Full Session

To help your students understand what the full session will look and feel like, choose ONE of the bills below and have the students watch the entire segment, from the introduction of the bill to the vote. The times listed below will help you see how long each bill took.

MHS 2.5 hours full session Day 1 featuring Rep Melissa Sargent

Constitutional Amendment on Voting Rights for all Residents (15:45)
Net Neutrality (45:00)
Drug Crime Reform (1:09:05)**
Incentives for Medical Testing (1:35:40)
Preservation of National Parks (2:02:15)
Increased Funding for Stem Cell Research (2:20:50)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s3T36THctk&t=53s

MHS Full session Day 2

Bills:

Mandatory Vaccinations
Aid to Veterans (34:00)
Reforming Detention and Deportation Centers (53:10)
Two Years of Mandatory National Service (1:24:30)
Right to Work (1:50:40)
LGBTQ Rights (2:10:20)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkGCLcpm35A

Full Session Preparation

After watching a video of the fill session, hand out Summary of Full Session procedures and roles and work through the entire document, including the full session procedures and the roles for full session.

The primary IN CLASS tasks for full session are

1) All students write floor speeches (2)

2) Bill Sponsor prepare for opening and closing speeches for bills that will be heard in full session

3) All students review ALL the bills for full session and fill out the Bill Review Packet.

ALL STUDENTS: Floor Speech Assignment - each student submits at LEAST two speeches, ideally one for each day if your speaker has establisehd the schedule when your students begin working on the speeches. (you could ask for 2 per day if you wanted...)

BILL SPONSORS: Full Session Opening and Closing Speeches - Bills that make it to the Full Session need two different bills sponsors to give speeches. Note that these students are waived from one of the floor speeches. This Closing Speech Counter Argument Notes document can help he closing speaker organize their thoughts regarding a rebuttal.

ALL STUDENTS: Full Session Bill Review Packet (all students)

Students can complete the bill review packet individually, or you can have small groups present sing this template: Full Session Bill Review Presentations

Tips for students

Reflection Assignments

Rubric for Self Evaluation

Sample Full Session Reflection

Sample Full Session Debrief

Full Session Organizing Documents

Full Session Timing Breakdown This is a really key document to be sure that the day runs smoothly. It helps schedule all of the different parts of the day based on the time alloted. Work with the speaker to prepare this.

Sample PPT for Full Session Note that each bill group was able to provide ONE slide with a statistic, quote or graphic to support their bill sponsor speech. You could do this, or choose not to. It's not critical this time. But having the name of the bill up on display can be helpful so students don't get lost.

Sample Bill Signing Certificates (for the President to sign or Veto)

Sample Letter to Parents - could include an invitation to volunteer.

Instructions and Documents for Full Session Leaders

(print and hand these out to the students filling these roles)

Floor Leaders

Floor Leader Role and Speaking Schedule - The Floor Leaders need to work to line up 3 minutes of prepared floor speeches for each bill. They can ask their Head Whip an Assistant Whips to read speeches and make recommendations by assigning each person one or two bills to review. They should have this done in advance to let students know that their speeches have been chosen.

Assistant Whip (Former Committee Chairs)

Attendance and Voting procedures For Assistant Whips (former committee chairs)

Parliamentarian Instructions

Sargent at Arms Instructions

Head Clerk Instructions and time sheets

Vote Record (Head Clerk)

Vote Record Spreadsheet- This spreadsheet should be displayed on a projector during the vote. The clerk should have a computer to enter the vote totals as they are announced by the Assistant Whips. Each Assistant Whip then turns in the PAPER vote record from the roll call to the clerk. The paper copy is the official record in the case of a dispute. The spreadsheet is on a black background because it's easier to see in a dim auditorium, even though it's not as visually appealing.

