Assignment: Running for office in Texas
Program-Level Objectives met with this assignment:

Social Responsibility
Personal Responsibiltiy
Communication
Critical Thinking Skills

Course-Level Objectives met with this assignment:

Describe the state and local political systems and their relationship with the federal government.
Describe separation of powers and checks and balances in both theory and practice in Texas.
Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Texas government.
Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties in Texas.
Analyze the state and local election system.
Identify the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Analyze issues, policies and political culture of Texas.

Running for office. What would YOU do? 70% of students will evaluate the information learned in SLO #2 and then create a campaign of their own for a hypothetical run for office. [SLO #3 fulfills the following Program Level Outcomes: Communication, Critical Thinking, Social and Personal Responsibility, as well as the following Course Level Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.]
Activity for Assessment:

Your Grade will be based on you having the paper in the correct format
and, on the required length of the paper
and, on how well you follow the instructions and answer the Questions listed below:

Now that you’ve followed some campaigns, analyzed candidates and gotten up to date on some issues, I want you to take this opportunity to tell me what you would do if you had the opportunity to run for state office (only–no federal offices allowed for this paper). Imagine, you are running for Governor, Lt. Governor, Comptroller, Texas State Senate/House, Secretary of Agriculture, etc. Regardless of whether it is a federal or state election, we always feel like we are voting for the lesser of two evils. What would you do to make constituents want to vote for you as opposed to just choose you because they like the other candidate less than you? This is your chance to tell me what you think is important in our state. It is your chance to put all the complaining we do about politics and make a decision to make a difference, even if it is hypothetical.
You are going to need to do the following for this paper:
Choose a:

party,
office you wish to “run” for,
slogan and platform,
strategy for raising money and campaigning,
what committees you’d be interested in joining while in office, if running for House or Senate (ideally, committees that would help push your agenda)

This will all require you to do some outside research with regards to what the parties stand for, rules for fund raising, etc.
This assignment must follow MLA guidelines, be typed in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, and be a minimum of 1000 words with a works cited page. The works cited are not included in the minimum word count. All research must be cited.

Active Goals

Actions
ID
Goal
Goal Set Name
Category

THECB CORE Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking Skills – to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information

CORE

Critical Thinking

THECB CORE Written Communication

Communication Skills – to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication

CORE

Communication

THECB CORE Social Responsibility

Social Responsibility – intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities

CORE

Social Responsibility

THECB CORE Personal Responsibility

Personal Responsibility – ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making

CORE

Personal Responsibility