Alabama Social Studies SS24.USG.4b
The Standard
- SS24.USG.4
- Describe the role and responsibilities of the legislative branch, including the process of lawmaking, the power of the purse, and the system of checks and balances within Congress.
Identify the types of congressional committees and explain their roles in policy-making.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students name standing, select, joint, and conference committees. They explain how each type reviews bills, studies issues, investigates problems, or resolves differences between bill versions.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a committee task, students name the right type and explain its role. They can tell a joint committee's shared work from a conference committee's work on a bill.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think committees cast the final vote to make a bill law. They often confuse joint committees with conference committees. Some assume every select committee is temporary.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Match standing, select, joint, and conference to four jobs: review a bill, investigate one issue, study with both chambers, and reconcile two bill versions. Explain how the last job affects the final bill.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups four committee cards to match with job cards for bill review, a focused investigation, a shared study, and reconciling bill versions.
Ask students to write: Why can't a joint committee's shared study replace a conference committee when the House and Senate pass different bills?
Play committee bingo with clues such as 'reviews bills' and 'reconciles two bill versions'; students cover the matching committee type.
On Congress.gov, find a bill, record its committee referral, and write why that committee would review it.
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