{"id":14,"date":"2010-07-22T20:28:03","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T02:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/linux\/wordpress\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2016-11-07T08:46:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T14:46:54","slug":"resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?page_id=14","title":{"rendered":"Teacher’s Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Unicameral Update makes a great classroom resource. Teachers can request free, multiple subscriptions<\/a> for use in the classroom, or students may simply read the\u00a0Unicameral Update online. This teacher’s guide includes ideas for incorporating the Unicameral Update into your civics classroom.<\/p>\n

For additional resources and programs about the Nebraska Legislature,\u00a0go to the Legislature’s student programs<\/a>\u00a0page. The Legislature also offers free educational publications, which can be found on its publications<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

Unicameral Update Exercises:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. My Legislature: [ Grade Level: Any Grade ] <\/em>Using past or current issues of the Unicameral Update that include a district map and a membership roster, ask students to identify their district and the member of the legislature that represents them. Students can then check issues of the Unicameral Update to identify a list of bills their member of the legislature debated or sponsored. This activity may be used in a stand-alone fashion for younger students, or may be coupled with one of the activities below for older students.<\/p>\n

Goal:<\/em> The “My Legislature” activity should increase students’ awareness of their ties to the Nebraska Unicameral.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Bill Brief: [ Grade Level: 9-12 ] <\/em>Ask students to identify a bill that interests them and to write a one-page report on the bill. This bill brief should include the name of the bill, a brief summary of the issue, and an articulation of the debate from both proponents and opponents of the issue.<\/p>\n

Goal:<\/em> The “Bill Brief” activity should increase students’ abilities to analyze a political issue and to identify arguments for and against the issue.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Unicameral Bill Trek: [ Grade Level: 9-12 ]<\/em>\u00a0Ask students to track the progression of a bill throughout the semester. At the beginning of the legislative session in January, students should identify a new bill. As the session progresses, students should keep a record of any legislative activity on the bill, including committee testimony, amendments, and committee and floor votes. For a more complete look at the legislative process, you may wish to incorporate this activity with the Bill Brief activity discussed above.<\/p>\n

Goal:<\/em> The “Unicameral Bill Trek” activity should increase students’ understanding of the legislative process.<\/p>\n

4. Legislator Journal: [ Grade Level: 9-12 ]<\/em>\u00a0Ask students to track the activities of a particular member of the Legislature over the course of the session\/semester. Students should identify the member they will track at the beginning of the semester, and should keep a weekly log of his or her activities in the legislature, including bill sponsorship and debating activities.<\/p>\n

Goal:<\/em> The “Legislator Journal” should increase students’ understanding of the activities of legislators and of the legislative process.<\/p>\n

5. Legislative Debate: [ Grade Level 9-12 ] <\/em>Identify an issue which students will debate and separate students into “opponent” and “proponent” categories. Students should use copies of the Update as their research source; articles involving committee hearing testimony may be particularly helpful. Hold an in-class debate between the student proponents and opponents.<\/p>\n

Goal:<\/em> The “Legislative Debate” should increase students’ appreciation and understanding of how policy issues are complex and the need for legislative compromise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Unicameral Update makes a great classroom resource. Teachers can request free, multiple subscriptions for use in the classroom, or<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15821,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/15821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}