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Ms. Mitnick Goes to Washington
Directions: To see Ms. Mitnick’s blog about her time working in Congressman Jason Altmire’s office, go to http://www.msmitnick.blogspot.com The blog entries are posted in BACKWARDS ORDER with the most recent at the top. I would like you to read the blog FORWARDS, in sequential order. So click on JUNE to see the June entries and then scroll down to the BOTTOM OF THE PAGE to see the very first entry. Please don’t read the blogs in backwards order because if you do, some of what you read won’t make sense. Alternately, you can click on the name of each entry in the navigation bar on the right. The entries ARE listed in forwards order on the right. You must have all blog entries read and the questions answered by ______. Feel free to read the comments attached to each entry. The ability to enter new comments is currently turned off, so please just ask me the questions directly in class or during homeroom. Below are 55 questions in honor of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Happy reading!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
My Upcoming Trip in the Time Machine
1. Why is Ms. Mitnick’s upcoming trip to Washington, DC like traveling in a time machine?
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Sunday, June 22, 2008
Georgetown University
2. What did the James Madison Fellow from Iraq hope to learn by taking the course on the Constitution and what did he hope to do when he returned to Iraq?
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Monday, June 23, 2008
Where It All Happens
3. List all the people who work in Congressman Altmire’s Office:
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4. How does the office keep track of all the constituents’ concerns?
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5. At the Mark-Up Meeting, the Chief of Staff explained that the more diverse amendments that are added to the bill, the less likely it is for the bill to pass. Why do you think this is so?
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6. How do the Congressmen know when they have to go from their offices to the floor of the House to vote on a bill? What interesting fact did I tell you that lets you know that Congressman Altmire understands this really well?
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Justice Thomas
7. Even though all the Justices may have different opinions on a particular issue, ______
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8. The Supreme Court receives ______petitions a year but only hears ______cases.
9. Supreme Court Justices serve for life, which allows them the freedom to base their decisions on the ______, rather than on what the majority of the ______might want. Why is it a good thing that this was so in 1954 when the Justices ruled in Brown v. Board of Education?
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10. What does the Legislative Correspondent do?
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11. I wrote that the Legislative Director is the “expert” in the office. Based on what he explained to me, what you do think he is an “expert” on?
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Making Laws Isn’t Easy
12. At the Committee Mark-Up Meeting, who starts off the meeting by reading an Opening Statement on the bill? ______
13. The Ranking Member also gets to read an Opening Statement. Look in the previous paragraph – who is the “Ranking Member”? ______
14. After the Chair of the Committee and the Ranking Member spoke, which person on the Committee was the next person to speak? Why do you think this makes sense?
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15. If one Congressman wanted to interrupt another Congressman while he was speaking, what phrase (question) would the “interrupter” say? ______
16. When the Chair of the Committee calls on someone to speak, what does he say?
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17. After each amendment was done being debated, they did a “Voice Vote”. If one Congressman disagreed with the ruling of the Chair on the outcome of the Voice Vote, he or she would call for a ______in which the Congressmen would vote one at a time at the end of the meeting.
18. I titled this blog entry “Making Laws Isn’t Easy.” Based on what happened in the meeting, why do you think I picked this title?
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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Pictures!
19. The front of the Supreme Court Building is modeled after the architecture of which ancient civilization? ______
Sunday June 29, 2008
Freedom of the Press
20. Using context clues and the examples I gave, what is the difference between a “social responsibility” point of view and a “libertarian” point of view regarding freedom of the press?
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21. What idea did Victoria Clark develop? ______
22. What is one benefit of Victoria Clark’s idea? (I listed many examples of benefits – explain at least one).
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CLICK ON “JULY” ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE TO SEE JULY’S BLOG ENTRIES. THEN SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TO READ THE ENTRIES IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Revamped G.I. Bill is Now Law
23. The Congress is in “recess” all this week. This does not mean that all the Congressmen are outside playing on the swings, slide, and Jungle Gym on the Capitol Hill playground. So where are all the Congressmen?
