Field Trip to County Government Building

“Legislator Austin” the chairman says. I turn on my microphone and say, “I vote NAY.” I didn’t want unhealthy food to be banned in the cafeteria. I love voting on bills, being in the chamber, and overall, being a legislator! In this blog post you will learn about two things that I learned in the conference room and two things that I learned in the chamber and two things that I enjoyed in the conference room and two things that I enjoyed doing in the chamber.

Two things that I learned about the legislative branch of the county government is that every legislature has a role in the process of a bill becoming a law. The first step in the vote is that the chairperson  calls on someone to speak, then we discuss  the issue and say our opinion, and then we say YAY or NAY.  The final vote was that everyone in our class voted NAY on a school uniform issue. We thought about it and got to say our opinion of the issue out loud. We discussed whether we should wear school uniforms or not. Another thing that I learned in the full house vote is that legislators have to say “Chair____,” into their microphone and then use their vote on the bill. For example, we discussed  whether to ban unhealthy food in the school cafeteria. We went to a full house vote. The majority vote was NAY.

Some things that I enjoyed about being a legislator was acting like a Legislator, debating with classmates, and saying our opinion to try to convince other legislators and what we thought about the idea. I also enjoyed being called legislator Austin because it really put me in a legislators shoes, saying YAY or NAY was enjoyable because when you said either one you were claiming that something should or shouldn’t happen (it makes me feel like I have a lot of power). I liked using my microphone to say what I thought and why. When I got called on to say my vote I turned on my microphone, said my explanation and then said NAY.

Overall I talked about two things that I learned in the conference room and two things that I learned in the chamber and two things that I enjoyed in the conference room and two things that I enjoyed in the chamber. I loved being a legislator and I think that you would too!

AmRev blog-Austin-#2

My topic is the Boston Massacre. I chose it because I didn’t really understand why it happened at the start and I wanted to learn more. My presentation is a Ted Talk. I thought it would be easy to click through when I am ready. I didn’t do a movie because I wanted to speak in front of an audience. I didn’t do an Ignite because I didn’t want the computer controlling the slides.I needed the most support with finding the right pictures. I couldn’t think out of the box. What I did to fix that is that I learned that I can only explain part of it with the pictures.

My favorite part of this project was that I could choose what I wanted to research and that I got to explain what I think of the event. The project helped me learn how to get information off the web. It helped me to not search for specific information and to find information and put it in my own words. I also had to think outside of the box when finding pictures for my presentation. I realized I did not need exact photos to match my script, I just needed photos that represent the information that I am sharing on each slide. This project helped me with being more comfortable with  presenting because after a lot of practice I now  feel more comfortable presenting  in front of a group of people which will 100% help me while I am presenting. I think that now that I am more comfortable presenting, when the parents come in it will go by like a breeze.