Setting up the US Government in your Classroom

I am currently preparing for a day where I will have students set up the U.S. Government System in the classroom by electing Senators, Representatives, the President and then appointing Supreme Court Justices.

Once students are in this system (they are actually in new seats according to their position in govt), students can propose new bills that could alter the Disclosure Statement (aka Syllabus) to what they want it to be.  The President has to approve the bill and the Supreme Court has to try the bill for constitutionality.  (The teacher has the final veto but can help nudge the students in a good direction throughout the activity)

In this process, students learn how the U.S. Government system works and how to participate in a democracy.  Students also like they are feeling a part of creating classroom policies, and as a result, students will take more ownership of their own actions during the class.

Jeremy Stevenson designed this activity and has used it every time he has taught.  He usually uses this simulation on the 3rd (ish) day of his geography class at the beginning of the year.  This simulation fits in with Jeremy's intro unit because he introduces government systems during the first unit.  However, this activity could also be used in any class, especially a US Govt class or a US History class.

This is the link to a more detailed explanation.

While preparing for this activity, I came across this short 2 minute video about campaigning for the White House.  This clip is especially great because it helps students learn about current events (as we are in the middle of the campaigning process for 2012) as well as understand how running for President really does work in the U.S.

Here is the video:

And here is the link: http://cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2012/01/12/eitm-running-for-president.cnn