CONGRESS IN THE CLASSROOM 2010 = SUCCESS!

The key element to The Dirksen Center’s national, award-winning education program, Congress in the Classroom®, is the participation and collaboration among the teachers who attend the program.

From the staff perspective, this was the best workshop in at least five years!  We are already at work for the 20th Congress in the Classroom®, which will take place from July 25 through July 28, 2011.

Congress in the Classroom is dedicated to the exchange of ideas and information on teaching about Congress.  Although the program featured a variety of sessions, the 2010 program  featured a broad overview of Congress with special attention to the mid-year elections of 2010. 

Read what our 2010 participants had to say about the program at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm#say

* NEW * VIDEO: SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE TRUSTEES REPORT

C-SPAN officially launched the C-SPAN Video Library, a free, searchable online collection of every C-SPAN program aired since 1987.  This means teachers will now have access to over 160,000 hours of searchable digital video. You will also be able to create your own embeddable clips for lessons and presentations in your classroom.

C-SPAN's Video Library easily equips teachers with thousands of free resources to create authentic learning experiences for students that deepen their understanding of U.S. and world history, the workings of governments, the role of the media, and current political events.

This month we will highlight a video where Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who serve on the Board of Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, released a new report on the fiscal condition of Social Security and Medicare. The briefing follows an earlier announcement by the Obama administration, projecting that new spending cuts would save the Medicare program $8 billion dollars by the end of 2011. Under the new health care law, Medicare spending will increase by 5.3 percent a year over the next decade and allow the program’s trust fund to remain solvent until 2029.

Watch Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report here: