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

or at this excellent source for Department information: 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.
  • (discuss this by saying: "At the Department of _____________, we have a number of important responsibilities, including _______________(explain in a sentence), ________________(explain in a sentence), etc." You should be relating AT LEAST 3-6 separate duties of your Department.
• Discuss AT LEAST ONE OR TWO INDEPENDENT AGENCIES OF YOUR DEPARTMENT THAT WE MIGHT HAVE HEARD OF, SUCH AS THE FBI, NASA, ICE, etc.
  • (cover this in your speech by saying: "As you know, we have a number of independent agencies working with our Department, such as the _____________, which does _________________ and the _____________ which is in charge of _________________."
• Description of two of the MAIN current problems or issues facing the Department in detail. Also discuss how these issues are being/will be addressed by the Department.
  • (address this by saying: There are a couple of critical issues that this department is currently facing. Our primary concern is____________________________________. We are also concerned about _________________________________.) Please make sure that you are discussing MAIN issues, not just a couple of current news stories!)
• Conclusion of Speech: Wrap up your information and ask for questions:
  • (close by saying something like: I look forward to my new role as head of the Department of ____________ and look forward to tackling ISSUE 1 and ISSUE 2. Are there any questions?)
• 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 delivered to the class and videotaped, should last between 2-3 minutes in length.

PRESENTATION OF MATERIAL: In their speech, students will be expected to teach the class the following information 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.

VIDEOGRAPHY: Because there are 15 different cabinet departments and Mr. B.'s Civil Government classes this year are so small, and we need to cover the information for each department, Mr. B. will be VIDEOTAPING each presentation for viewing and learning in the other class. Be prepared for this!

GRADING: This is a relatively large project, and will be worth 200 points for completion (almost 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 (100 points).

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