Revision aid articles for Unit 4 Governing the USA covering presidency, cabinet, congress, constitution etc. Can be combined as part of a revision booklet or used individually to supplement lesson materials.
Revision articles and materials for exam comparing similarities and differences between the US and UK political systems - can be combined into a revision booklet for pupils or used individually to supplement lesson materials.
Lesson examining the factors that influence how members of congress decide to vote - pupils can examine the pressures members of congress face and examine which factors are the most important in deteriming how a congressman may vote on a certain issue. This can be adapted by using specific examples - especially on wedge issues.
Lesson examining the use of the filibuster and to what extent the legislative process is difficult - using past exam question and a Virtual Learning Environment Task - but this can easily be adapted for paper within the lesson simply by printing copies of the articles pupils can share.
Lesson examining the legislative process in the USA using first a simple explanation, building to a more detailed explanation and then dviding the legislative process up into 7 key stages.
Lesson examining significance and criticism of committees - prior knowledge of role and powers of the different committees would be essential as this lesson focuses on encouraging analysis, including essay map exercise for group planning of an exam answer.
Lesson examining the role and powers of the various congressional committees - used to develop skill of scanning large text for information (using Phillip Allan textbook) with teacher generated 'core notes' on roles and powers of the different types of committees and committee chairs.
End of topic test for Parliament topic - using staged and levelled questions that relate to the levels of the mark scheme for exam questions e.g. level 1 - identifying, level 2 - context, level 3 - explaining - this can be developed for other topics and further levels/stages added depending on the skills needing to be developed.
Last lesson of the constitution topic recovering content and exam skills through pupil assessment of a sample exam question, discussion of assigned marks and how the exam answer can be improved.
Lesson examining the flexibility of the constitution - how and why has the constitution managed to survive? How flexible is it? Encouraging pupils to make a thorough assessment of how the constitution works in practice.
Lesson introducing the constitutional amendments with examples of amendments approved by Congress and not approved by Congress - could be used in conjunction with articles on a wedge issue e.g. flag burning
Lesson asking pupils to consolidate knowledge from constitution topic so far to make judgements as to who holds the power, and apply new knowledge to 15 mark exam questions.