STANDARDS
Connection to standards
What reading and writing standards frame the series of lessons and assignments?

Oakland Unified School District Ï History/Social Science Standards:

• Our Government Today: The Legislative and Executive Branches. Case studies of recent issues should be used to explore the process and issues of lawmaking, such as the committee system, lobbying, and the influence of media and special interests on legislation. Through critical reading of primary documents and the use of simulations, role play, and other interactive learning strategies, students can practice critical thinking and apply these skills to assess proposed legislation, candidates for office, and the practices of legislatures .Through selected case studies, students can analyze presidential campaigns.

What have students learned prior to beginning this unit on Democracy and Elections:

1. Students will have read and discussed Jean Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract as an introduction to the political theory that citizens must participate in the legislative process as an important component of the democratic process. Can a democracy survive if legislators do the work of citizens? Will legislators come to represent special interests instead of the interests of the whole?
   
2. Students will have studied the foundations of America's government, especially the concept of democracy. Using either Marauder's American Government by William McClenaghan (1999 Edition), Chapter 1, ("Principles of Government") pp. 13-18 or the Advanced Placement Government textbook, Government By The People by Burns, Peltason, Cronin, and Magleby (18^th Edition, 2000), Chapter 1 ("Constitutional Democracy")pp. 3-8, students will explore the definition of democracy. Students will also examine multiple perspectives of American democracy as detailed by Howard Zinn and Sidney Hook in Points of View: Readings in American Government and Politics by Robert DiClerico and Allan Hammock, 1989.
   
3. Students will have read about interest groups in American politics (Chapter 9 of Marauder's American Government, 1999 Edition or Chapter 9 of Government By The People, 18^th Edition, 2000 -Advanced Placement Textbook)) and the roots of this concept (Madison's Federalist #10.
   
4. Students will have read about Congress (Chapters 10-12 of Marauder's American Government, 1999 Edition or Chapter 14 of Government By The People, 18^th Edition, 2000-Advanced Placement Textbook)
   
5. Students will also have examined the concept of representative government, especially the theory that legislative and executive officers could act as delegates and/or trustees. "The Legislator as Delegate" from the Virginia Assembly and "The Legislator as Trustee" by John F. Kennedy in Points of View: Readings in American Government and Politics by Robert DiClerico and Allan Hammock, 1989.