We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
As Center-Stanton High School prepares for a new calendar year, I wanted to take the time to talk to everyone about something new in the Problems of Democracy curriculum. It is something that I (having participated in it as a high school senior) have wanted to bring in since I began teaching here, but that I didn’t have a clear way of implementing until this school year.
The Center for Civic Education has a two-part government curriculum for schools to utilize throughout the school year entitled We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution. The first part of the curriculum includes the textbook and the lessons for the school year. Here at Center-Stanton, we have used the textbooks and lessons over the last 5 years or so. The second part of the curriculum—a simulated Congressional hearing—is what I want to spend some time talking about here.
According to the Center for Civic Education’s website, the simulated Congressional hearing is “an excellent way for students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and current constitutional issues.” The students are divided into unit teams of at least 3 people per team. The students have the responsibility of researching information related to one of the hearing questions for their unit and writing a response answering all three parts of the hearing question. The response, when read aloud to a panel of judges, can only be a MAXIMUM of 4 minutes in length. Once the students have read their response, the judges then engage in 6 minutes or more of follow-up questions designed to build on the theme of the question and on the students’ response. Students who participate in the simulated Congressional hearing can participate in North Dakota’s state competition, which takes place in Bismarck at the Capitol building. The winner of the state competition has the opportunity to compete in the national competition, which is held in Washington, D.C. in May.
As this is the first year that Center-Stanton has taken part in the Congressional hearing, we did not participate in state this year. Instead, the Class of ’22 completed a showcase in our school building on Dec. 17, 2021 based on Units 1, 2, and 3, and they will complete a second showcase in May based on Units 4, 5, and 6. For our winter showcase, the judges included Center’s own Mr. Quinlivan, North Dakota Supreme Court Secretary Jeanne Walstad, and North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Daniel Crothers. Our seniors did a wonderful job, and the judges were deeply impressed at the quality of answers that were given and in the amount of work that was done researching answers to the questions. I look forward to seeing these students shine again in May, and I look forward to future classes (starting with the Class of ’23) competing well at the state competition.
The following websites will show you, in order, the state unit questions our seniors completed at the showcase, a sample video of a hearing, and videos of the top 10 teams at the 2010 national competition competing on the third and final day of the competition. Feel free to peruse these links as much as you wish, and to reach out to Mr. Koppinger with any questions.
https://www.civiced.org/we-the...
https://www.civiced.org/we-the-people/hearings/high-school