Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional Center's revised Communicator -- a web-based newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to enhance civic education and improve the understanding of Congress. Communicator is one of the five sites that make up The Dirksen Center's new Web suite, a collection of integrated Web sites functioning as a single unit. Each monthly Communicator will provide information about any changes to the other four sites in The Center's Web suite, share classroom uses of the information posted on them, and highlight any Center related accomplishments.

Thanks to all those who have sent us comments to help us create the concept of our new Web suite. Go ahead, take a peek, we know you want to! -- http://www.dirksencongressionalcenter.org/

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NEWS FROM THE DIRKSEN CENTER
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The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for grants totaling $50,000 in 2001-2002 to help teachers, curriculum developers, and others improve the quality of civics instruction, with priority on the role of Congress in our federal government. Complete information about areas of interest, eligibility, and application procedures, may be found at The Center's Web site -- (http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_specialprojects.htm).

HURRY!.**DEADLINE APPROACHING** --Preliminary proposals must be submitted by no later than October 1, 2001. The next selection round will take place in May 2002.

Political Party -- An organization of citizens who have similar views on public issues and work for the election of party members to public office.

Political parties perform an important task in our government. They achieve control of the government by bringing people together, they develop policies that are complimentary to their interests or to the groups that support them, and they persuade voters to elect their candidates to office. People become members of a political party when they register as a Democrat or Republican.

Do your students know what side of the fence they are on? To help your students determine if their partisan leanings are to the "left" or to the "right," we're highlighting a lesson plan found on CongressLink entitled, Party Time! Using a variety of primary or historical sources, students will analyze their political beliefs and associate them with the basic tenets of the political spectrum. You can download this lesson and its resources at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_partytime.htm.

Teachers, to help you explain political units, and help your students find facts and trace the history of political parties, we suggest you pay a visit to our AboutGovernment Web site. The political parties section includes our "hot link" to a guide offered by MSN Encarta, introducing and explaining political parties, party systems, organization and structure, history, and the future of political parties. You will also find related media items, news and updates, and a list of Web links to get more details. AboutGovernment's political parties' page is available at: http://www.aboutgovernment.org/print_politicalparties.htm.

The Dirksen Center wants to help teachers teach better by giving them the opportunity to use technology to create, customize, and share online learning activities in their classrooms. The Center wants to help students learn more by bringing educational resources together in one place that provide new ways to learn about Congress interactively. This month our "Fun, Facts, and Trivia" includes a multiple-choice quiz on political parties: Democrat-Republican or Federalist. Teachers, now you can have your students check for themselves to see how much they know about political parties. You will find the Which Political Party? multiple-choice quiz at: http://home.att.net/~betsynewmark/TrivWash2.htm.

Teachers, if your students can answer these trivia questions correctly, offer them bonus points to use on a test. Try your luck in guessing the answers!

Q: True or False: Ross Perot received around 20 percent of the vote in 1992, but he didn't have any real impact on American politics because he could not win electoral votes.

1 - Parties try to attract voter support by announcing their issue preferences as a series of planks in a comprehensive party _________. (Link to the answer and definition: http://www.congresslink.org/print_teaching_glossary.htm#P)

2 - It is common to say that candidates have received a clear _______ from the voters in favor of their political platform when they win by an impressive margin. (Link to the answer and definition: http://www.congresslink.org/print_teaching_glossary.htm#M)

Answers to September' s issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link here: (http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0901ans.htm)

Everett McKinley Dirksen served in the U.S. House from 1933 - 1948, the U.S. Senate from 1951-69, and as Minority Leader of the Senate from 1959 until 1969. In quotations from historical documents, Dirksen reviews his career in politics and shares some remarks based on his experience. You will find On a Career in Politics at:
http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_emd_quotes.htm#career.

Political parties today better reflect American society than they did a generation ago. They are very much involved in the operation of our government at various levels. However, political parties are not considered the government itself and the Constitution fails to mention them. Teachers, let's help our students understand the structure and function of political parties. How can you do this? Submit a proposal to receive a Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grant!

Congratulations to Lisa Barrett, Sue Fassbender, and Joe Cota from Oak Creek High School in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. They received a Robert H. Michel Civic Education Grant of $3,600 for their project entitled Easy to Use Lesson Plans to Conduct a Model Congress. Learning activities included in this project are lessons that develop political parties and identify student ideology, among others. You may find information about this project and others at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_specialprojects.htm.

That's it for this month. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, contact Cindy Koeppel at ckoeppel@dirksencenter.org. Your feedback makes a difference!