Four Resign from Cabinet November 16, 2004 Overview Secretary of State Colin Powell and three other Cabinet secretaries have announced their resignations.
Objective Students will learn about the 15 departments of the U.S. Cabinet and the responsibilities associated with being the secretaries of these departments.
Procedure Refer students to their texts and the links below to learn about the 15 departments of the U.S. Cabinet. Next, have each student select a Cabinet department that interests him or her. Direct students to research the responsibilities associated with their chosen posts and examine the backgrounds of some of the people who have held these positions. Then, ask students to consider how their own interests, skills and attributes might aid them if they held these Cabinet posts. Conclude the activity by having students write letters to President George W. Bush in which they nominate themselves for their chosen Cabinet positions. Have students share their letters in class discussion.
Correlated Standards Social Studies Standard V: Individuals, Groups and Institutions: Students will explore how institutions are formed, what controls and influences them, how they control and influence individuals and culture and how institutions can be maintained or changed. Standard VI: Power, Authority and Governance: Students will understand the historical development of structures of power, authority and governance and their evolving functions in contemporary U.S. society as well as other parts of the world. Standard X: Civic Ideals and Practices: Students will examine the ideals, principles and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic. The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/) are published by the National Council for Social Studies (http://ncss.org/).
Suggested Online Resources CNN.com: Colin Powell submits resignation (http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2004/fyi/news/11/09/discussion.wed/index.html) CNN.com Special: President Bush - The Second Term (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2004/bush.term/) President Bush's Cabinet (http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.html) Holt, Rinehart and Winston Resources American Government (http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/arbiter/pRedirect?project=hrwonline&siteId=695&pageId=6279) The U.S. Constitution (http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/arbiter/pRedirect?project=hrwonline&siteId=457&pageId=3009) HRW: Analyzing Current Events (http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_ss/teacher99/toolkit/TOOLKT02.pdf) Holt Researcher (http://researcher.hrw.com/index.jsp)
Keywords Cabinet, resignation, Colin Powell, Ann Veneman, Rod Paige, Spencer Abraham
| 
