January 30, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode, we're going behind the scenes of our "OHS Legislature: (a.k.a. our OHS Political Science class), where students get a hands-on approach to learning about our democratic process. You'll see how our District value of “Relevant and Empowering Learning Experiences” is on full display in this course!
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER1:
One of the five values of the Oregon School District is "empowering and relevant
learning experiences." Today, (00:00):
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we are going to see this value in action right here in our OHS Political Science classes.
Hello and welcome to Inside the OSD.
SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids. (00:16):
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Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
SPEAKER1: Could you please introduce yourself and tell us about your background here in the OSD? (00:29):
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SPEAKER3: I'm Chris Wiegman. I'm a social studies teacher, t he department chair for the social studies. (00:34):
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This is my sixth year in Oregon School District and 12th year overall.
Um. Teaching the political science class for the first time this school year.
Yeah, and I'm Evan Bonsall.
SPEAKER4: I'm also a social studies teacher here at OHS. (00:51):
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This is just my second year at OHS. Um, but it's also my second year teaching political science.
And this--this year I've had the pleasure of teaching it alongside Chris.
We have two sections this year, whereas last year we just had one.
SPEAKER1: Now you were the pioneer on this, but I bet it's awfully nice to have somebody along on the journey with you. (01:09):
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Somebody to talk to about it, to collaborate with.
Yeah. I bet that's been big.
SPEAKER4: Absolutely. And I-and I want to be clear, I mean, I certainly didn't create the class. (01:18):
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This is--we use the legislative semester curriculum, which has been used for decades at high schools all over the Midwest.
And there are quite a few schools in Dane County that use the same curriculum and have done for years.
Um, I know McFarland High School also just adopted this curriculum.
(01:41):
So, um, I think we can talk about this more later.
But what's really powerful about the legislative semester curriculum that we use for political science is that it's just--it's incredibly engaging.
Um, it's authentic. And I think it teaches students not only how our government actually works right,
but also teaches them really important citizenship skills that they'll hopefully be able to use for the rest of their life.
SPEAKER3: Yeah, and I could jump in and just say that collaboration has been a big part of the process. (02:04):
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Um, we're currently writing an article for our in-house professional journal, um,
that's going to document the journey that we've kind of been on for four years.
And it's been collaboration at the center from the very beginning, from collaboration within the department with,
(02:25):
uh, with Evan and the legislative semester.
So lots of partners that have helped make this happen.
SPEAKER1: Oh that's fantastic. Can you both give us an overview of the political--political science class approach overall? (02:31):
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Because you're talking about it, but our listeners probably have no idea how this works,
how this goes.
SPEAKER4: Yeah, it's a really unique class. Um, students who have taken the class say that it's different from just about any other course that they've taken in high (02:43):
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school. Um, the political science class we teach here, um, again, using the legislative semester curriculum is designed to be an
authentic, realistic --or as realistic as possible--simulation of how real legislature works,
(03:07):
how US Congress works, or how our state legislature works, or how our county board works.
Students come in each day, and instead of calling them by their first name, we call them by their last name,
Representative Bonsall, right? Representative Bergstrom, etc.
um, and uh, from day one, we use uh, the rules of parliamentary procedure.
(03:30):
W e expect students to address each other not by their first name, but as representative so-and-so.
Um, and we debate real live issues that are being discussed in the world and in our country,
uh, from day one. Starting with, you know, relatively low stakes issues, we will introduce a resolution,
(03:51):
um, about whether students should be able to have cell phones in school or not.
Um, or about, uh, regulation of teen social media use.
Um, but eventually we work our way up to more complex or more contested issues.
Um, you know, we've, uh--and ultimately, students write a bill with a couple of their classmates,
(04:13):
um, that's modeled on the same format and the same, uh, you know, style that is used to write real bills,
real legislation, um, by actual legislators.
And they write these bills, they try to sell their classmates on them.
Um, ultimately, they need to get them approved with a small--by a small group of their classmates in a committee hearing,
(04:34):
a simulated committee hearing. And then the culminating event of the semester is a full legislative session where students in every section of the class.
So this year, dozens, next year, maybe 150 or more students all come together in the same space.
Um, and debate all of the bills that have been passed out of committee that have been written by their classmates,
(04:55):
and they are able to vote on those bills based on their real, authentically held opinions.
At no point are students assigned roles.
They get to choose which political party they want to caucus or team up with.
Um, they get to choose how they vote, you know, "yes or no" on each bill and resolution we debate throughout the whole year.
(05:15):
Um, and all of the leaders--all of the student leaders that are--that help make it happen are volunteers.
They've all stepped up and been elected or appointed by their classmates, not by us.
Yeah.
SPEAKER3: And I could just add on that a real shining part of the course and the curriculum is, (05:27):
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um, students getting to explore their political identity, um, and understand their perspective more fully and learn to understand the
perspective of others. Um, so that's a real big part of the class, um, along with those collaborative elements,
(05:48):
um, that Evan was talking about with working on bill teams, uh, Lobbying your peers,
trying to convince them to come onto your side and discuss those issues in an open format.
SPEAKER4: Yeah. And I think that, you know, one other thing I would add, I mentioned, you know, (05:59):
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skills that we teach earlier. And, you know, Chris is talking about collaboration and learning how to talk with people across
lines of difference. One thing that we emphasize from day one and throughout the whole semester is the idea of civil discourse.
