Profiling members of Congress
Being a responsible citizen in a republic requires much of us. Not only do we need to stay informed about public issues, but we need to keep up-to-date on the views of our various representatives to ensure that they are expressing our views accurately. Part of the media's responsibility is to expose and break down issues that are important to citizens so that they may be better informed.
Task: You will create a blog post profiling TWO members of Congress. You will need to research the background of each member of Congress and create a visually attractive profile that includes all of the relevant information about each person.
The only websites that you need to look at for this project are:
Task: You will create a blog post profiling TWO members of Congress. You will need to research the background of each member of Congress and create a visually attractive profile that includes all of the relevant information about each person.
The only websites that you need to look at for this project are:
- www.house.gov
- www.senate.gov
- The official website of the Senator or Representative (which can be reached from the two sites above!)
- www.votesmart.org (This site has GREAT information about every member of Congress, including links to campaign finance information!)
Appearance
Inside the House of Representatives Chamber
Your blog post will be about two members of congress. One may be about a Representative or a Senator from Michigan; this person will be assigned to you.The other member of congress must be about a Senator.You may choose this person, but your teacher must approve your choice.
Content
Content
- Basics: Your profile must include the name of the person, their state and/or district, and their political party
- Identify at least THREE relevant biographical facts about the representative.
- How many terms has the representative served?
- What congressional committees does the representative serve on?
- What leadership positions in Congress does the representative hold?
- Identify the names of TWO bills that the member of congress has sponsored.
- Fundraising: How much money has the Representative raised and spent in 2009 – 2010? How much money has the Senator raised and spent from 2003 – 2010?
- Your opinion of the congress person: Do you think they are serving as a good representative for their state/district? Why or why not? Make sure to support your opinion with facts. (Hint: votesmart.org will be especially helpful for this!)
Appearance
- Your post should utilize use of the toolbar to format your text (ex: Bold, Italicized, underlined, as well as links, different font sizes/colors, and bulleted lists).
- You must include a picture of your representative and an outline map of their State or district.
- Your post should be neat and visually appealing.
- Contains no spelling errors
Making comments on your peers' blog posts
Remember that one advantage of the blog format is that it offers a "two-way street" of communication between the blog authors and readers who can use the comment feature to voice their thoughts.
Once your blog post is finished and published, read and respond to at least THREE of your classmates' blog posts. Responses should include:
Once your blog post is finished and published, read and respond to at least THREE of your classmates' blog posts. Responses should include:
- At least one thing that you learned while reading the article
- At least one positive thing about the way the author wrote their article
- At least one thing you think the author could have done to make the article more interesting or informative.
Scoring Rubric
Below is the scoring rubric that will be used to grade your blog post. You should consider this as a checklist to make sure your post includes everything that is required for this assignment.
|
Criterion |
Points Possible |
Points Earned |
Member of Congress #1
|
||
|
Picture of
representative & map of State or district |
2 |
|
|
Political party affiliation |
1 |
|
|
THREE relevant biographical
facts |
3 |
|
|
Number of terms |
1 |
|
|
Committee
membership |
2 |
|
|
Leadership
positions |
2 |
|
|
TWO bills
sponsored by the representative |
2 |
|
|
Fundraising
data |
2 |
|
|
Opinion of
the member of Congress |
5 |
|
Member of Congress #2
|
||
|
Picture of
representative & map of State or district |
2 |
|
|
Political party affiliation |
1 |
|
|
THREE relevant biographical
facts |
3 |
|
|
Number of
terms |
1 |
|
|
Committee
membership |
2 |
|
|
Leadership
positions |
2 |
|
|
TWO bills
sponsored by the representative |
2 |
|
|
Fundraising
data |
2 |
|
|
Opinion of
member of Congress |
5 |
|
Visual Appeal
|
||
Blog posts show that care was used to complete the project (i.e. contain no
spelling errors, effective use of text tools, neatly written and put
together, uses a unique format, etc.)
|
5 |
|
Comments on Peer’s
Blogs
|
|
|
Comment #1
|
2 |
|
Comment #2
|
2 |
|
Comment #3
|
2 |
|
|
TOTAL: |
51 |
|
