Phase 2: Committee Hearings
Best for individual teachers or teams of teachers interested in devoting a full quarter of their class to an authentic, experiential and student led curriculum. This is the next step for teachers who have experimented with Classroom Deliberation and would like to further involve students in experiencing the legislative process.
It may seem daunting to imagine adopting a comprehensive semester-long curriculum like the Legislative Semester. Don’t despair! Although some schools have successfully implemented the entire program at once, it is also possible to adopt in phases, or to utilize only some elements of the program. Every page can be viewed as a Google Doc which can be downloaded and ready for you to use in your classroom. For more information about each element of the course, see the Curriculum page.
After devoting significant time exploring current controversial issues and becoming comfortable with the intricacies of parliamentary procedure, students identify a problem which concerns them and form small groups to research that issue with the goal of writing a bill. The bill writing process presents an opportunity for extensive research and authentic problem solving. Students also gain valuable experience collaborating with their peers, coming to a consensus on the content of the bill, and writing a position paper that lays out a concise argument for their policy position. For the culminating event, students from each of the class sections involved in the program come together to form multiple committees which debate and vote on legislation as they experience the environment of a full day Committee Hearing. Committees are chaired by students who use the skills they have developed through classroom deliberation to give each bill a fair hearing while offering a platform for equitable participation to all students.
MATERIALS
The following ten sections describe the Phase 2 Curriculum.
Section 1: Introduction
The Legislative Semester’s engaging eighteen-week curriculum designed to prepare students to live a civic life has been revised to fit into a nine-week time frame.
Section 2: Rules Committee
The Rules Committee is the leadership arm of the Legislative Semester and plays a major role in working toward this curriculum goal. Schools with five or less class sections will elect two Representatives from each class while schools with more than five sections will be represented by one student from each class.
It is critical the first week and initial class/Committee Meeting convey a legislative atmosphere. The teacher calls the meeting to order with the bang of a gavel so that students are immediately exposed to the fundamental principles and structures embedded in the curriculum’s design. Review the resources in Phase 1 for detailed guidance on using parliamentary procedure
Section 4: Political Spectrum/Exploring Issues
During these first few weeks a transformation begins to take place. Not only has the classroom become a Committee Meeting, but students are so engaged they are almost unaware they are seeking legislative solutions to current issues they have identified as relevant. During this potion of the class students explore a wide variety of issues and evaluate their own political beliefs, as well as positions of liberals and conservatives on these issues.
Section 5: Party Declaration
Party Declaration Day in week four is one of the five signature days unique to the LS program; it is also one of the days that highlights how an intentional curriculum within a student-centered classroom connects learning to the real world. It is possible to hold committee hearings without having students declare their party affiliation, but this step helps build authenticity, and plan for ideological diversity during the bill writing and committee hearing process.
Section 6: Issue Group Formation
Democracy is the business of interacting with people, and now that students have made a party declaration and have a more informed understanding of current issues facing society, they are trying to find others with similar views in order to form Issues Groups and begin the process of authoring bills together.
Section 7: Bill Writing
During these four weeks, students are honing their researching, writing, and speaking skills. Simultaneously, they are learning how to build a convincing argument and write a formal legislative bill. Students are not just participating in activities, they are thinking every day about how to proceed so that their bill will be approved. They care about what is happening and the climate in the room is one that has moved well beyond engagement into full student ownership.
Section 8: Supporting Documents--Committee Hearings
Student-to-student accountability and responsibility for the experiences of the curriculum are intrinsic to the program, but nowhere is this more on display than during the thoughtful process of the Rules Committee appointing Committee Chairs and creating committees for Committee Hearing Day. This section contains documents that allows members of the Rules Committee to create an atmosphere of students being accountable to their peers, not their teachers.
Section 9: Committee Hearing Process
Committee Hearing Day is the culminating event of the program. It is a day filled with emotional displays of competency and motivation with the six key concepts of the curriculum on full display. Students are in charge and are accountable to each other, not their teacher. They have become experts on the issues they are debating. Ironically, in the midst of a day employing highly structured, parliamentary procedure, the freedom and independence adolescents crave permeates the air.
Section 10: Debriefing
If the goal of this experience is for students to learn how democracy works, then it is critical for them to have time to process what has happened during the Committee Hearings and throughout the entire nine-week curriculum. Giving students opportunity to reflect on what they have been doing and any changes that may have occurred in their thinking provides the possibility for genuine learning to occur. This last week is dedicated to that all important, often omitted part of the learning experience—reflection.