You know, how do we talk across lines of disagreement with each other in a civil and productive way?
(06:22):
The goals of our conversations are not, you know, for one side to win from day one.
It's to find common ground and solve problems, answer questions.
Um, and students do a really good job with this.
I think we see this not only in students, you know, really being eager to try to amend the bills and resolutions that are
(06:43):
put before them, trying to find solutions, find common ground to get as close to a unanimous support or unanimous vote as
they can, but they also are able to talk about really controversial issues that in other settings-without those rules of civil
discourse being enforced and being followed by everyone and being understood-might be really challenging.
(07:07):
You know, last year we had students write bills about abortion and the death penalty.
This year we had students write a bill about sexual assault, right?
So really serious, uh, heavy issues. Right.
But students are able to talk about them productively.
And I think that's one of the coolest things about the class to me is like, these are,
of course, you know, teenagers. But at the end of the day, they're young adults and we're teaching them how to,
(07:32):
after high school, go be responsible citizens.
SPEAKER1: Well, they're one step away, in some cases one year away or one semester away from being eligible voters. (07:35):
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And so understanding the way government works. But as you said, it's so much more important than that.
The civil discourse piece, I'm hoping that that's the biggest thing they take away is that it is possible,
right? To talk in a civil manner with people that you don't necessarily agree with,
(07:59):
and try to find common ground.
SPEAKER3: Yeah, yeah. One thing in that vein of thinking, one thing I think a lot about is, (08:00):
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um, the role schools play in a democratic society.
Um, and so I really feel like this course is really second to none in creating citizens that are ready to go out and participate in a democracy.
SPEAKER4: Absolutely. We even simulate the process of registering to vote and really showing up to vote. (08:19):
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Um, we have a election that all students taking the class can participate in.
Uh, were--the speaker of the House. The speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives is elected by her classmates.
Um, the leaders of each party. So the Democratic leader and the Republican leader are elected by members of their party.
(08:44):
Um, and in order to vote, students have to register to vote using a form that's similar to the real voter registration form they fill out.
Once they turn 18, they have to show their voter identification card when they go to the polls to vote.
In order to run for those leadership positions, students have to get a petition form and collect signatures from their
(09:05):
classmates. And we also combined a real voter registration drive with that, where we made it possible for students to register to vote online
in real life if they were 18 and they were going to be eligible to do so.
SPEAKER1: Now, knowing that this year students elected to take the course, and starting next year, (09:20):
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this is a requirement for students, right?
Do you see that influencing anything related to how you're designing the course for next year?
SPEAKER3: Yeah. So next year we'll go to scale for the junior class next year. (09:35):
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And so each semester we'll have around 150 students approximately taking the class.
And so one um, sort of, um, change that's going to take place is just more logistical management.
Uh, for example, when we do committee hearing day, uh, this year with around 30 students,
(10:00):
we had, uh, two committees. We will probably have around ten committees next year.
So the logistics of the course, um, and finding the spaces, um, around the school and,
you know, managing students around the school during committee time is one of those adjustments that we're going to be brainstorming around and working on in
preparation for the fall.
SPEAKER4: Yeah. And I think there may be some other small adjustments we make as well. (10:21):
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Um, you know, for example, maybe we'll end up doing our full session at the end instead of being one full day where students are excused from their classes.
Maybe it will be two, uh, half days, right?
A morning and an afternoon session just to make logistics a little bit easier.
Um, and also encourage, you know, continued engagement, um, from students and, um,
(10:45):
maybe also giving students a students a break to help them think about, "oh well, what do we want to do differently or do better tomorrow?" Um,
I think that especially with a larger number of students, you know, some adjustments like that may need to be made. But the really nice
thing is we do have support from teachers who have taught the legislative semester for many years at other schools that we're talking with.
(11:06):
Yeah. And of course, we don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Every school is a little bit different, but there are schools, uh, similar to Oregon.
There are schools that are very different from us.
Um, who have all taught this same legislative semester curriculum successfully as a required course that all students are required to take,
you know, for many years.
SPEAKER1: Wonderful. That's a great example of collaboration, right? (11:27):
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You're right. You don't have to go back to square one.
You can lean on the experience of others.
That's really fantastic. And I'm sure in the future others will be leaning on your experience because,
um, I have a feeling that when this begins to be as successful as it seems like it will be.
(11:49):
I think other schools would be knocking on the door asking for your input on what they should do also.
SPEAKER3: Absolutely. And that was actually our experience. (11:55):
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Um, so the the network, um, that the legislative semester has is just remarkable.
So a group of us actually, when we hired Evan a few years ago, um, he was doing a long term sub job in another district,
but we were able to bring him along to a site visit in West Chicago, Illinois.
Right. Uh, to watch this in process and really, um, learn by by observing.
(12:20):
Um, so, yeah, I think definitely in our future, we want to be that model school for other districts.
SPEAKER1: Thank you. Could you please introduce yourselves? (12:26):
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SPEAKER5: I'm Will Mayo, a senior. (12:33):
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SPEAKER6: I'm Gadise , a junior. (12:35):
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SPEAKER7: Uh, I'm Gage, I'm a senior. (12:38):
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SPEAKER8: I'm Kody Friend. I'm a junior. I'm (12:39):
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SPEAKER9: Seedy, I'm a junior. (12:42):
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SPEAKER1: All right. Thank you. Um, how did you prepare for this activity? (12:43):
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And what tasks or tasks did you have to do to get ready for it?
SPEAKER5: Um, originally when I came in, I am the chairperson for my our class. (12:52):
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So that's kind of how that all went. And then before, in FFA, we would do some party stuff.
And I was in that last year. So then it was like, oh, so
SPEAKER1: you kind of understood parliamentary procedure? (13:07):
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SPEAKER5: Yeah. It was. (13:09):
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SPEAKER1: Oh that's great. (13:10):
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SPEAKER5: A lot more in depth than we did it in FFA. (13:11):
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But so I understood basically what was being said and being done.
SPEAKER1: Okay. Thanks. (13:17):
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SPEAKER6: For me it was just kind of understanding the basics. (13:19):
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Um, just knowing the procedures, what to say.
Um, kind of like making scheduling for things and.
Yeah. What was your role? So I'm majority leader, so I kind of just had to, like,
get our caucuses. Um, just like our ideas in line, our possible positions and, um,
orders for speeches. Wow. Okay.
SPEAKER1: Gage? (13:40):
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SPEAKER7: Uh, along with that, I was the--my, uh, minority leader. (13:41):
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So the same kind of thing as what Gadise said.
I organized kind of my, uh, party and helped coordinate, like, everybody's ideas and thoughts and assigned,
uh, who would give speeches during our full session.
SPEAKER1: You know, you both made that sound like it was just a list of things to do, but actually, it sounds really difficult. (13:56):
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And we can get back to that later. But coordinating all of those people and everybody's positions on issues must have been really interesting.
How about you?
SPEAKER8: We spent most of, if not the entirety of the semester preparing for this exact moment. (14:10):
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So yeah, we constructed our own bills to begin with, and then we sort of passed it through the first house of wherever we were doing
it from. And then we finally had our full House session, and that's where we brought everything we learned together.
And that was chaotic in itself. But honestly, I think everybody enjoyed it for the most part.
SPEAKER1: Did it take the whole day? (14:35):
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SPEAKER8: It did. It did take the whole day. I mean, we had maybe an hour left at the end, (14:37):
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but okay, most of it. We were definitely discussing.
A lot of people put their heart and souls into their bills and really try to, as much as they could,
to make this the best possible moment that we could make out of it.
SPEAKER1: I love the fact that you said this is what you've been preparing for all semester. (14:54):
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How about you?
SPEAKER9: I was a clerk, so I had to, like, write people's name down to school attendance. (15:00):
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And then I had to read the bills before, like other people got to, like, talking.
And I have to vote out. I had to choose who voted yes or nay for their bills.
SPEAKER1: Oh, you have to write down who did each, who said yay or nay? (15:15):
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Yeah.
SPEAKER9: Okay. If the bill passes or not. Okay. (15:19):
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SPEAKER1: Now, are these the roles that all of you had in your classes the entire semester? (15:22):
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Did you start with these roles or were you assigned these roles later?
SPEAKER9: Almost every semester we had them. (15:30):
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SPEAKER1: Okay. All right. So you were really preparing. (15:33):
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How has the activity helped you with your learning?
How did all of this help you in ways other than the class?
And then what will you take away from it?
SPEAKER5: I think that, um, the way like, you'll always hear like, "oh, they're making a law or this or they're making a bill for this." I think (15:46):
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this gave more in depth to actually how it goes, because you've heard that "I'm just a bill" song with them when we're actually
doing it. It's just more like, "oh, this is actually what it's like" and what it looks like to die in committee and then become an official law when presidents
(16:06):
veto bills and how that gets worked around and worked with.
SPEAKER1: I am so glad you brought up that song, because that was my elementary school education. (16:11):
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On how a bill becomes a law. So I'm glad you have that experience, too.
How about you?
SPEAKER6: Yeah, I kind of learned the day to day for like a legislator. So like kind of like the long day with the full session and just kind of learning about how (16:21):
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different elections not only like presidential but even like smaller, like town elections,
kind of how they work. And how
SPEAKER1: they impact (16:34):
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SPEAKER6: us. Right. And how like concise everything needs to be in order for things to actually get done. (16:35):
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SPEAKER1: Yeah. And the precision of language. Yeah. (16:40):
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That's big. How about you, Gage?
SPEAKER7: Um, to add on to what Gadise is saying, it helps me understand, um, like how and why sometimes it seems like legislation (16:44):
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takes so long to get through a process is because in committees where everything is really decided on and finalized.
Um, so that's where all of like people's differences of wording and things are worked out.
(17:05):
Right. And then the full session is really just to bring that together and just,
uh, like, publicly state what it's supposed to do.
SPEAKER1: Thank you. (17:14):
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SPEAKER8: Mine was--my opinion on this whole thing was basically what everybody said combined, (17:15):
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because we definitely learned a lot about the justice system, a lot about how it all goes down,
the process, everything. And that's what I feel like I'm going to take away from this class,
especially though, is the bills. A lot of the bills that we learned about were also like topics that I had no prior knowledge to.
(17:37):
Sure. But then when looking into it or discussing the bills, I got really invested in topics that originally you would just hear about,
like this is a political issue. But then when you hear more, more and more detail,
you realize there's a lot more that needs to be discussed to pass these bills or deny these bills or whatever action is going to be taken later.
SPEAKER1: Oh, sure. That's a that's a big realization. (17:56):
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It's there's a lot of complexities in each of these things that need to be worked out.
Yeah. And you.
SPEAKER9: Uh, well, one thing I learned was, like listening to what other people have to say because it was like a bunch of different bills that other people had (18:05):
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different topics --l ike different. I don't know how to say it like different opinions.
Sure. Yeah. So, like, they had different opinions of what you thought before.
So like, I just had to listen to what other people were thinking and stuff like that.
SPEAKER1: Did it change your mind when you heard other people talk things through? (18:24):
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Did it flip you on some issues?
SPEAKER9: Yeah, sometimes because yeah, it's important to know what other people are thinking too, and like how it affects them personally. So like. Right. It it did (18:29):
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change my mind. Like, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER1: I appreciate that. People had to be open and listen to other people's thoughts on all of these subjects. (18:40):
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So does it make you want to dig in more when you hear things in the news?
How does it impact you when you hear other things that are going before any branch of government?
Do you think more about it?
SPEAKER5: Um, I would say now I would understand more and just see where it was going instead of just like hearing about like, (19:01):
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"oh, how far are they into the law process?
Are they going through committee hearings? Are they going to be voted on?
Is it going to the president?" And then like seeing the different times and how long that would take.
Yeah. Actually just understanding understanding more than just what I'm just hearing.
(19:25):
Well, it's a
SPEAKER1: whole new level of understanding, right? (19:25):
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Before this, it probably--you didn't understand all of the steps that a bill had to go through.
Exactly. Yeah. So knowing that this is going to be a required class starting next year,
what advice do you have for the students who are stepping into this in '25-'26?
SPEAKER8: I'd say take it seriously because you can really, really learn a lot about things that really matter in our country. (19:50):
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Yeah, because our country is way different from other countries and how they operate. And understanding our justice system is,
I feel like should definitely be essential because it's a big part of why we live the way we live today.
(20:10):
So yeah.
SPEAKER1: Thank you. (20:12):
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SPEAKER9: Yeah, I agree with what he said. Before I took this class, I didn't really care about like the news and stuff like that, but now I feel (20:13):
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like I actually tuned in and know what's going on.
SPEAKER1: Really? Yeah. Wow. (20:20):
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SPEAKER7: Uh, I would say to add on to that, um, taking it seriously is also is important, (20:22):
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but to have, um, fun with it. If--if you're too absorbed in the seriousness of the class,
you can kind of kind of get lost, and then it seems more like work than it is a process to work through and collaborate with others.
SPEAKER1: That's good advice. So find find a way to have fun with the whole thing. (20:41):
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SPEAKER6: Yeah. And for me, I was kind of thinking like just to kind of put yourself out there. I mean, like, it's very student led class. You have to, like, actually, (20:47):
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like, try your best to be engaged, because without that, it's kind of hard because the people that are running the class are the
students. It's not like a teacher just talking to you. So if you're not engaged, it's not going to be any fun at all.
SPEAKER1: That's a great one. That's a great advice. (21:03):
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Yeah. You're right.
SPEAKER5: Yeah. I was gonna say like be creative. And as you can make builds on anything, like we had a bill against making gambling more legal for people who are (21:06):
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younger, like they. I was in that class and they definitely had fun doing that.
So, like, if you're more creative with it and you're, you know, you're having more fun with your bills and just be okay with speaking
out your mind. Because we had good bill debates before we actually started making bills like we like,
(21:31):
we were going back and forth just like understanding.
And then we came to an agreement sometimes.
Sometimes we didn't. But that's just how that goes.
SPEAKER1: Did that bill become a law? (21:39):
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SPEAKER5: No, it did not. It almost--it almost passed in committee. (21:40):
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It was so close. I wanted it to pass because that would have been amazing to go through during the full session.
But no, it didn't.
SPEAKER1: Okay, okay. (21:50):
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SPEAKER8: It's also a very, very social class. I feel like that's also important to mention. (21:52):
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What does that mean? You spend a lot of your time conversating and discussing and debating,
and I didn't realize that originally. I didn't realize that most of the time that we spend in this class would be talking,
conversating, debating whatever it may be.
But yeah, it's definitely one of the more social classes that I've ever taken in my life.
(22:14):
Wow. That's also. And I feel like it could also really help with social skills in general, because all of us can agree here that we've been pressured to talk a
lot in this class. Definitely. I know.
SPEAKER1: Okay, good, good. I think it also, um, Probably allows you to learn to have conversations with people who think differently from (22:27):
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you do that than you do, and to be able to have those conversations respectfully.
I mean, that's a really important thing for all of us to learn.
So is that a takeaway, too?
SPEAKER5: Yeah, definitely. Okay. (22:48):
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SPEAKER1: That's awesome. Thank you, you guys. (22:50):
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SPEAKER10: Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at Oregon (22:54):
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SD.org/Podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
(23:15):
We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.
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we are going to see this value in action right here in our OHS Political Science classes.
Hello and welcome to Inside the OSD.
SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids. (00:16):
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Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
SPEAKER1: Could you please introduce yourself and tell us about your background here in the OSD? (00:29):
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SPEAKER3: I'm Chris Wiegman. I'm a social studies teacher, t he department chair for the social studies. (00:34):
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This is my sixth year in Oregon School District and 12th year overall.
Um. Teaching the political science class for the first time this school year.
Yeah, and I'm Evan Bonsall.
SPEAKER4: I'm also a social studies teacher here at OHS. (00:51):
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This is just my second year at OHS. Um, but it's also my second year teaching political science.
And this--this year I've had the pleasure of teaching it alongside Chris.
We have two sections this year, whereas last year we just had one.
SPEAKER1: Now you were the pioneer on this, but I bet it's awfully nice to have somebody along on the journey with you. (01:09):
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Somebody to talk to about it, to collaborate with.
Yeah. I bet that's been big.
SPEAKER4: Absolutely. And I-and I want to be clear, I mean, I certainly didn't create the class. (01:18):
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This is--we use the legislative semester curriculum, which has been used for decades at high schools all over the Midwest.
And there are quite a few schools in Dane County that use the same curriculum and have done for years.
Um, I know McFarland High School also just adopted this curriculum.
(01:41):
So, um, I think we can talk about this more later.
But what's really powerful about the legislative semester curriculum that we use for political science is that it's just--it's incredibly engaging.
Um, it's authentic. And I think it teaches students not only how our government actually works right,
but also teaches them really important citizenship skills that they'll hopefully be able to use for the rest of their life.
SPEAKER3: Yeah, and I could jump in and just say that collaboration has been a big part of the process. (02:04):
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Um, we're currently writing an article for our in-house professional journal, um,
that's going to document the journey that we've kind of been on for four years.
And it's been collaboration at the center from the very beginning, from collaboration within the department with,
(02:25):
uh, with Evan and the legislative semester.
So lots of partners that have helped make this happen.
SPEAKER1: Oh that's fantastic. Can you both give us an overview of the political--political science class approach overall? (02:31):
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Because you're talking about it, but our listeners probably have no idea how this works,
how this goes.
SPEAKER4: Yeah, it's a really unique class. Um, students who have taken the class say that it's different from just about any other course that they've taken in high (02:43):
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school. Um, the political science class we teach here, um, again, using the legislative semester curriculum is designed to be an
authentic, realistic --or as realistic as possible--simulation of how real legislature works,
(03:07):
how US Congress works, or how our state legislature works, or how our county board works.
Students come in each day, and instead of calling them by their first name, we call them by their last name,
Representative Bonsall, right? Representative Bergstrom, etc.
um, and uh, from day one, we use uh, the rules of parliamentary procedure.
(03:30):
W e expect students to address each other not by their first name, but as representative so-and-so.
Um, and we debate real live issues that are being discussed in the world and in our country,
uh, from day one. Starting with, you know, relatively low stakes issues, we will introduce a resolution,
(03:51):
um, about whether students should be able to have cell phones in school or not.
Um, or about, uh, regulation of teen social media use.
Um, but eventually we work our way up to more complex or more contested issues.
Um, you know, we've, uh--and ultimately, students write a bill with a couple of their classmates,
(04:13):
um, that's modeled on the same format and the same, uh, you know, style that is used to write real bills,
real legislation, um, by actual legislators.
And they write these bills, they try to sell their classmates on them.
Um, ultimately, they need to get them approved with a small--by a small group of their classmates in a committee hearing,
(04:34):
a simulated committee hearing. And then the culminating event of the semester is a full legislative session where students in every section of the class.
So this year, dozens, next year, maybe 150 or more students all come together in the same space.
Um, and debate all of the bills that have been passed out of committee that have been written by their classmates,
(04:55):
and they are able to vote on those bills based on their real, authentically held opinions.
At no point are students assigned roles.
They get to choose which political party they want to caucus or team up with.
Um, they get to choose how they vote, you know, "yes or no" on each bill and resolution we debate throughout the whole year.
(05:15):
Um, and all of the leaders--all of the student leaders that are--that help make it happen are volunteers.
They've all stepped up and been elected or appointed by their classmates, not by us.
Yeah.
SPEAKER3: And I could just add on that a real shining part of the course and the curriculum is, (05:27):
undefined
um, students getting to explore their political identity, um, and understand their perspective more fully and learn to understand the
perspective of others. Um, so that's a real big part of the class, um, along with those collaborative elements,
(05:48):
um, that Evan was talking about with working on bill teams, uh, Lobbying your peers,
trying to convince them to come onto your side and discuss those issues in an open format.
SPEAKER4: Yeah. And I think that, you know, one other thing I would add, I mentioned, you know, (05:59):
undefined
skills that we teach earlier. And, you know, Chris is talking about collaboration and learning how to talk with people across
lines of difference. One thing that we emphasize from day one and throughout the whole semester is the idea of civil discourse.
You know, how do we talk across lines of disagreement with each other in a civil and productive way?
(06:22):
The goals of our conversations are not, you know, for one side to win from day one.
It's to find common ground and solve problems, answer questions.
Um, and students do a really good job with this.
I think we see this not only in students, you know, really being eager to try to amend the bills and resolutions that are
(06:43):
put before them, trying to find solutions, find common ground to get as close to a unanimous support or unanimous vote as
they can, but they also are able to talk about really controversial issues that in other settings-without those rules of civil
discourse being enforced and being followed by everyone and being understood-might be really challenging.
(07:07):
You know, last year we had students write bills about abortion and the death penalty.
This year we had students write a bill about sexual assault, right?
So really serious, uh, heavy issues. Right.
But students are able to talk about them productively.
And I think that's one of the coolest things about the class to me is like, these are,
of course, you know, teenagers. But at the end of the day, they're young adults and we're teaching them how to,
(07:32):
after high school, go be responsible citizens.
SPEAKER1: Well, they're one step away, in some cases one year away or one semester away from being eligible voters. (07:35):
undefined
And so understanding the way government works. But as you said, it's so much more important than that.
The civil discourse piece, I'm hoping that that's the biggest thing they take away is that it is possible,
right? To talk in a civil manner with people that you don't necessarily agree with,
(07:59):
and try to find common ground.
SPEAKER3: Yeah, yeah. One thing in that vein of thinking, one thing I think a lot about is, (08:00):
undefined
um, the role schools play in a democratic society.
Um, and so I really feel like this course is really second to none in creating citizens that are ready to go out and participate in a democracy.
SPEAKER4: Absolutely. We even simulate the process of registering to vote and really showing up to vote. (08:19):
undefined
Um, we have a election that all students taking the class can participate in.
Uh, were--the speaker of the House. The speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives is elected by her classmates.
Um, the leaders of each party. So the Democratic leader and the Republican leader are elected by members of their party.
(08:44):
Um, and in order to vote, students have to register to vote using a form that's similar to the real voter registration form they fill out.
Once they turn 18, they have to show their voter identification card when they go to the polls to vote.
In order to run for those leadership positions, students have to get a petition form and collect signatures from their
(09:05):
classmates. And we also combined a real voter registration drive with that, where we made it possible for students to register to vote online
in real life if they were 18 and they were going to be eligible to do so.
SPEAKER1: Now, knowing that this year students elected to take the course, and starting next year, (09:20):
undefined
this is a requirement for students, right?
Do you see that influencing anything related to how you're designing the course for next year?
SPEAKER3: Yeah. So next year we'll go to scale for the junior class next year. (09:35):
undefined
And so each semester we'll have around 150 students approximately taking the class.
And so one um, sort of, um, change that's going to take place is just more logistical management.
Uh, for example, when we do committee hearing day, uh, this year with around 30 students,
(10:00):
we had, uh, two committees. We will probably have around ten committees next year.
So the logistics of the course, um, and finding the spaces, um, around the school and,
you know, managing students around the school during committee time is one of those adjustments that we're going to be brainstorming around and working on in
preparation for the fall.
SPEAKER4: Yeah. And I think there may be some other small adjustments we make as well. (10:21):
undefined
Um, you know, for example, maybe we'll end up doing our full session at the end instead of being one full day where students are excused from their classes.
Maybe it will be two, uh, half days, right?
A morning and an afternoon session just to make logistics a little bit easier.
Um, and also encourage, you know, continued engagement, um, from students and, um,
(10:45):
maybe also giving students a students a break to help them think about, "oh well, what do we want to do differently or do better tomorrow?" Um,
I think that especially with a larger number of students, you know, some adjustments like that may need to be made. But the really nice
thing is we do have support from teachers who have taught the legislative semester for many years at other schools that we're talking with.
(11:06):
Yeah. And of course, we don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Every school is a little bit different, but there are schools, uh, similar to Oregon.
There are schools that are very different from us.
Um, who have all taught this same legislative semester curriculum successfully as a required course that all students are required to take,
you know, for many years.
SPEAKER1: Wonderful. That's a great example of collaboration, right? (11:27):
undefined
You're right. You don't have to go back to square one.
You can lean on the experience of others.
That's really fantastic. And I'm sure in the future others will be leaning on your experience because,
um, I have a feeling that when this begins to be as successful as it seems like it will be.
(11:49):
I think other schools would be knocking on the door asking for your input on what they should do also.
SPEAKER3: Absolutely. And that was actually our experience. (11:55):
undefined
Um, so the the network, um, that the legislative semester has is just remarkable.
So a group of us actually, when we hired Evan a few years ago, um, he was doing a long term sub job in another district,
but we were able to bring him along to a site visit in West Chicago, Illinois.
Right. Uh, to watch this in process and really, um, learn by by observing.
(12:20):
Um, so, yeah, I think definitely in our future, we want to be that model school for other districts.
SPEAKER1: Thank you. Could you please introduce yourselves? (12:26):
undefined
SPEAKER5: I'm Will Mayo, a senior. (12:33):
undefined
SPEAKER6: I'm Gadise , a junior. (12:35):
undefined
SPEAKER7: Uh, I'm Gage, I'm a senior. (12:38):
undefined
SPEAKER8: I'm Kody Friend. I'm a junior. I'm (12:39):
undefined
SPEAKER9: Seedy, I'm a junior. (12:42):
undefined
SPEAKER1: All right. Thank you. Um, how did you prepare for this activity? (12:43):
undefined
And what tasks or tasks did you have to do to get ready for it?
