Lesson Plan: Who is Your MP?

by Apathy is Boring — March 31, 2010

Members of Parliament are the foundation of Canada's government. They represent Canadians directly, pass legislation through the House of Commons, and serve as ministers. This lesson will help students learn about Parliamentarians and build a connection with their MP. 

Learning Goals 

After this lesson:

• Students will be able to find their MP through Citizen Factory
• Students will be able to contact their MP
• Students will understand the role MPs play in Parliament
• Students will reflect on the qualifications of elected officials 

The goals of a lesson will obviously vary based on your classroom and curriculum, so feel free to adapt these suggestions to your students. You'll also find curriculum links at the bottom of this page, which can help you identify other learning goals for this lesson.  

Pre-assessment and Resources 

Take a moment to evaluate your students' current level of knowledge and the connections they already have with MPs. These connections can serve as your "hook" to introduce the lesson. Try to find a personal link students have to elected representatives. Does you school have student council or elections? Have your students ever met an elected representative? Is there an issue they wish elected representatives were paying more attention to?

Citizen Factory has a page devoted specifically to MPs, along with articles explaining Canada's democratic process. There is also a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this lesson plan, which can help you present the material in a classroom setting. Feel free to alter it to suit your needs. 

Introduction 

Try to use your hook to introduce the lesson - see what knowledge or experiences your students already have with elected representatives. 

Activity: who represents you? 

The goal of this first activity is to help students understand what representative democracy means on a practical level, and not just as an abstract term. 

Tell your students that they get to make a decision about something that affects all of them - for example, when their next homework assignment is going to be due. 

Here's the catch: you will only speak to one of your students about the decision. The class can decide which student will represent them, but they won't have any direct input in making the decision. 

Ask students who they want to represent them, and the reasons why they chose that person. Focus on answers that involve the skills or personal character of the chosen representative. 

Have your students choose a representative by secret ballot. This step is optional - it assumes that you have enough time, as well as a decision that the student representative can actually make for the class. Otherwise, skip to the conclusion of the activity. 

Explain that this is how representative democracy works - someone has to be trusted to make decisions for the rest of the group, and that's what voters do by choosing their MP. 

Activity: who is your MP? 

The goal of this activity is to have students identify their MPs and evaluate them as representatives. 

Depending on their level of prior knowledge, make sure that students are familiar with the role of MPs. Ask them to read Decoding: What do MPs do?

Have students visit Citizen Factory and look up their MPs by postal code. Ask your students if they have heard of their MP before. 

Next, ask your students to look at their MP’s recent voting record and news sources. Ask them to choose a specific item, such as a vote or public statement, and explain how well their MP’s actions represent them in Parliament. 

Ask your students what they would say to their MP, if the MP was in the room right now? Is their MP doing a good job? 

Activity: Take Action 

It's letter-writing time! This activity can be either an individual assignment or a class exercise. 

Based on their responses from the previous activity, ask your students to identify something their MP did that matters to them. 

Ask students what they feel the MP did well, or should have done differently, as their representative. 

Have students read How to Write a Letter to Your MP, and then find their MP's contact information on Citizen Factory. You can now either write a letter as a group, or have students write individual letters. 

Conclusion 

Congratulate your students on taking action, and encourage them to take ownership of their MP by keeping track of their activities through Citizen Factory and other media. You can use How to Follow Parliament in the News as a link between this lesson and the current events section of your class, if applicable. 

If you completed the letter-writing activity as a class, you may also wish to revisit this lesson as a group when the MP sends a response. 

Assessment 

Evaluate whether or not the lesson achieved its goals, as well as your specific goals:

• Were students able to find their MP through Citizen Factory?
• Were students able to contact their MP?
• Can students describe the role of MPs in Parliament?
• Can students describe important qualities of an elected representative? 

Curriculum Links 

The following links are drawn from the British Columbia Ministry of Education’s Civic Studies 11 curriculum, which aims “to enhance students’ abilities and willingness to participate actively and responsibly in civic life.” They provide examples of civics learning goals that can be integrated with this lesson plan, and Citizen Factory in general.

It is expected that students will:

• Apply critical thinking skills – including questioning, comparing, summarizing drawing conclusions, and defending – to a range of issues, situations, and topics
• Demonstrate effective research skills, including
  • Accessing information
  • Assessing information
• Demonstrate a knowledge of historical and contemporary factors that help define Canadian civic identity, including
  • Roles of individuals in society
  • Governance
  • Rights and responsibilities
• Identify historical roots of the Canadian political and legal systems, including
  • British parliamentary system
  • Political philosophies and parties
• Describe the division of powers in Canada among federal, provincial, territorial, First Nations, and municipal governments
• Describe Canada’s electoral systems and processes
• Describe the Canadian legal system, including
  • Legal processes
  • The enforcement and administration of laws
• Assess the application of fundamental principles of democracy (including equality, freedom, selection of decision makers, rule of law, and balancing the common good with the rights of individuals) with respect to selected to 20^th and 21^st century cases in Canada
• Evaluate the relative abilities of individuals, governments, and non-governmental organizations to effect civic change in Canada and the world, with reference to considerations such as
  • Power and influence
  • Circumstances
  • Methods of decision making and action
  • Public opinion
• Assess the role of beliefs and values in civic decision making
• Evaluate the citizen’s role in civic processes locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally
• Apply skills of civic discourse and dispute resolution, including consensus building, negotiation, compromise, and majority rule
• Evaluate the ethics of selected civic decisions
• Implement a plan for action on selected local, provincial, national, or international civic issue”

Source: British Columbia Ministry of Education. Civics Studies 11: Integrated Resource Package 2005. Victoria: Ministry of Education, 2005.