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24. Congressman Jason Altmire joined Congressman Harry Mitchell (AZ-05) in adding the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act to the G.I. Bill. What will this act do to help PA veterans?
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Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Replies to Comments
25. Which letters get answered more quicky – letters sent by mail or letters sent by e-mai? WHY?
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26. When are “roll call” votes more likely to occur?
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Sunday, July 6, 2008
Mount Vernon
27. Since stone was expensive in George Washington’s day, they used the process of “rustication.” What is “rustication”?
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
TODAY!!! On C-SPAN: Hearing on Rising Food Prices
Just read this one.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Making Legislation
28. Where do ideas for possible laws come from?
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29. What is the first step in making a law? ______
30. What is the second step in the process of making laws? ______
31. Usually, people talk about lobbyists in a negative way. However, the legislative assistant said that it is helpful to talk with them. Why? ______
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She also said that the bill that eventually gets passed may not be only the lobbyists’s version of the bill because the bill has been ______.
32. The purpose of the one-page memo I wrote to Congressman Altmire was to ask him if he wanted to co-sponsor the bill proposed in the “Dear Colleague” letter. What information did I put into the memo to help the Congressman make an educated decision as to whether to cosponsor the bill or not?
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Did Congressman Altmire agree to cosponsor the bill? ______
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Whole Truth: The General’s Dentures and July 4
33. If none of George Washington’s teeth were ever made out of wood, what were they made out of?
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34. What did Congress do on July 2 to “officially” declare independence?
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35. So what happened on July 4th?
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36. If independence was actually declared on July 2, why (in Ms. Mitnick’s opinion) should we continue to celebrate on July 4? (Hint – reading through this paragraph twice will help you understand the argument).
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Monday, July 14, 2008
Bills Help Real People Address Real Problems
37. What is the title of the Act and what would it do?
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38. What specific statistic (numbers) about Congressman Altmire’s district tells you that this particular bill will significantly help many real people in Congressman Altmire’s district.
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39. Why, as an educated citizen, should you know about how government works and what it can do?
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CLICK ON “AUGUST” ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE TO SEE AUGUST’S BLOG ENTRIES. THEN SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TO READ THE ENTRIES IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Question Binder ANSWERS!
40. Because of the mass exodus of people from Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina, would Louisiana get fewer representatives and when would this number go into effect?
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41. Does the Library of Congress really have a “Book of Secrets”? ______
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Tour
42. What happens to the walk signals and the traffic lights around the Capitol Building when a vote is about to occur and why do they do this?
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43. What does a Member of Congress do in order to actually vote on a bill?
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44. What do the Whip Staff do?
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45. What special job has Congressman Altmire done the fourth most amount of times during that term of Congress?
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46. Before the tour, what clue led me to think that Congressman Altmire liked history?
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47. What imagery did Congressman Altmire use when telling the story of how Truman first became President? ______
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48. What was Congressman Altmire’s answer to my question, “What would you want my students to know?” ______
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Thursday, August 7, 2008
Special Order Hours
49. What happens during Special Order Hours and when do these hours occur?
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50. How was this Special Order Hours session different from when representatives speak about specific bills during Legislative Business?
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Friday, August 8, 2008
Final Thoughts (LAST Blog Entry)
51. Congressman Altmire said that he was most proud of being able to pass thirteen different legislative initiatives. Many of these legislative initiatives specifically help which groups of people?
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52.Why does Congressman Altmire feel he has an obligation to work for this particular group of people?
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53. According to Congressman Altmire, what are representatives supposed to do and what is the Senate supposed to do? ______
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54. Although you are only 13 or 14 years old, what are all the ways you can participate in the political process? ______
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55. Now that you have read the entire blog (thank you! I know it was really long!), what did you find most interesting about Ms. Mitnick’s experiences in Congress or what did you learn about Congress that you didn’t know before? Give a specific example or refer to a specific blog entry.
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