SPEAKER5: Um, originally when I came in, I am the chairperson for my our class. (12:52):
undefined
So that's kind of how that all went. And then before, in FFA, we would do some party stuff.
And I was in that last year. So then it was like, oh, so
SPEAKER1: you kind of understood parliamentary procedure? (13:07):
undefined
SPEAKER5: Yeah. It was. (13:09):
undefined
SPEAKER1: Oh that's great. (13:10):
undefined
SPEAKER5: A lot more in depth than we did it in FFA. (13:11):
undefined
But so I understood basically what was being said and being done.
SPEAKER1: Okay. Thanks. (13:17):
undefined
SPEAKER6: For me it was just kind of understanding the basics. (13:19):
undefined
Um, just knowing the procedures, what to say.
Um, kind of like making scheduling for things and.
Yeah. What was your role? So I'm majority leader, so I kind of just had to, like,
get our caucuses. Um, just like our ideas in line, our possible positions and, um,
orders for speeches. Wow. Okay.
SPEAKER1: Gage? (13:40):
undefined
SPEAKER7: Uh, along with that, I was the--my, uh, minority leader. (13:41):
undefined
So the same kind of thing as what Gadise said.
I organized kind of my, uh, party and helped coordinate, like, everybody's ideas and thoughts and assigned,
uh, who would give speeches during our full session.
SPEAKER1: You know, you both made that sound like it was just a list of things to do, but actually, it sounds really difficult. (13:56):
undefined
And we can get back to that later. But coordinating all of those people and everybody's positions on issues must have been really interesting.
How about you?
SPEAKER8: We spent most of, if not the entirety of the semester preparing for this exact moment. (14:10):
undefined
So yeah, we constructed our own bills to begin with, and then we sort of passed it through the first house of wherever we were doing
it from. And then we finally had our full House session, and that's where we brought everything we learned together.
And that was chaotic in itself. But honestly, I think everybody enjoyed it for the most part.
SPEAKER1: Did it take the whole day? (14:35):
undefined
SPEAKER8: It did. It did take the whole day. I mean, we had maybe an hour left at the end, (14:37):
undefined
but okay, most of it. We were definitely discussing.
A lot of people put their heart and souls into their bills and really try to, as much as they could,
to make this the best possible moment that we could make out of it.
SPEAKER1: I love the fact that you said this is what you've been preparing for all semester. (14:54):
undefined
How about you?
SPEAKER9: I was a clerk, so I had to, like, write people's name down to school attendance. (15:00):
undefined
And then I had to read the bills before, like other people got to, like, talking.
And I have to vote out. I had to choose who voted yes or nay for their bills.
SPEAKER1: Oh, you have to write down who did each, who said yay or nay? (15:15):
undefined
Yeah.
SPEAKER9: Okay. If the bill passes or not. Okay. (15:19):
undefined
SPEAKER1: Now, are these the roles that all of you had in your classes the entire semester? (15:22):
undefined
Did you start with these roles or were you assigned these roles later?
SPEAKER9: Almost every semester we had them. (15:30):
undefined
SPEAKER1: Okay. All right. So you were really preparing. (15:33):
undefined
How has the activity helped you with your learning?
How did all of this help you in ways other than the class?
And then what will you take away from it?
SPEAKER5: I think that, um, the way like, you'll always hear like, "oh, they're making a law or this or they're making a bill for this." I think (15:46):
undefined
this gave more in depth to actually how it goes, because you've heard that "I'm just a bill" song with them when we're actually
doing it. It's just more like, "oh, this is actually what it's like" and what it looks like to die in committee and then become an official law when presidents
(16:06):
veto bills and how that gets worked around and worked with.
SPEAKER1: I am so glad you brought up that song, because that was my elementary school education. (16:11):
undefined
On how a bill becomes a law. So I'm glad you have that experience, too.
How about you?
SPEAKER6: Yeah, I kind of learned the day to day for like a legislator. So like kind of like the long day with the full session and just kind of learning about how (16:21):
undefined
different elections not only like presidential but even like smaller, like town elections,
kind of how they work. And how
SPEAKER1: they impact (16:34):
undefined
SPEAKER6: us. Right. And how like concise everything needs to be in order for things to actually get done. (16:35):
undefined
SPEAKER1: Yeah. And the precision of language. Yeah. (16:40):
undefined
That's big. How about you, Gage?
SPEAKER7: Um, to add on to what Gadise is saying, it helps me understand, um, like how and why sometimes it seems like legislation (16:44):
undefined
takes so long to get through a process is because in committees where everything is really decided on and finalized.
Um, so that's where all of like people's differences of wording and things are worked out.
(17:05):
Right. And then the full session is really just to bring that together and just,
uh, like, publicly state what it's supposed to do.
SPEAKER1: Thank you. (17:14):
undefined
SPEAKER8: Mine was--my opinion on this whole thing was basically what everybody said combined, (17:15):
undefined
because we definitely learned a lot about the justice system, a lot about how it all goes down,
the process, everything. And that's what I feel like I'm going to take away from this class,
especially though, is the bills. A lot of the bills that we learned about were also like topics that I had no prior knowledge to.