THERE IS A SPACE FOR PRESENT VOTES, if you have not been allowing your students to vote present (aka abstain), delete this column and the "present' vote total. It this won't impact the calculations in the spreadsheets!
Setup: The Full Session Clerk should setup the spreadsheet by renaming the tabs with the number of the bills to be debated, and putting in the names of each bill on their specified tab. They may need your assistance.
Attendance Tab: Attendance must be taken at the start of the day (in each committee) and reported to the clerk using the Attendance Record. Then it must be updated if anyone leaves during the day for more than just a bathroom break, the clerk should note the name and time that the member left on the paper record. Assistant whips are responsible for reporting attendance changes to the clerk. The attendance totals on this sheet automatically update on the other pages to determine the number of votes needed for a bill to pass or fail. You may want to have a Sign Out Sheet at the door (a teachers, or possible parent volunteer or Sergeant at Arms duty??) to have a backup record if students leave.
Summary Tab: This automatically populates the result of the votes, and can be used at the end of Day 2 for the singing ceremony.
Bill Tabs: Each bill has it's own tab which adds up the votes as they are entered and compares against the total required to pass, based on attendance. It automatically computes the final results, and will display the word "Passed" when a majority of "Yes" votes are attained. It also checks to be sure that the total number of votes does not exceed the total number of members in attendance.

Speaker of the House

Full Session Timing Breakdown- This is a really key document to be sure that the day runs smoothly!

Work with the Speaker to create the schedule of how much time will be allocated to debate for each bill, and ensure that other things are scheduled in (Guest speakers, signing ceremony). The speaker should allocate MORE open debate time to bills that are more controversial, and less to bills that are likely to easily pass. If you have a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes they should aim to schedule 3 hours of active time, giving a bit of extra time if there is a motion to extend debate, or if things are running behind.

During the prepared floor speeches, debate should begin with the party sponsoring the bill, with 3 minutes offered to each side, in alternating increments. (EG 3R, 3D, 3R, 3D) If one side does not use all of their time, they just say 'I yield the remainder of my time to the chair'. The party sponsoring the bill should speak frist.

During the 'Open Debate' the speaker also yields equal time to each side, but students simply line up to speak and respond. If there is 16 minutes of open debate time, it could be allocated 3D, 3R, 3D, 3R, 3D, 3R, 1D, 1R, The goals is to have some back and forth, it's more lively that way!

Script for Opening the Session and Introducing the Guest - Add details as needed

FULL Script Template for Speaker of the House -Speaker will need to modify to insert bill titles, names of sponsors, etc.

Preparing for Full Session

Full Session To Do Checklist

Practice script for Full Session

(Practice for Speaker and Head Clerk and Floor Leaders)- use during a rules committee meeting, as you will need some extra people to help. This is based on text from an old Onion Article- it's nonsense, just something to say to practice yielding and timing.

Full Session Agenda (AKA House Calendar)

For the full session you should produce a calendar that lists the agenda for the day as well as important details. Here is a photo and a sample. One of your TAs could prepare this for you.

You might want to have your rules committee discuss the bills one more time, and decide if they want to package together any bills into an omnibus (a package that gets voted on together). This is a good way to pass a bunch of bills that are not very controversial and unlikely to generate debate or opposition. In that case there doesn't even need to be a debate, just a vote.

You could also package together similar bills, and discuss and vote on them as a package.

Ideally the bills scheduled for debate will be the most interesting ones, and ones that will generate differences of opinion and some good debate.

Setup On Stage

The Speaker, Assistant Speaker, Clerk, and Parliamentarian sit on the stage. Here is a Full Session View, they can all sit at the same level, or you can put the Speaker on a riser. The speaker needs a mic and a gavel. The clerk also needs a timer/stopwatch to time the speakers. I am going to order and send a stoplight, which helps with keeping time and signaling when time is up.

There should be a podium on the side of the stage with a mic for the bill sponsor speeches, closing speeches, and for the guest speaker.

Setup On the Floor

You will need four mics on the floor, one for the majority leader and one for the minority leader, and a podium (or a music stand) next to each one. Then an additional mic for the speakers. If you can only get two mics on the floor, that is OK too, but four helps spread things out and prevents jostling.

The students sit in rows with their committee members in alphabetical order, so you'll have students sitting in 6 rows, with the Committee Charis on each end and committee members in the alpha order in the middle. Their Committee Chair has a new role, they are known as the "Assistant Whip" for their committee. The Whip is a real role, it's the person who tries to line up votes. For our purposes, the whips help communicate with the floor leaders, and conduct the votes.

Students stay in their seats unless they are getting up to speak. They should never sit in a different row or move around for any other reason when in session. However, during the three minute recess prior to voting they are able to get up and talk to others about how they plan to vote. This lets them stretch a bit and move around, but they need to return to their row when voting begins.

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