Looking for a way to bring local governments to life in your classroom? Trying to teach good citizenship? In this engaging simulation, students role-play and lead a city council meeting about a proposed curfew ordinance in their fictional city. Students learn about local governments, prep for their simulation using real news articles about curfew laws around the United States, research and create persuasive speeches, and deliver those speeches to their classmates on the city council, who then deliberate in front of the class and vote on the bill. It's all practice for being a good citizen and engaging with the local government!

My students tell me this is one of the projects they remember most about their American government class, because they had so much fun bringing their fictional city and group to life. I believe all my students have a better understanding of good citizenship and what being a good citizen means at the most local levels of government. And every class brought its own personality to this simulation, making it memorable and fun for the class and teacher!

The Value in Your Classroom:

• Engagement: Students work together to conduct the simulation, playing the necessary roles like advocates, marketers, and city council members.
• Easy preparation: Just print it or load it to your learning management system and you're ready to teach!
• 100% editable: Everything your students will see is editable in Google Workspace, so if you want, you can modify it to the specific needs of your students.
• Save Time: This lesson has materials from start to finish, including a debrief and extension activities after the simulation!

Here's how the project is structured:

• Intro to Local Governments: Students learn about the structure and purpose of local governments, discuss the reasons to support and oppose curfews, then read real news articles about proposed curfews in the United States.
• Simulation Prep: Students prepare for the simulation by reading the proposed bill up for debate, having the agenda set for the city council meeting, and reading a fiction news article from their simulated city. They explore the many groups who present in the meeting.
• Presentation Work: Students work with their groups to create a 1-minute speech with an original slogan and a poster. They use guiding questions to consider counter-arguments and to make their speech as persuasive as possible. The city council members brainstorm questions to ask each group after they present.
• City Council Meeting: Students present their speech and the city council asks questions, just like in a real government hearing. As they present, students will record the presenters' information in their own notes. After all the citizen groups present, the city council group deliberates on the arguments they found convincing, possibly amend the curfew bill, and vote on it.
• Debrief: In the end, students answer a few debrief questions and the teacher facilitates a discussion about the importance of local government, how the city council operated, and how students can be involved in their real local government.

Here is what you get in this lesson:

• Full, detailed teacher guide for the project with:
• Content Overview
• Lesson Objectives
• Assessments
• Suggested Lesson Procedure
• Materials List
• Differentiation and Extensions
• Detailed directions that is unique for each group.
• A slideshow with fair-use images and information about local governments, including links to real articles about curfew laws around the country, and a link to the simulation's fictional news article.
• Prep sheet for students to analyze the real news articles and the fake news article.
• Shared documents to help make the simulation realistic, including the meeting agenda and bill.
• Notes for the students to record information during the presentations.
• Debrief questions to facilitate discussion at the end and a debrief choice board in which students contribute to the fictional newspaper with information from the speeches.

Interested in other projects or lessons for your US Government class? Check these out!

• Interstate Commerce Clause Lesson, Notes, and Simulation Game
• Your Rights Flyer Project
• Civics Debate Bundle (Current Events)

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with this activity, I'm happy to help! Please leave an honest review for this product, it helps both me and other teachers!

Thank you!!