(17:37):
Sure. But then when looking into it or discussing the bills, I got really invested in topics that originally you would just hear about,
like this is a political issue. But then when you hear more, more and more detail,
you realize there's a lot more that needs to be discussed to pass these bills or deny these bills or whatever action is going to be taken later.
SPEAKER1: Oh, sure. That's a that's a big realization. (17:56):
undefined
It's there's a lot of complexities in each of these things that need to be worked out.
Yeah. And you.
SPEAKER9: Uh, well, one thing I learned was, like listening to what other people have to say because it was like a bunch of different bills that other people had (18:05):
undefined
different topics --l ike different. I don't know how to say it like different opinions.
Sure. Yeah. So, like, they had different opinions of what you thought before.
So like, I just had to listen to what other people were thinking and stuff like that.
SPEAKER1: Did it change your mind when you heard other people talk things through? (18:24):
undefined
Did it flip you on some issues?
SPEAKER9: Yeah, sometimes because yeah, it's important to know what other people are thinking too, and like how it affects them personally. So like. Right. It it did (18:29):
undefined
change my mind. Like, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER1: I appreciate that. People had to be open and listen to other people's thoughts on all of these subjects. (18:40):
undefined
So does it make you want to dig in more when you hear things in the news?
How does it impact you when you hear other things that are going before any branch of government?
Do you think more about it?
SPEAKER5: Um, I would say now I would understand more and just see where it was going instead of just like hearing about like, (19:01):
undefined
"oh, how far are they into the law process?
Are they going through committee hearings? Are they going to be voted on?
Is it going to the president?" And then like seeing the different times and how long that would take.
Yeah. Actually just understanding understanding more than just what I'm just hearing.
(19:25):
Well, it's a
SPEAKER1: whole new level of understanding, right? (19:25):
undefined
Before this, it probably--you didn't understand all of the steps that a bill had to go through.
Exactly. Yeah. So knowing that this is going to be a required class starting next year,
what advice do you have for the students who are stepping into this in '25-'26?
SPEAKER8: I'd say take it seriously because you can really, really learn a lot about things that really matter in our country. (19:50):
undefined
Yeah, because our country is way different from other countries and how they operate. And understanding our justice system is,
I feel like should definitely be essential because it's a big part of why we live the way we live today.
(20:10):
So yeah.
SPEAKER1: Thank you. (20:12):
undefined
SPEAKER9: Yeah, I agree with what he said. Before I took this class, I didn't really care about like the news and stuff like that, but now I feel (20:13):
undefined
like I actually tuned in and know what's going on.
SPEAKER1: Really? Yeah. Wow. (20:20):
undefined
SPEAKER7: Uh, I would say to add on to that, um, taking it seriously is also is important, (20:22):
undefined
but to have, um, fun with it. If--if you're too absorbed in the seriousness of the class,
you can kind of kind of get lost, and then it seems more like work than it is a process to work through and collaborate with others.
SPEAKER1: That's good advice. So find find a way to have fun with the whole thing. (20:41):
undefined
SPEAKER6: Yeah. And for me, I was kind of thinking like just to kind of put yourself out there. I mean, like, it's very student led class. You have to, like, actually, (20:47):
undefined
like, try your best to be engaged, because without that, it's kind of hard because the people that are running the class are the
students. It's not like a teacher just talking to you. So if you're not engaged, it's not going to be any fun at all.
SPEAKER1: That's a great one. That's a great advice. (21:03):
undefined
Yeah. You're right.
SPEAKER5: Yeah. I was gonna say like be creative. And as you can make builds on anything, like we had a bill against making gambling more legal for people who are (21:06):
undefined
younger, like they. I was in that class and they definitely had fun doing that.
So, like, if you're more creative with it and you're, you know, you're having more fun with your bills and just be okay with speaking
out your mind. Because we had good bill debates before we actually started making bills like we like,
(21:31):
we were going back and forth just like understanding.
And then we came to an agreement sometimes.
Sometimes we didn't. But that's just how that goes.
SPEAKER1: Did that bill become a law? (21:39):
undefined
SPEAKER5: No, it did not. It almost--it almost passed in committee. (21:40):
undefined
It was so close. I wanted it to pass because that would have been amazing to go through during the full session.
But no, it didn't.
SPEAKER1: Okay, okay. (21:50):
undefined
SPEAKER8: It's also a very, very social class. I feel like that's also important to mention. (21:52):
undefined
What does that mean? You spend a lot of your time conversating and discussing and debating,
and I didn't realize that originally. I didn't realize that most of the time that we spend in this class would be talking,
conversating, debating whatever it may be.
But yeah, it's definitely one of the more social classes that I've ever taken in my life.
(22:14):
Wow. That's also. And I feel like it could also really help with social skills in general, because all of us can agree here that we've been pressured to talk a
lot in this class. Definitely. I know.
SPEAKER1: Okay, good, good. I think it also, um, Probably allows you to learn to have conversations with people who think differently from (22:27):
undefined
you do that than you do, and to be able to have those conversations respectfully.
I mean, that's a really important thing for all of us to learn.
So is that a takeaway, too?
SPEAKER5: Yeah, definitely. Okay. (22:48):
undefined
SPEAKER1: That's awesome. Thank you, you guys. (22:50):
undefined
SPEAKER10: Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at Oregon (22:54):
undefined
SD.org/Podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
(23:15):
We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.
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