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Processes and Institutions in AP U.S. Government and Politics: A Hands-On Approach
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by Susan Ikenberry
Georgetown Day School
Washington, District of Columbia
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I've been teaching AP U.S. Government and Politics for exactly as long as the AP Exam in that subject has been around. I modeled my first course on syllabi suggested by the College Board, in terms of readings and textbook, but from the beginning I've tried to make the course more engaging by giving it something of a hands-on feel. So, since its inception I've taught a new course every year by changing the syllabus to anticipate the most interesting current events and emphasizing projects over readings.
When a former student, David Lublin, came back to town as a college professor he and I began to collaborate on our AP and freshman classes, particularly after his first year, when he was dissatisfied with his results. He's kind enough to say that I gave him two essential suggestions: one is to ignore the order of the textbook and begin to engage students with one of the institutions or processes of government right away; the other is to emphasize projects, ideally giving them an air of importance by the way they are set out. He's become a master of this process since then.
What follows is my pitch for the "hands-on" approach I advocate. The links below go to some syllabi and some wonderful assignments from David that take the ideas to a whole new level.
Starting with Events
Textbooks seem to want us to lead our students chronologically through our U.S. Government class, beginning with the Constitution and its origins, with a chapter on federalism as underpinning. But that doesn't mean we have to use the book that way. In fact, an approach that is event-based and/or institution-based can get the job done while creating a good deal of excitement along the way. Perhaps because I'm in Washington, where I have been able to rely on field trips and guest speakers more than many teachers, I've always done it that way. But my approach is not really locale-based, especially with C-SPAN and local elected officials there to help.
For example, if it's an election year, beginning with the elections is a natural. I choose textbook chapters that feed into the elections: political socialization, public opinion, campaigns and elections, political parties, interest groups, public policy. (If the election being covered is presidential, I get that chapter in as well. If it's congressional, I may try to fit it in or take it up as soon as the election is over). All reading for the first month or months is leading to an analytic project on the elections. For seniors this would probably be a paper; for younger students it might be a shorter paper with a portfolio component, and perhaps a class presentation aspect as well. (If the election is local, a requirement for that portfolio can reasonably be an interview with the candidate him/herself or someone on the staff.)
When I first started these sorts of projects campaign finance information was a challenge for the students to obtain, but these days with the Web site opensecrets.org for national campaigns and so many sources online for local elections, it's become comparatively easy for students to impress the reader of their papers with precision in presenting and analyzing these figures.
Campaign ads have also become easier to track. The C-SPAN Web site makes it easy to see campaign ads either on TV or on the Web site. (Since we are neither in a "red" nor "blue" state, but, in fact, not a state, we get very few of them.) I usually make the project due about a week after the election, which gives the students time to absorb and analyze the outcome. But sometimes I have a mini-project, within the larger project, that involves a prediction; a poster works nicely here. Students present their posters at the class immediately before Election Day. It makes the whole process exciting. Perhaps the emphasis on the "horse race" winds up being a bit overdrawn here, but if it teaches students how the electoral process works and gets them interested in politics it can't be all bad.
When the election is over, assuming I'm teaching my current one-semester course, the month of November is devoted to Congress and the federal agencies, and December is reserved for the judiciary component. I fit the Constitution and the chapters that deal with civil liberties and civil rights in here, too.
Starting with Institutions
But what about those years when there is no election locally or nationally that can be worked into the course? It still isn't necessary to begin with the Constitution. It can be saved to use when the judicial branch is considered, and I think the Constitution is more meaningful to students after they've seen how it works in action.
I typically begin a nonelection year with Congress. A decade ago I would have students draw up a profile of a member, complete with an interview, but in recent years, the candidates' Web sites and the availability of so much online has simplified the research for these projects. So, I've scaled back, to mini-project scale, having students use the Almanac of American Politics and Politics in America as well as the member's Web site, emphasizing the district. We spend a class or two having each student make a five-minute presentation about a member of Congress. For young Washingtonians, especially, it's a surprise to see how remarkably different the constituencies of various members are. Students develop an appreciation for how important issues that they know nothing about are to members from rural areas, or that some areas depend on a specific industry or even a specific company. Also, it helps students see how committee assignments are often related to the needs of the members' districts. The presentation also segues nicely into discussion of reapportionment and redistricting, since the districts are often rather peculiar looking.
A project that nicely follows the focus on Congress is to have students compare two related interest groups. Students look at budget and staff as well as the mission, messages and activities of two groups in opposition to one another. Since it's not even a long-distance call, I have students call the interest groups they choose and ask questions about the size of the staff, the budget, and what sort of lobbying they do. The major groups send literature, which the students seem to enjoy bringing into class. I typically make this a paper, with an informal class-participation piece.
Other Hands-On Assignments
When I need another hands-on assignment, I go to a newspaper comparison: students read two newspapers for ten days to two week and compare the coverage of each on a selected topic -- the war in Iraq; a municipal project or issue that's in the news; some aspect of domestic policy; the main criterion is that it be something that's going to appear most days in the newspaper. Students compare the two papers looking at whatever media effects concepts the textbook you use suggests: gatekeeping, agenda setting, "watchdogging", priming, framing. Adding a television component to this project can give it another dimension of analysis.
Students seem to respond especially well to this project. Many do not normally read papers, so they are surprised at how thorough they are. The Internet makes it easy for students to access papers all over the country, and even all over the world. I emphasize that if they use the Net, they should try to use only the Net, and check it daily, ideally at about the same time at night. They also need to develop some criteria for how to judge placement. Internet versions of papers certainly have their own versions of front page, above the fold, and buried on page C-9, but students need to come up with these in advance.
Usually I end the semester with a quick look at the judicial branch, having students make impromptu arguments about cases, and finally I take up the Constitution. Often I assign a mini-project based on the students' listening to oral argument. But if there were a dispute brewing over a judicial nominee, beginning the course with the judiciary and Congress might work very well.
The object is always to tie current news into the course, so that the newspaper is as integral to the course as the textbook. And as a result I've never taught the same course twice, despite having taught it for close to twenty years. Each time I approach it, I analyze the potential for germane news and projects related to that news. Every year, whether I'm teaching a semester- or year-length course, I can begin with something that seems exciting: an election, a thorny issue in Congress, a contested judicial nomination. I assign chapters according to when they will give students needed background for projects. Students respond to the immediacy of the course, and in the end seem to have creditable AP grades as well as a lasting interest in government.
Susan Ikenberry has been teaching at Georgetown Day School (GDS) since 1980, and has taught the U.S. government class since the inception of AP U.S. Government and Politics. She attended one of the first workshops on the subject at Georgetown University in the mid-l980s. Before teaching at GDS, Sue was a Congressional staffer in the field and on Capitol Hill for Congresswoman Beverly Byron of the sixth district of Maryland. Sue's degrees are from Vassar and Johns Hopkins in European and U.S. history. She also teaches AP Comparative Government and Politics, and has been a Reader and Table Leader for the AP U.S. History Reading.
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