Senior Zariah Gonzales intensively watched the news of the 2014 midterm election results. The game was now on. Students with the most accurate predictions will have the first draft pick. The project that started out as an assignment is now a thriving interest among the Advanced Placement Government classes.
AP Government teacher Tara Hayes found out about the project from a teacher’s Facebook page, where other AP Government teachers share ideas. Fantasy Congress is a project composed of five assignments between Oct. 31 and Jan. 23.
The first assignment, midterm elections, requires students to make their predictions on who would win, which would then determine who would be given the first draft pick. After all the teams are assembled, each group of students will have three senators and 12 members of Congress. However, they will only be able to have two active senators and eight active congressmen.
After making the starting lineup, students will then create a player profile. This profile will consist of precise Congress information. Students will then finalize their player’s profile by giving evidence of points that were earned. Points can be earned when a congressman sponsors a bill, gets a bill passed, or is in the media. In the end, the players with the most points will win if they are able to provide evidence for their team.
“I really like this assignment; she should keep doing it,” Gonzales said. “Wherever she got it from, she should keep looking.” Gonzales is among the students who have been closely engaged to the political project.
She has been watching the elections vigorously all summer. But it wasn’t until she was assigned the political project that she opened her eyes to politics. After hearing the results she predicted come true, she couldn’t help but feel accomplished with her accuracy. However, a troubled feeling also swept over her.
With a GOP triumph in the Senate, Gonzales is worried that they will put America in a hole with ISIS. She also is further in her predictions as to say that the predominantly Republican Congress will pave the way for a Hillary Clinton presidential candidacy.
The whole purpose of fantasy Congress was to try to get students to pay more attention to Congress and learn who are the players in Washington. This year, Hayes is also giving quizzes to students every day.
“I learned that unless you make students study, they won’t,” she said. This new project and system of quizzes won’t guarantee that more students will pass the AP test this year. However, it is showing an increasing amount of participation.
“Getting students to pay attention to what’s going on in the news gets them to connect things,” Hayes said. “And then the lightbulb goes off.”