Simulated House/Senate Debate
Purpose: Deliver a persuasive speech to explain how you will vote on the proposed bill or Constitutional amendment, and explain how you decided how to vote.
Directions:
- After watching C-SPAN videos, reading linked articles, and discussing both sides of the issue, students write a brief speech/ position paper supporting either supporting or opposing the deliberation question.
- Teacher Note: You may want to do the Take a Stand and/or Simulated Congressional Hearing activities before this one.
- Teacher Note: You may want to do the Take a Stand and/or Simulated Congressional Hearing activities before this one.
- Show C-SPAN clips of actual Senate or House floor debates to familiarize them with the structure of a floor debate on a bill or amendment. You can find those video clips on C-SPAN’s Congress website.
- Hold the debate in class.
- The debate can be formal and authentic or informal. You may simply divide the class into two “parties” based on their answers to the deliberation question and then call on speakers by alternating between the parties. Student directions and a rubric for this type of debate are below.
- Or you may conduct a multi-day, detailed simulation with more structure and authenticity, with students playing roles including majority leader and minority leader. See C-SPAN Teacher Fellow Joe Karb’s website for an eight-day middle school Congressional Simulation.
- Teacher Note: If you need additional assistance in conducting a Simulated House or Senate Debate in your classroom, consult this guide from the Bill of Rights Institute.
Additional Resource: Consider using the student directions and rubric below to get students started on writing their speeches.
- Write a 1-2 minute persuasive speech including the following information:
- Do you support or oppose the bill/amendment?
- What are the main reasons why you support or oppose it?
- How did you decide how to vote?
- Explain how much you considered each of the following factors:
- Your personal opinion, views, and values.
- Your constituents’ views/public opinion.
- Testimony from expert witnesses at the committee hearing.
- Speeches and written statements from other Senators and experts.
- Key phrases to use in your speech:
- “I rise in support/in opposition to the proposed bill/amendment…”
- “I agree with Justice _______ when he wrote….”
- “________ made a very good point when she said….”
- “I have considered the views of my constituents on this issue, and they believe that…”
- “I urge my fellow Senators to join me in voting for/against this amendment”
