Week 7 • Prepare to decide
Can you explain your recommendation—and hear a challenge?
Begin when Mr. Fullerton assigns Week 7. Follow his timing for class presentations, reviews, and any platform activities.
Bring your revised plan, evidence, and unresolved questions from Week 6. Prepare a clear explanation, then test how well it stands up to fair questions. A good recommendation names both its support and its limits.
Your destination: My Decision Preparation, the Week 7 section of your existing iCivics Project Notebook. Allow about 35–50 minutes in short work periods, with any scheduled class activity at the time Mr. Fullerton assigns.
Prepare and rehearse your community-proposal presentation.
Review assigned proposals, suggest a reasoned amendment, and prepare for teacher-directed voting.
Review assigned proposals, test consequences and fiscal assumptions, and prepare a reasoned decision.
Your six steps for Week 7
- Learn the key ideas.
- Practice checking your reasoning.
- Study the example and prepare your assigned work.
- Draft your individual notebook response.
- Share, compare, and improve.
- Check your work and finish.
Help others understand your reasoning
Name the problem, your recommendation, and the evidence connecting them.
Ask about unclear actions, resources, people affected, or assumptions.
Respond to the strongest concern. Change your view when the evidence warrants it.
A presentation is not just reading the whole notebook aloud. Select what a listener needs to understand your recommendation. A review is not a popularity contest: judge an idea using the same criteria you would apply to your own.
A short explanation you can rehearse
- What is the problem, and who is affected?
- What do you recommend, and what evidence supports it?
- Who would act, with what approval and resources?
- What is one trade-off or unanswered question?
- What decision or next step are you asking the audience to consider?
Aim for a two-minute practice explanation, unless Mr. Fullerton assigns another length. You may use brief notes or a labeled visual. A written explanation can use the same five parts.
An amendment is a proposed change to the wording of a proposal. Explain the exact change and why it improves the idea. A suggestion is not automatically accepted; follow Mr. Fullerton’s assigned review process.
Make a careful judgment
Practice a fair hearing
Fictional hearing • The book-room proposal
The revised proposal asks the principal and manager to consider a second weekly borrowing session. Four of six students in one small discussion group reported a conflict. Staffing, timing, and costs remain unconfirmed. No trial has occurred.
Reader question: “How do we know the second time will work for the students with a conflict?”
Possible response: “We do not know yet. We propose checking which times work before requesting approval for a trial. The small-group report identifies a concern, not a schoolwide result.”
Possible amendment: Replace “Start a second session next week” with “Confirm student timing needs, staffing, and principal approval before setting a trial date.”
Explain what the change fixes and what still needs checking. It does not solve every problem or guarantee approval.
Use your own revised project for the task below, or use this fictional proposal to practice if you are waiting for an assigned review. Label which you used.
Rehearse the five-part explanation. Ask a reader to repeat the recommendation back and raise one question. If working alone, use the supplied reader question to test your plan.
When Mr. Fullerton assigns proposals for review, identify one strength, one evidence or implementation question, and one possible amendment. Use the fictional proposal for practice if the committee phase is not open.
When assigned proposals are available, also test an eligibility rule, resource assumption, or possible unintended effect. Explain whether your amendment creates a new trade-off. Until the phase opens, use the fictional practice proposal.
My Decision Preparation
Continue in your existing notebook. Preserve earlier weekly entries so you can trace your thinking.
Open your notebook here each time
Teacher review: The Week 7 section is ready in the master notebook. Mr. Fullerton will assign each student a private copy through Google Classroom; this button will be connected to that grade’s assignment before launch.
When connected, open your attached notebook from Mr. Fullerton’s assignment and find Week 7 • My Decision Preparation. Type in the blue response boxes. Google Docs saves automatically while connected. Return through this same button each time.
Your notebook prompts
- My proposal or assigned review: What text am I preparing to explain or evaluate?
- My explanation: Write the five-part explanation or notes for it.
- My review: What is one strength, one concern, and the evidence behind each?
- My response or amendment: What exact wording or clarification would help, and why?
- My decision preparation: What recommendation can I support now? What information could change my view?
- After rehearsal or comparison: What did I improve, what did I contribute, and what still needs coach review?
Prepare your own thinking first. Complete the comparison and contribution reflection after Step 5.
Rehearse, question, and respond
Project coaching: 11:45–12:15 • G4 Thursdays • G5 Mondays • G6 Tuesdays.
- Prepare: Bring your individual work and one question.
- Share: Give each member a turn to explain their thinking.
- Discuss: Students lead while Mr. Fullerton listens. Each author or reviewer explains a recommendation. Listeners summarize it before asking a question. Test the evidence and proposed wording, not the author’s popularity.
- Revise individually: Improve your notebook response and record your own contribution.
- Report back: Your agreed spokesperson summarizes the group’s learning and remaining question when Mr. Fullerton rejoins.
Discussion Guide
Invite each voice and keep questions respectful and specific.
Evidence Checker
Check source support and distinguish known facts from predictions or pending decisions.
Connection Maker
Record shared conclusions and open questions in the assigned team document.
Rotate from Week 6. In a group of four, the Process Checker checks that everyone contributes and completes their individual record.
Working independently or waiting for your group?
Use the fictional hearing or apply its question to your own plan. Write a response and rehearse your explanation aloud or read it critically. Record one improvement and identify the comparison as independent practice.
Team record: Add the shared explanation or outcome, evidence considered, questions, and each member’s contribution to the assigned team document. Preserve earlier entries. A team summary does not replace your individual reflection.
Keep the next step manageable
I am nervous about presenting.
Practice one part at a time using the five questions. You do not need to memorize your notebook. Ask Mr. Fullerton about an appropriate written, visual, or recorded presentation route.
I like the idea but disagree with one part.
Name the part you support and the exact part you would change. Explain how your proposed wording addresses the concern.
We are not ready for committee work or voting.
Complete the fictional review practice. Record what is pending. Mr. Fullerton provides the actual materials, roles, and timing; the week number does not activate a platform phase.
Ready for the assigned decision
- I prepared a clear explanation or review grounded in evidence.
- I identified a meaningful concern and responded with reasoning.
- I proposed a precise clarification or amendment where useful.
- I labeled unknowns and distinguished practice from an assigned official decision.
- I recorded my own contribution, improvement, and next question.
Follow Mr. Fullerton’s posted Pearson directions for the subject and submission. This website does not submit work to Pearson or Anytime Congress. If details are not posted, your notebook remains ready for review.
Stop here • Week 7 learning checkpoint
Begin Week 8 when Mr. Fullerton assigns it. Next: share the final work, record actual outcomes, and reflect.
Teacher guide • Week 7
G4 rehearses a presentation. G5–6 prepare reviews and proposed amendments only for assigned materials, with teacher moderation before voting. The fictional hearing provides equivalent reasoning practice while a phase is pending. Provide current platform procedures separately; this lesson does not claim to reproduce YLI rules.
Before launch, assign private student copies of the completed Weeks 1–8 master through Google Classroom, connect each grade’s assignment link, and provide the relevant dates and submission directions.