TEKS:
4.16 B identify leadership qualities of state and local leaders, past and
present
4.15 C
explain the duty of the individual in state and local elections such
as being informed and voting
4.15 E
explain how to contact elected and appointed leaders in state and
local governments
As you can see, how a bill becomes a law is not directly mandated in our TEKS. However, I decided a long time ago that in order to understand the importance of being informed and participating in the process in the future, my students needed to understand what was really going on. In addition, we go to our state capitol building for a tour each year. It doesn’t make sense to go and not have any understanding of what happens there.
Fair warning: This lesson is going to take a LONG time. My usual lesson is fifteen minutes. This is 45-60 minutes long. I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it. By the time we finish, my students know more about our legislative process than most adults, and maybe they can go home and teach their parents. š
Social Studies Objective: We can understand the process for making a law in the state of Texas.
Proof: We can prove we understand the process by participating in a mock legislative session.
Vocabulary:billlawlegislaturegovernorhousesenatecommitteejudicial system
Materials:
paper, pen (you can make it pretty paper and pen if you want to make the final law a little fancy)
I also created this handout that I used during the Pandemic. I probably won’t use it in class, but here it is in case you are pressed for time.
Questions:
What do you think is the most difficult part of the law making process? How do the different branches work together to make the law? What characteristics do you think would make the best qualities for our leaders to have? Why? What are our responsibilities in this law making process? How do we contact the various parts of our government? Students will discuss the questions with their partner and then share out using the cold call sticks.
Lesson: Show the school house rock video about how a bill becomes a law. Explain that anyone can have an idea for a bill. Set a timer for five minutes. Have the students write as many different law ideas as they can during five minutes. They must use one new page of paper per bill (cut notebook paper in half for this to save paper). Look at how many bills they came up with in five minutes. Imagine how many Texas must come up with in two years since we only meet every other year to make laws! Divide the class into house/senate/governor/lt. governor/ supreme court judge. Divide the house/senate into committees. I usually look at the bills at lump them into categories to form the committees. Usually their ideas are related to food (health care) and school (education committee). Give the bill ideas to the appropriate committees and take the bills through the process of making a law. Show the video again and go over the discussion questions.
Special lesson notes: Make sure you study the process yourself before beginning this lesson. If you are pressed for time, you could stick to the process outlined in the video. I prefer as much detail as I can. For instance, I like to include the part about placing the bill on the calendar for a vote as well as conference committees. I also like to select a speaker of the house and lieutenant governor. I really like to go over their roles in the process. If I feel like I have plenty of time, we might send a case over to the Texas Supreme Court to decide if the law goes against our constitution.
I am including some links to help give you more detail on our process in Texas, as well as the roles of the speaker and lieutenant governor/governor.
The process in a nutshell– https://house.texas.gov/about-us/bill/
This is an old article, but it provides the easiest summary of the responsibilities and powers of the lieutenant governor in the senate. When we role play, I often tell the students to follow proper manners and procedures and request to speak before they blurt out. I also remind them that if they are rude or make the lieutenant governor angry, they may not get to ever talk! https://www.kut.org/post/why-lieutenant-governor-most-powerful-office-texas-and-who-wants-power
Powers of our governor–timing is a big part of our state law-making process https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/05/analysis-think-texas-has-weak-governor-not-month-may/
FAQ’s about our process in Texas–along with a paragraph about the speaker of the house https://house.texas.gov/resources/frequently-asked-questions/
Teaching Without Twitching 