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:
- People Who Served in Congress
- Congress Defined
- *New* What Do Students See When They Look at Congress?
- *New* Lesson Plan: You Can Lead a Class to Water, But Can You Make It Think? (An Activity for Teaching the Concept of “Implied Power”)*
- *New* Editorial Cartoons
- What Project is Next? – Congressional Timeline Project
- The President’s Cabinet From Congress for Kids & Trivia
- Postscript Information
- PEOPLE WHO SERVED IN CONGRESS
Sketches of famous and not-so-famous Senators and Representatives
Henry Styles Bridges (1898-1961) In 1959, named one of the five “most outstanding” former members of the Senate. For more information about the process of selecting these five, visit: http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Famous_Five_Seven.htm. What follows is the official biographical entry for Bridges. A Senator from New Hampshire; born in West Pembroke, Washington County, Maine, September 9, 1898; attended the public schools; graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1918; instructor at Sanderson Academy, Ashfield, Mass., 1918-1919; member of the extension staff of the University of New Hampshire at Durham 1921-1922; secretary of the New Hampshire Farm Bureau Federation 1922-1923; editor of the Granite Monthly Magazine 1924-1926; director and secretary of the New Hampshire Investment Co. 1924-1929; member of the New Hampshire Public Service Commission 1930-1934; lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve Corps 1925-1937; Governor of New Hampshire 1934-1936; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1936, 1942, 1948, 1954, and again in 1960, and served from January 3, 1937, until his death on November 26, 1961; minority leader 1952-1953; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Eighty-third Congress; chairman, Joint Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation (Eightieth Congress), Joint Committee on Inaugural Arrangements (Eighty-second and Eighty-fourth Congresses), Committee on Appropriations (Eightieth and Eighty-third Congresses), Republican Policy Committee (Eighty-fourth through Eighty-seventh Congresses); died in East Concord, N.H., November 26, 1961; interment in Pine Grove Cemetery.
Sources:
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000823
African-Americans in Congress: Richard Harvey Cain (1825-1887). A Representative from South Carolina; born in Greenbrier County, Va., April 12, 1825; moved with his father to Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1831 and attended school; entered the ministry, and was a pastor in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 1861 to 1865; moved to South Carolina in 1865 and settled in Charleston; delegate to the constitutional convention of South Carolina in 1868; member of the State senate 1868-1872; manager of a newspaper in Charleston in 1868; elected as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1875); was not a candidate for renomination in 1874; elected to the Forty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1879); was not a candidate for renomination in 1878; appointed a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1880 and served until his death in Washington, D.C., January 18, 1887; interment in Graceland Cemetery.
Sources:
Black Americans in Congress: http://baic.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=2
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000022
Women in Congress: Ruth Hanna McCormick (1880-1944). (daughter of Marcus Alonzo Hanna, wife of Joseph Medill McCormick and of Albert Gallatin Simms), a Representative from Illinois; born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 27, 1880; attended Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland, Dobbs Ferry (N.Y.) School, and Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Conn.; owned and operated a dairy and breeding farm near Byron, Ill.; publisher and president of the Rockford Consolidated Newspapers (Inc.), Rockford, Ill.; chairman of the first woman’s executive committee of the Republican National Committee, and an associate member of the national committee 1919-1924, in the latter year becoming the first elected national committeewoman from Illinois and served until 1928; active worker for the suffrage amendment from 1913 until the Constitution was amended; elected as a Republican to the Seventy-first Congress (March 4, 1929-March 3, 1931); was not a candidate for renomination in 1930, having received the Republican nomination for United States Senator, in which election she was unsuccessful; resumed her newspaper interests; married Albert Gallatin Simms, of New Mexico, who was also a Member of the Seventy-first Congress; and resided in Albuquerque, N.Mex.; died in Chicago, Ill., on December 31, 1944; interment in Fairview Cemetery, Albuquerque, N.Mex.
Sources:
Women in Congress: http://womenincongress.house.gov/profiles/index.html
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000061
- CONGRESS DEFINED
Words and phrases that describe congressional processes
Conditional Adjournment. An adjournment of Congress for a period of more than three days, with the proviso that the Speaker of the House and the Senate’s president pro tempore (or sometimes its majority leader) may reconvene Congress at an earlier date. Conditional adjournments have been adopted on various occasions to provide for the possibility of an emergency or critical circumstances that might require congressional action.
Source: Congressional Quarterly’s American Congressional Dictionary, 3rd edition (2001):54.
- * NEW * WHAT DO STUDENTS SEE WHEN THEY LOOK AT CONGRESS?
This video reports on a research project completed by Jeffrey L. Bernstein, Department of Political Science, Eastern Michigan University, using a think-aloud methodology to explore what students see when they look at Congress. In the think-aloud, students are presented with a series of articles or videos about a particular issue (in this case, the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007) and about a particular legislative procedure (the filibuster). Students read source material and “think aloud” as they do so; enabling thoughts to be seen as they develop (rather than after they fully form, such as would be the case if a formal written paper is read). Bernstein’s research revealed the importance of understanding (1) the tension between majority rule and majority rights and (2) the essentially conflictual nature of legislative activity. When students have a low comfort level with these ideas, their ability to understand the work of the legislative branch suffers dramatically. This lecture concludes by discussing how Bernstien’s findings can inform our practice inside the classroom.
Find What Do Students See When They Look at Congress? (Windows Media Audio/Video file - Length: 00:42:41) at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_expert_bernsteinlecture.htm
- * NEW LESSON PLAN * YOU CAN LEAD A CLASS TO WATER, BUT CAN YOU MAKE IT THINK? (AN ACTIVITY FOR TEACHING THE CONCEPT OF “IMPLIED POWER”)*
During our annual Congress in the Classroom® workshop –– http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm –– participants are asked to introduce the lesson plans, resources, and techniques that have proven successful in teaching about Congress in their classrooms. A past participant presented a lesson entitled, You Can Lead A Class To Water, But Can You Make It Think? (An Activity For Teaching The Concept Of “Implied Power”)*
A dramatic scene in a high school government or civics class provides the setting. Students follow a process of inductive reasoning in a situation that is especially relevant to their daily lives. In the scene, the teacher grants a student permission to get a drink of water and the student begins to leave the room. But does he or she have “implied” authority to get out of his seat, open the door, and walk out into the hall?
Find You Can Lead A Class To Water, But Can You Make It Think? (An Activity For Teaching The Concept Of “Implied Power”)* at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_leadclasstowater.htm
- * NEW * EDITORIAL CARTOONS
The Dirksen Congressional Center recently announced additions to the Editorial Cartoon Collection project: http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/index.htm.
The editorial cartoons and related lesson plans will teach students to identify issues, analyze symbols, acknowledge the need for background knowledge, recognize stereotypes and caricatures, think critically, and appreciate the role of irony and humor.
This month we have posted five new cartoons:
We now have a total of 84 cartoons posted!
- WHAT PROJECT IS NEXT? – CONGRESSIONAL TIMELINE PROJECT
We intend to create a Congressional Timeline Web site as our tenth special project. For each Congress beginning with the 73rd (1933-35), the site will feature session dates, partisan composition, the presidential administration, a list of congressional leaders, measures of legislative productivity, and notable legislation passed. In this first version, the project will address only legislative output, not non-legislative events such as the impeachment of President Clinton or internal congressional processes or congressional politics. In designing the site, we will leave room for expansion to include such elements as a timeline of notable, non-congressional events and selections from The Center’s historical collections.
- THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET FROM CONGRESS FOR KIDS
There are a lot of closed doors down the hallways of government. Who works behind them? Each door in this interactive exercise opens to a department of the executive branch of the U.S. government. A Cabinet member is working behind each one. Most of them have the title of "Secretary" of their department.
Read the word or phrase on the door that describes the responsibility of the department. Then write the full title of the department of the executive branch that belongs on the nameplate. Note: All but one answer begins with "Secretary of ____?____."
Rollover the images to see if your answers match the correct ones on the blue arrows when the doors open.
Find The President’s Cabinet at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/execbranch_cabinet/behinddoor.htm
Trivia: Two agencies of the U.S. government are legally responsible for regulating cell phones. One of those agencies is the Federal Communications Commission. What is the other?
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Consumer Products Safety Commission
- Food and Drug Administration
- Environmental Protection Agency
*Find the answer in next month's issue.
Answer to June 2009's Fun, Facts, and Trivia: http://www.webcommunicator.org/classroomresources/funfactstrivia_ans0609.htm
- POSTSCRIPT INFORMATION
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