Exploring Core Democratic Values Looking at Current Issues in the News

Lesson plan: 1. Spend time introducing the Core Democratic Values and Principles. 2. Once the class is familiar with and can define/discuss CDVs, introduce the concept in the Basic Beliefs collection of news articles or bring in articles from local papers or online news sources that demonstrate that CDVs are in play today, every day in our current events/issues. 3. Define public policy and differentiate from Service Learning. 4. Give each group of four students one article to read and discuss. Most of the articles have focus questions to facilitate a discussion in Part I of the Activity. Be ready to present (summarize, dont read) the article to the rest of the class and tell why it is representative of the CDV at the top of the article. Assignment: Find an article in any local newspaper or online news source (MLive, WSJ, NYT, etc.) that presents a local, state, or national public policy issue. Print out for class and attach to this rubric. Summarize the article. Identify the CDV that is being debated. Identify the level of government that would have jurisdiction in this issue. (local, state, national) AND the branch of government that addresses this issue Give the rationale for choosing the CDV you identified. Develop 2-3 focus questions that would help another student discuss the issue. Be ready to present your article to a small group and turn in.

Exploring CDVs in the News Rubric

On time Title/APA Citation Article 3 points Assignment is on time and available for class discussion Article is identified using APA citation format Article highlights a U.S. community, state, or national public policy issue Article is summarized clearly and succinctly including all important information CDV(s) identified correctly Rationale for each identified CDV clearly described Correctly identifies the U.S. level of government with jurisdiction Correctly identifies the branch(es) of U.S. government involved 2-3 focus questions that will facilitate discussion of the issue 1 point Work is posted on time, but not brought to class for discussion Article is identified by the Title, Date, News Source Article is about something other than a U.S. public policy issue (service learning, etc.) Article is summarized. Important info may be missing or summary includes too much info. Unclear choice; not really the focus of this article Rationale for identified CDV described, but may be unclear Unclear choice or reason; not really the focus of this article Unclear choice or reason; not really the focus of this article 1 focus question that will facilitate discussion 0 points Assignment is late. Article is misidentified or not identified No copy of the article turned in with assignment Article summary is missing. CDV identified incorrectly or not identified Rationale for identified CDV not described Level of U.S. government missing/incorrect. Branch(es) of U.S. govt involved missing/incorrect. No focus questions written

Article Summary

(5Ws and H)
CDV identified Rationale for each CDV Level of government Branch of government Focus questions

Total points possible: 27; Total points earned: __________

CDVs in the News Use this template to complete this assignment. Student work is inserted in right-hand column below for each section Name and SST309 Section Katelyn Valliere Section 02 Title of Article and APA What the Voter ID Law Really Means for Women in Texas Citation Rhodan, Maya. (2013, Oct. 24). What the Voter ID Law Really Means for Women in Texas. TIME Swampland. Retrieved from http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/24/what-voter-id-laws-reallymean-for-women-voters-in-texas/ Complete summary of Article In recent polls Texas photo ID law is resurfacing and denying may women (5Ws and H) their right to vote. The issue many officials are having deals with maiden names on voter registration cards and licenses not appearing substantially similar. In many cases women are required to sign an affidavit claiming they are who they say they are. According to Texas state law they will accept seven different forms of identification, which include a state-issued drivers license, handgun license or identification card, military ID card, citizenship card, passport, Texas Election Identification Certificate, or a free ID card distributed by the Department of Public Safety. Sadly the article noted around 1.4 million eligible voters do not have proper IDs to vote. These issues pose no interference with mens right to vote, but women who have gotten divorced, or remarried are finding it difficult to maintain current matching identification. Slowly the transgender population is also finding it stressful to provide proper identification. Core Democratic Value(s) Justice Equality Federalism Rationale for each of the CDVs Justice- The ID law prevents women and transgender individuals from participating in the polls who cannot produce so called substantially similar identification. This goes against justice because it highlights fairness and equity between all people. The State is not providing fair or equally accessible ways for these people to get proper identification, unlike men who have no trouble providing identification. Equality- Women and transgender individuals are not being held to the same standard as men when it comes to voting in Texas. Equal opportunities to seek ID are not provided for both men and women. Federalism-According to federalism powers are given to the states and/or to the people, for example by voting for officials that vote on other state issues as a representative. By not creating a fair or equal opportunities to vote for these representatives for both men and women federalism fails because not all people are represented equally. Branch of Government Legislative Branch indicated in this issue AND how This issue deals with the Legislative Branch because it is made up of do you know? congress, and congress has the power to make laws along with the support of the House of Representatives and the Senate (who the state votes for). Level of Government with State Government jurisdiction AND how do you This issue deals with State Government jurisdiction because it just deals with know? a Texas State law, not the nation. 2-3 Focus questions how 1. What forms of identification do you possess in order to prove your ID? would you lead a substantive 2. Would those forms of identification be enough to allow you to vote under discussion on this article as it Texas State law? relates to the Core Democratic 3. Is there a solution you can come up with that provides equal opportunities Values? for both men and women to vote in the United States?