DOCMCNTRZSUNg RD 256 685 SO 016 429 AUTHOR Filvaroff, Joan, Comp.; And Others TITLE Governing Texas--An Opportunity to Participate. An Introduction to Texas State Government Featuring Lessons Using Special Articles by ley Government )fficials with Selectefi Newspaper Activities. .Reprint]. INSTITUTION Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX. Newspapers in Education.; Austin Independent School District, Tex. PUB DATE Jan 83 NOTE 227p.; Maps containing small print will not reproduce. AVAILABLE FROMEducational Services Director, Austin American-Statesman, P.O. Box 670, Austin, TX 78767 ($5.00). PUB TYPE Guides - Classroom Use - Guides (For Teachers) (052) EDRS PRICE mr01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EMS. DESCRIPTORS *Citizen Participation; Citizenship Education; Constitutional Law; Court Litigation; Criminal Law; Delinquency; Due Process; *Governmental Structure; Instructional Materials; Justice; Juvenile Courts; Laws; Learning Activities; *Legal Education; Lesson Plans; Politics; Propaganda; Secondary Education; Simulation; Social Studies; *State Courts IDENTIFIERS *Law Relates' Education; *Newspaper in Education Program; Special Interest Groups; Texas ABSTRACT Designed for use in secondary school social studies classes, this guide provides activities for helping students understand some of the fundamental principles of government as well as its structure, politics, and effects on the individual. Information, articles, and cartoons from the Austin-American Statesman form the basis of the readings, along with background information from several texts and articles by public leaders, officials, and reporters. Forty-five lessons focus on levels of government, government and the citizen, reporting and interpreting government, the Texas legislature, spacial interest groups ac3 lobbying, the executive branch, and the Texas judiciary. Some of the teaching strategies recommended include: brainstorming, gaming, mock trial and legislature sessions, simulations, pictorial analysis, distinguishing fact and opinion, cartoon interpretation, r.1. playing, discussion, and writing activities. Emphasis is also placed on higher level skills such as application, analysis, and evaluation. For each lesson, objectives, materials needed, a step-by-step lesson plan, and reproducible student handouts are provided. Appendices include teacher and student evaluation forms and maps showin congressional districts within Texas. Although the guide foc as on government in Texas, it cam be used as a model for developing similar guides in other states. (LX) '--,2:03. eflor,04 4' U.S. DEPANTEUNT OFEDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL. RESOURCES INIORMATION ;04. CENTER (IHIC1 rap, ostuttatttat S, iNs Om unierTtWil been rin.-Imedttottl IRV {Atrium01 tOwinitattOn ortgittattrhi it Moto, ch./lows ttatt, beef, etts,le, to rnpravt, . fop acluc flori qodilty PoOltS ul upWtot, thIS SJCu rnant do nut r»cswnly repissem odic&NIL dos4iKni or pokt. AN OPFORTUNtTX TO PARTICIPATE `..1-tAtisRt, wC:1 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED Si :fie-m t lak.fOS TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERZ). ,r CAI Austin American -Statesman 0 2 GOVERNING TEXAS- AN OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE An Introduction To Texas State Government Featuring Lessons Using Special Articles By Key Government Officials With Selected Newspaper Activities Compiled by. Austin American-Statesman, Newspapers in Education Joan Filvaroff, Educational Services Director Karen Havholm and Paula Black, Assistant Editors and Austin Independent School District, Social Studies Teachers Philip Riley, Dobie Junior High School Jane Craig, Travis High School Marsha Lyons, Reagan High School Published by the Austin AmericauStateamau, Austin, Texas Co Might 1981 Repriniad January, 1983 a 'liegdomikpos Oinnwrorm Austin American-Statesman GOVERNING ThXAS - AN OPPORTUNITY TO PARTI ATE TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv PURPOSE 1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 2 INTRODUCTION Lesson I Setting the Stage to Study Texas Government 3 Lesson II Levels of Government (A Lesson in Three Parts) Part 1 - Levels of Government 9 Fart 2 - City Government in Texas 11 Part 3 - County Government in Texas 20 Lesson III Government in Three Branches 26 GOVERNMENTAND THE CITIZEN Lesson IV Barbara Jordan Writes on Participation in Politics 30 Lesson V Government Affects Your Daily Life 33 Lesson VI The Texas Constitution An Overview 35 Lesson VII Th,3 Right to Vote 36 Lesson VIII Getting Elected: A First Step to Serving in Government (Ann Richards) 46 REPORTING AND INTERPRETING GOVERNMENT Lesson IX The Capitol Boat (John C. Henry) 49 Lesson X Fact, Opinion and Propaganda 53 Lesson XI Types of Propaganda 56 Lesson XII Cartoon Interpretation 60 THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE