Who Are My Representatives?

Objectives

• Students will learn who their federal and state legislators are.
• Students will learn about representative democracy.
• Students will decide which political issues are important to them.
• Students will write a letter to one of their representatives.

Materials

• Names and addresses of state representatives and their addresses
• Lists of U.S. Senators and U.S. Members of Congress
• My Representatives worksheet & business letter outline
• Paper, envelopes, stamps

  Procedures

  1. Discuss representative democracy. What does it mean? Why does the United States have this kind of government? How is it different from a constitutional monarchy, or a dictatorship?
  
  
  2. Explain to students that the United States is a Republic, or representative democracy, therefore their state, and federal representatives are their personal advocates. Citizens should know who these people are, how they vote, and how they can be contacted.
  
  
  3. Distribute My Representatives worksheet and lists of state and federal representatives.
  
  
  4. Students fill out My Representatives worksheet.
  
  
  5. Distribute information about current political issues.
  
  
  6. Discuss various issues and ask students to decide on one that is important to them.
  
  
  7. Students choose a representative to whom they would like to write and an issue to ask him about.
  
  
  8. Distribute business letter outline (included in My Representatives worksheet).
  
  
  9. Students write letters, send them off, and hope to get a reply!
  
  
  Additional notes: The U.S. Senate's web site is http://www.senate.gov/.
  The U.S. House of Representative web site is