Block 2: House of representatives: There is an even number of Republicans and Democrats, but the Democrats had a couple of absences so the Republicans were able to vote in someone from their party as the Speaker of the House. They had a lot of trouble getting committee chairs elected, so they ended up having to go to a joint caucus so they could make a deal to end the stalemate.
Block 3: Senate: I am not sure that the students understood the idea of electing people from your party because while it should have been easy to elect the Democrats to leadership positions (there are 19 Democrats vs. 5 Republicans) it should have been difficult to elect Republicans. Yet, by the end of the elections there were two Republican committee chairs. Perhaps we should have explained this process better, but at least we finished the elections before the ed of the block.
I was pretty confused over the course of both blocks which means that the students must have been doubly confused. Now that I have done this simulation once, I realize that it is important to have at least half of a block devoted to teaching the process, rules, and procedure that students should be using. There should also be a cheat sheet of sorts; students should be given a worksheet or packet that explains what is happening at each step of the way that way they have something they can go back and refer to. By the end of the weekend I will try and have a procedure sheet for the students so they will have a better idea of what is going on. They can not be expected to do well in this simulation if they are not properly prepped.
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