Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Was Bill Clinton’s Welfare Reform Act a success or failure? And what policies could help low income Americans going forward?

Nora Collins
Final; DN! Summer PD
August 30, 2016
Unit Title:  2016 Presidential Election Issues, it’s the second unit after “College and Career Choice”
Essential Question:  How can I be an educated and informed voter?
Grade Level: 12th grade (classes for 28-34 students)
Course:   Government & Economics
Time frame:  Two 50 minute lessons (although students would be given materials to read a week in advance to prepare)
Objective: SWBAT to support arguments with evidence; SWBAT demonstrate analysis of a varied set of sources; SWBAT to participate in a collaborative discussion.
Context:
This would be one of several discussions we would have on the issues in this year’s elections covering both domestic and foreign policy issues.  In other countries, wives and daughters of former presidents have often been the first female presidents or prime ministers.  This story may also unfold in the United States.  One major difference is the extraordinary extent to which Hillary Rodham Clinton was involved in her husband’s administration.  Because of this past involvement (and perhaps sexism), Ms. Clinton has had to address to address the legacy of her husband’s most significant policies: NAFTA, the 1994 Crime Bill, and Welfare Reform Act.  Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have admitted and apologized for the Crime Bill.  The Occupy Wall Street and its resurrection through the Bernie Sander campaign has brought greater attention to issues of wealth inequality.
Aim:  Was Bill Clinton’s Welfare Reform Act a success or failure?  And what policies could help low income Americans going forward?
Materials:
From Democracy Now! (both clip and transcripts)
From Newsweek:
From FiveThirtyEight.com:
From Salon:
From The Hill:
From The Atlantic:
From The Economist:
             7.  No Money, No Love
Procedure:
Day One:
  1. Students will be grouped in heterogeneous groups of four.
  2. In advance, students will have read and annotated the written materials
  3. Using laptops, groups can watch the clip
  4. Working together, students should write the main idea of each article on a post-it note.
  5. In their notes, students should make a t-chart with success, failure, and future ideas on either side.
  6. Working together, students can fill in this 3-way graphic organizer to prepare for your discussion.
  7. Students should write some answers to the two questions.  Students should also mark up the most compelling quantitative and anecdotal evidence from the sources.
  8. Although I will annotate the sources, some terms like “marginal tax rate” may need explaining.
Day Two:
  1. Groups will fill in the FRAME worksheets to prepare on two sources.  Now that they have processed  and recorded information from the readings, now they can begin to examine framing.
  2. Student can divide up the nine sources to make sure all are given the FRAME evaluation.
Day Three:
  1. Students will be divided up into two large groups to allow all students a chance to discuss.
  2. They will discuss
  1. The 1996 Welfare Reform Act
  2. How did you see differences in the coverage over the nine sources?
  3. Its legacy
  4. What they may know of welfare beyond the sources
  5. What actions should be taken going forward?
3.     In the wrap up, student should jot down ideas for their written statement,
4.     With a few extra days, student should write up a one page statement answering the discussion questions, with all arguments being supported by evidence.
Assessment:
1.     Discussion rubric
2.     Written statement
3.     FRAME sheets
4.   Annotations

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