The State Legislature and Governor

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This lesson is most appropriate for High School classrooms.

Theme: What does the U.S. Constitution say about the relationship between state and federal governments

MCF Benchmark: Explain why people may agree on democratic values in the abstract but disagree when they are applied to specific situations.

Other benchmarks this lesson targets include: Generate questions about important issues that affect them or society, or topics about which they are curious; narrow the questions to a clear focus; and create a thesis or a hypothesis.

Materials needed:

  1. booklet entitled "A Citizen's Guide to State Government", available in print through either your state representative or state senator or online (see Michigan Legislature link below, then to Help and Other Information)
  2. The Constitution of the State of Michigan of 1963, available in print through your state representative or state senator or online (see State of Michigan link below).
  3. MCI Resource Video I

Methodological procedure:

Part One: The State Legislature (three days)

  1. The teacher will introduce the concept of the legislative district, emphasizing that districts are redrawn every ten years based on the decennial federal census.
  2. Students will investigate the 2001 reapportionment of Michigan's House of Representatives and Senate by reading the pertinent provisions of the Michigan Constitution (Article IV, Sections 2 and 3) and Act 463 of 1996 (see Michigan Legislature Redistricting Plans link below). Students will establish that each House of Representatives district should have .7% of the state's population (according to the 2000 U.S census, the total state population is 9,938,444 people ) and each Senate district 2.6% of the state's population.

  3. Using the 2000 census population by county figures (see first National Association of Counties link below), students will note on a map of Michigan which counties:

    1. must be combined with other counties to constitute one district
    2. must be split into multiple districts
    3. constitute one district by themselves

    Students will compare their findings to the apportionment plan passed into law (see the four Michigan Senate Republicans links below) and write a summary of the ways in which their conclusions match and differ from the plan adopted by the Senate.

  4. Students will review Article IV of the Michigan Constitution (see link below) to determine qualifications, term, and term limits for members of the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate. Students should use "A Citizen's Guide to State Government" to locate their own state representative and state senator, and the contact information for each.

  5. Students will write or e-mail their state representative or state senator regarding a current issue of state policy, asking the legislator's position on the issue, their rationale for that position, and a brief summary of constituents' beliefs about the issue.

    To help students select issues to research, have them visit the Michigan Youth Caucus (MYC) websitge at http://civix.michigancivics.org (see link below). Another excellent resource for this is HighestWire (see link below). Each student (or group of students) should select a different issue of local concern but general interest.

    When a response from the legislator is received, students will report their findings to the class. If students receive irrelevant or useless response, have them telephone the official's office to receive further information.

  6. 6. The teacher will present to students three concepts used to describe the philosophy by which a state representative or state senator may vote on an issue:

    1. The Trustee, who votes his/her own beliefs
    2. The Delegate, who votes the way a majority of his/her constituents would vote
    3. The Partisan, who votes the way the party leadership has directed
      Using the list of issues compiled in preparation for step 5 (see above), students will note for each issue how the vote might be different depending on whether the legislator is acted as a trustee, delegate, or partisan.

Part Two: The Governor

  1. Using the Michigan Constitution as a basal resource (see link below), students will determine the qualifications, term, and term limit requirements for the office of governor.
  2. The teacher will note that the Constitution, as amended in 1992, imposes term limits on state legislators and the governor beginning in 1993. The teacher will provide background information stating both positions regarding term limit issue (see Washington Post link below).

Working individually for no more than ten minutes, each student should create a "T-chart" outlining the pros and cons of imposing term limits.

The teacher should then ask students to form a "human continuum." Standing in the middle of the room, the teacher should say, "We are going to form a continuum along a line to discover where we stand on this issue. This is neutral territory." Pointing to the far right wall of the room, the teacher should say, "The more strongly you oppose term limits as of now, the closer to that wall you should stand. " The teacher should point to the far left wall and say, "The more strongly you favor term limits as of now, the closer to that wall you should stand. You will need to find out how strongly the people on either side of you feel about the issue to determine where you stand in the continuum in relation to your classmates."

The teacher should note where everyone choose to stand, asking some students to explain their physical positioning in relation to their classmates.

Then, using the "Fishbowl" technique (see author's notes), students should debate the relative merits and disadvantages of a term limit system. Students should position themselves in the debate according to where they stood along the continuum; however, they should be encouraged to move as their positions change.
Each student will write a statement of support or opposition to term limits and the rationale that supports that position.

Teacher should lead students in discussion about how citizens might go about changing previously existing laws about term limits (or any other topic). Students should view MCI Resource Video I as a prompt for this discussion.

Author's notes:

NOTE I: When discussing reapportionment, students should review the pertinent sections of Article IV of the Constitution and the 1996 Redistricting Plan, but the teacher should help students through the dense language and focus their thinking on the core guidelines, that districts should be equal in population (+/- 5%), geographically contiguous, and use the county as the basic building-block unit.

NOTE II: The list of issues developed to test the trustee/delegate/partisan issue should be as current and as controversial as possible (education, concealed weapons permits, zero tolerance for weapons in schools, mandatory minimum drug laws, etc.). The MYC site is an excellent resource for this activity, as is HighestWire.

FISHBOWL TECHNIQUE: A "fishbowl" conversation is where a group of students are placed in the middle of the classroom to hold a substantive conversation. The other students are placed around the small group; they are looking in on the conversation. The students on the outside should be taking notes during the "fishbowl". These conversations can be captured with video or audiotape, as needed.

To set up the room for a fishbowl, arrange most of the desks in the room in a circle. Place four desks in the center of the circle, two facing north and two facing south, so that students seated at these desks would be facing each other.

Have all students sit on top of their desks around the circle.

Tell students, "This activity is sort of a cross between debate and tag-team wrestling. Only people in the fishbowl' may speak. Those who favor position A (pro-gun control, pizza for lunch, the Yankees are better than the Blue Jays) will sit in the desks facing north. Those who favor position B (anti-gun control, grilled cheese for lunch, the Blue Jays rock the Yankees) will sit in the desks facing south. When I say 'begin,' any of you may come fill available seats.

" When all four seats are filled, the debate begins. After each person has had the chance to make at least one substantive point, any student may 'tag in,' tapping one of the students in the fishbowl on the back to ask him to relinquish his or her seat.

" Students seated outside of the fishbowl should take notes as the debate progresses, in order to determine which side has made the most compelling arguments."

The teacher could use as an example a bill that would equalize state education funding by decreasing aid for richer districts and increasing aid for districts with less resources to illustrate how a legislator's view of his/her role (trustee/delegate/partisan) would affect voting. A representative might believe that it is the right thing to do (a YES vote), represent an area whose wealthy school district or districts would be adversely affected (a NO vote), and be a member of the same party as a governor who has promised reform of education (a YES vote).

Teachers may want to provide the background information on term limits to students for their own review or provide a summary which will start students thinking about both sides of the issue.

When contacting their elected officials, students may also want to schedule a classroom visit.

Assessment strategies:

Students will write comparisons of their findings regarding redistricting with the plan passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor.

Students will communicate with a state legislator regarding a current issue and report the response to the class, including a well-reasoned evaluation of the legislator's position on the issue in question.

Students will report to the class regarding the ways in which a legislator's view of his/her role (trustee, delegate, partisan) would affect votes on two issues, with specific reference to all facets of the issue and the impact of personal values, economic interest, and political philosophy.

Students will report orally and write a statement in support of or opposition to term limits, supported by reasonable rationale.

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