Lesson XIII Cartoon on the Legislature 65 Lesson XIV Introducing the Texas Legislature (Dave McNeely) 66 Lesson XV Four Legislators Till About Their Jobs (Wilhelmina Delco, Pete Lance', Hector Uribe, Bob McFarland) 70 Lesson XVI The Legislative Cycle: How a Bill Becomes a Law (Lloyd Doggett) 77 Lesson XVII The Lieutentant Governor: President of the Senate (William P. Hobby) 89 Lesson XVIII A Special lob: Speaker of the House (Bill Clayton) 92 Lesson XIX Looking Ahead: The 68th Legislature (Lloyd Doggett) 96 Lesson XX Challenges Facing Texas (William P. Clements, Jr.) 107 Lesson XXI Legislative Reforms 110 SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS 4ND LOBBYING Lesson XIII Cartoons on Special Interest Groups 112 Lesson XXIII Special Interest Groups 114 Lesson XXIV Lobbying (Lloyd Doggett, Gene Fondren, Rebecca Lightsey) 116 *H.. Austin American Statesman immisromoi 0 4 Iff GOVERNING TEXAS - AN OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH Lesson XXV Cartoon on the Executive 126 Lesson XXVI What is the Executive Branch? 127 Lesson XXVII Governor of Texas A Special, Challenge (Mark White) 130 Lesson XXVIII The Texas Administration 138 Lesson XXIX The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation 142 Lesson XXX The Texas Department of Public Safety 146 Lesson MI Funding the State Agencies 151 Lesson XXXII Executive Reforms 154 THE TEXAS JUDICIARY Lesson XXXIII Cartoon on the Judiciary 156 Lesson XXXIV The Texas Judiciary: An Introduction (Zollie Steak ley) 157 Lesson XXXV Criminal and Civil Law Cases 162 Lesson XXXVI Texas Court System 167 Lesson XXXVII The Rights of the Accused 171 Lesson XXXVIIIHow a Criminal Case is Handled Part 1 173 Lesson XXXIX How a Criminal Case is Handled Part 2 175 Lesson XL How a Criminal Case is Handled Part 3 177 Lesson XLI Texas Crimes and Punishments 182 Lesson XLII Serving on a Jury 187 Lesson XLIII Juveniles and the Law Part 1 (Bryan Rudy) 191 Lesson XLIV Juveniles and the Law Part 2 (Michael Schloss) 198 Lesson XLV Judicial Reform (Joe Greenhill) 205 APPENDICES: Appendix A: "Liberals and Conservatives" (Charles Deaton) A 1 Appendix B: Evaluation Forms for Teachers and Students A3 Appendix C: Map: Congressional Districts of Texas A7 Map: Texas Representative Districts A8 Map: Texas Senate Districts A9 ie hoursloseses EihossMINN morimmimAustin American-Statesman mommour iii GOVERNING TEXAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people and organizations have contributed to thepublication of this booklet. We are very grateful for their interest, cooperation and effort - most of which wasforthcoming during the bu- siest season of the year - and we wish to recognizethe following contributors: Authors of Special Articles Present and Former Texas Government Officials Governor Mark White Former Governor William P. Clements Jr. Lieutenant Governor William P. Hobby State Treasurer Ann Richards Former House Speaker Bill Clayton Professor Barbara Jordan, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University ofTexas, formerly a member of the U.S. Congress and Texas House of Representatives State Senator Lloyd Doggett State Senator Hector Uribe State Senator Bob McFarland State Representative Wilhelmina Delco State Representative Pete Laney Joe R. Greenhill, Former Chief Justice, TexasSupreme Court Zollie Steakley, Former Justice of the Taxa.,Supreme Court Judge Michael Schiess, Travis County Court atLaw, #3 Referee of the Travis County Juvenile Court, Bryan Rudy Authors of other articles: Gene Fondren, Executive Vice President andGeneral Counsel, Texas Automobile Dealers Association Rebecca Lightsey, Director of the Texas Consumers'Association Dave McNeely, Political Editor, American-Statesman John Henry, American-Statesman Staff Bruce Hight, American-Statesman Staff Candice Hughes, American-Statesman Staff Authors of Books on Texas Government Janice May, Professor of Government, Universityof Texas at Austin and co-author of "Texas Go- vernment" with Stuart A. MacCorkle and Dick Smith,McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1980 E. Larry Dickens and Pamela Stucker Bertone,"Fundamentals of Texas Government", Sterling Swift Publishing Co., Menchaca, Texas, 1976 Richard Kraemer, Ernest Crain, William Earl Maxwell,"Politics in Texas", West Publishing, St. Paul, 1975 William Earl Maxwell, Ernest Crain, et al, "Texas PoliticsToday", West Publishing Company, St. Paul, 1978 Ben Sargent, "Texas Statehouse Blues", Texas MonthlyPress, Austin, 1980 -leInowspopers In Education Austin American-Statesman v 6 GOVERNING TEXAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE Contributions by Organizations Austin Public Library Texas Automobile Dealers Association Austin State School Texas Consumer Association Children's Council, Galveston, Texas Texas Department of Mental Health and Galveston County Young Lawyers Mental