualifications?

WebQuest: The Job of Leading Congress -- http://congresslink.org/print_teaching_webquests_leading.htm -- asks students, as individuals, to take on the role of a newly-elected U.S. Representative from the district in which they reside. Students must decide what kind of person she or he would support as leader.

WebQuest: Who Leads the House and Senate -- http://www.congressclass.org/print_workproduct9.htm -- teaches students about the leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the 109th Congress. The name of each position is given, and students will discover the name of the person who holds that position and their main duties.

While the U.S. Constitution outlines the general qualifications and responsibilities of the office, the professional life of a Congress member is complicated and pressure-packed. The Job of a Member of Congress is a CongressLink lesson plan designed to introduce students to the complex job of a Congress member.

3. THE 1960S: A MULTI-MEDIA VIEW FROM CAPITOL HILL

The Illinois Humanities Council -- http://www.prairie.org/ -- has awarded The Dirksen Center a grant of $2,000 to assist with our new Web-based project, The 1960s: A Multi-Media View from Capitol Hill.

The New Frontier, the Great Society -- terms identified with the epochal decade of the 1960s, a time of social, cultural, and political change. The 1960s: A Multi-Media View from Capitol Hill documents the public policy challenges resulting from those tumultuous times using a unique body of records housed in The Center's historical collections -- the minutes and press conferences of the Joint Senate-House Republican Leadership, 1963-68.

This grant will help The Center put samples of the famous "Ev and Charlie" and "Ev and Jerry" shows -- the Republican leadership press conferences which put Dirksen in the limelight -- online. We plan to have the transcripts of those events as well as audio recordings, so the Web presentation will be multi-media.

4. APPLY NOW!: CONGRESS IN THE CLASSROOM® 2006

** Call For Participation: Congress in the Classroom® 2006**

DEADLINE: March 30, 2006

The 2006 program will feature a broad overview of Congress with special attention to the mid-year elections of 2006. Tentative session titles are:

A View from Capitol Hill -- The Honorable Ray LaHood, (R-IL, 18th District, U.S. House of Representatives)
Congressional Insight: An Interactive Simulation of a Member's First Term in the House of Representatives -- Bethany Dame, National Association of Manufacturers
We Already Know the Winners: The Demise of Congressional General Elections -- Harvey Tucker, Texas A&M University
How Legislators' Experiences as Candidates Affect Their Behavior as Policymakers in Congress -- Tracy Sulkin, University of Illinois
Ten Things Your Students Should Know about Congress -- Frank Mackaman, The Dirksen Congressional Center
C-SPAN in the Classroom: Where Content Clicks!-- Joanne Wheeler, C-SPAN
How to Get Your Point Across to Congress Members -- Stephanie Vance, AdVanced Communications
The Dirksen Center Web Suite as a Resource for Teachers -- Cindy Koeppel, The Dirksen Congressional Center
View from the Other End of the Avenue: The Legislative Presidency -- Jeffrey Weinberg, Adjunct faculty, American University and George Washington University
What We Can Expect from the 2006 Congressional Elections -- Lauren Whittington, Roll Call
*NEW* -- The Capitol Hill Experience: From the Viewpoint of American Political Science Association Fellows -- Artemus Ward, Northern Illinois University and APSA Fellow, 2002-03, assigned to the House Judiciary Committee
*NEW* -- Teaching About Civic Competency -- Jeffrey Bernstein, Eastern Michigan University

Other Program Highlights

In addition to the hour-long sessions above, The Center will offer what we call "Sound Bites," or 15-minute sessions, on campaign commercials, campaign literature, a film clip of Senator Dirksen explaining the nature of congressional leadership, a new Web feature dealing with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among other possibilities.

Take a look at The Dirksen Center Web site - http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm -- to see what participants say about the program and to learn more about the scheduled sessions and presenters.

Registration

If you are interested in registering for the Congress in the Classroom® 2006 workshop, you can complete an online registration form found at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/programs_CiCapplication.htm.

5. DIVERSITY IN CONGRESS

For most of its history, the U.S. Congress has been a largely white male affair. As the membership becomes more diverse, test your wits about those who broke ground. Find Diversity in Congress on Congress for Kids.

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