United States Government: Democracy in Action

Unit 3: The Executive Branch

Big Idea Activity — Lesson Plan

How much power should the executive branch have?

Assignment: A Study in Power
Students will create a visual media presentation of the formal and informal powers of a president.

Assignment Task List

Step 1: Students will review the formal and informal presidential powers. Differentiated Instruction Project StudentWorks Plus Online, pages 246-249 on the whiteboard. Ask volunteers to come to the board and underline these powers as discussed in the textbook. Then help students summarize the powers in a chart like the one below.

Constitutional Powers	Informal Powers
• commander in chief • appoint heads of executive departments • make treaties • appoint ambassadors • appoint federal court judges • grant pardons, reprieves, amnesty • propose legislation • issue executive orders • call Congress into special session	• acquire territory • do whatever is necessary to preserve the Union • expand government's role in the economy • promote policy • make executive agreements • change policy through executive orders • impound funds • grant political favors • fire appointments

<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0078799821/680643/iwb_logo.jpg','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (8.0K)</a> Project StudentWorks Plus Online, pages 253-254 on the whiteboard. Ask volunteers to come to the board and circle the tools presidents use to influence how laws are carried out. Add them to the chart above.

Differentiated Instruction Project Guided Reading Activity 9-1 (157.0K) on the whiteboard. Have students come to the board and complete the worksheet.

Step 2: Students will review the federal bureaucracy that helps the president implement policy. They will list the 15 Cabinet departments and at least 20 agencies. Project the chart from StudentWorks Plus Online, page 282 onto the whiteboard. Have students check their lists and then compare the size of the bureaucracy that supports the executive branch to the offices that support Congress. Ask students if they believe the huge bureaucracy was an intention of the Founders. Should the bureaucracy be considered the "fourth branch" of government and require its own checks and balances? Why or why not?

Differentiated Instruction Project Guided Reading Activity 10-1 (138.0K) on the whiteboard. Have volunteers come to the board and complete the worksheet about the Cabinet.

Step 3: Students will select one president to highlight in a visual media presentation. Their focus should be on the president's use of formal and informal powers. They should research online and print text and photos to gather information about this president's (a) personality, (b) formal powers utilized, and (c) persuasive tactics and other informal methods used to implement laws or executive orders.

Differentiated Instruction Provide the following documents and Web sites to help students who are having difficulty finding source material.
Historical Documents and Speeches [see TeacherWorks]
Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, page 4
The Cuban Missile Crisis address by John F. Kennedy, page 9
Whistle-stop speech by Harry Truman, page 17
The Great Society speech by Lyndon Johnson, page 21
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, page 22
Web sites providing a general overview of presidents
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/
http://www.americanpresidents.org/

Step 4: Students will focus on one law that this president pushed to have passed and implemented. They should create a flow chart to trace the formal and informal powers the president used and the steps the bureaucracy took to implement the law.

Step 5: Students will prepare an outline to guide them as they prepare their presentations. They should then write and merge documents and visuals in their media presentation. Explain that they need to add an introductory paragraph, supporting statements for their main ideas and opinions, captions to photos, a summary conclusion, and a bibliography.

Differentiated Instruction On the whiteboard, project Graphic Organizer Transparency 19: Outline. Explain that outlines utilize main headings to represent major topics and second-level headings to support the main headings. Topics should be listed in a logical order.

Step 6: Plan one or two days for the presentations. Ask students to peer assess others' presentations according to the following items:
___ detailed research that shows a deep understanding of the subject
___ multiple sources used
___ exceptionally well organized presentation
___ attractive, creative, interesting, and compelling presentation
___ ideas presented clearly and flow logically
___ excellent technical aspects
___ well thought out design
___ illustrations and text combine neatly and effectively

After all of the media presentations have been displayed, have students discuss this question: How much power should the executive branch have?

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