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 probably need to complete basic research regarding their Department. I would recommend using the following website as a starting point, as the current administrations cabinet website is completely useless: 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?)
• You will need to DEMONSTRATE THE LOOK of the Department SEAL during your speech in some way! THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL!

Each student will write a SPEECH that will cover all of the above items, using the TEMPLATE above. You have a couple of options for this speech, as follows:

• You can videotape yourself giving this speech, so that it can be played for the other students in the class.
• You can use the PUPPETRY app on Canva- You will need to create your presenter, then feed it your completed speech, to create your speech, allowing other students to see your presentation. If you use this option, please make sure that you include an image of the SEAL of the Department and that you send the link for your presentation to Mr. B. for posting!

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.

ASSIGNMENTS: The Fifteen Cabinet Departments and the assigned students are below.

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

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