BACKGROUND: Students will conduct research into the inner workings of a Department on the President's Cabinet and give a Press Conference, playing the role of A NEW Secretary of that Department.

PROCEDURE: Below are the 15 current Cabinet Departments.  Students will complete basic research regarding one Department, beginning at the website:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet

another excellent source for Department information is allgov.com.

Student are strongly encouraged to use additional resources on this project. Remember, this is a RESEARCH project. You will NOT be able to find all of the issues that you are to address in this project on a single webpage neatly arranged for your consumption!

Each student will be preparing a short speech as if they are the THE NEW SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT. Each student should be prepared to address the class regarding their Department and be able to give information and answer questions, as needed.

REQUIRED ELEMENTS: Below is the order of the items that MUST be addressed in the press conference:

• State the Name and home state of the FORMER Secretary of the Cabinet Department.  (Start by saying, “Hello, I am Paul Burkhard of Colorado, Secretary of the Department of Violence and Urban Gaming. I would like to thank former Secretary Donald Schweeble of Utah for his years of great service to this fine Department...)
• A summary of the duties and activities of the Cabinet Department. PLEASE INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE OR TWO INDEPENDENT AGENCIES OF YOUR DEPARTMENT THAT WE MIGHT HAVE HEARD OF, SUCH AS THE FBI, NASA, ICE, etc.
• Description of two of the MAIN current problems or issues facing the Department AND how these issues are being addressed by the Department. (Please make sure that you are discussing MAIN issues, not just a couple of current news stories!)
• We will have the seal of your department posted on the overhead projector, so you will not need to describe it for the class.

Each student will write a SPEECH that will cover all of the above items. This speech will include a cover sheet, and be written using proper grammar, punctuation and spelling, as well as a citations page. The speech, when read, should last about 2-5 minutes.

PRESENTATION OF MATERIAL: Students will be expected to teach the class the following items regarding their Department:

1. Summary of the duties and responsibilities of the Department.
2. Description of one or two INDEPENDENT AGENCIES that work under that department (such as the FBI, NASA, CDC, etc.)
3. Brief summary of the two major issues facing the department at this time.

SOURCE MATERIAL: Please document ALL SOURCE material in your speech and on a CITATION page.

ASSIGNMENTS: The Fifteen Cabinet Departments and the assigned students are below. Please note that in the case of two students being listed together, they are NOT working together, but are each preparing separate presentations:

GRADING: This is a relatively large project, and will be worth 200 points for completion (almost as much as the recent exam).  Students will be graded equally on:

1. The quality of the information that they teach the class and the ability to answer questions regarding their Department. (100 points),
2. The quality of their written speech, including the content of the speech and the grammar, puncuation and spelling (50 points).

Students will have some in-class time for working on the project, but probably not enough to complete the assignment promptly.