The author contacted Montana's congressional representatives regarding confusion over Medicare's cap on outpatient therapy services. The author sent letters to a House representative and two Senators in January and March 2018. Responses were received after the second attempt, providing clarification. Congress repealed the hard cap of $2,010 and established a $3,000 threshold, above which ongoing medical necessity must be demonstrated. Actions were also taken to cover speech-generating devices under Medicare. The author chose to interact with representatives to directly get answers, rather than relying on internet sources, as therapy services have become personally relevant.
2. John Doe
American Government Interaction Project
According to the Colorado Association of School Boards
(CASB), local
school boards originated in the thirteen colonies through town
meetings. The purpose of school
boards is the same today as it originally was: “to provide local
citizen control over public
education” (CASB). As a junior in Lamar High School, I chose
to interact with a governmental
body that directly affects my education, the Lamar School
District Re-2 School Board. This
board affects me on a daily basis through making policy for my
school, personnel decisions and
funding. I also chose to attend this meeting because the district
has been given a bully
prevention grant and some changes have been made across the
district, including a weekly
homeroom to discuss topics related to bullying and monthly
activities sponsored by the
committees. I was interested to hear the report of the high
school committee about all that has
3. been done and what they have planned. I also felt it was
important to see what other types of
things that a school board deals with at the meetings.
I attended the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the
school board on February 12,
2018. I was able to access the proposed agenda on the Lamar
School District website, which
was posted a few days before the meeting (Lamar School
District). The meeting began with a
roll call of board members and approval of the meeting agenda.
After correspondence, visitors
were given the opportunity to speak to the board. This allowed
anyone who was not on the
agenda to speak with the board. Although there was nobody
who spoke at this meeting in this
meeting, it is a good opportunity for individuals to voice
concerns or comments to the board.
The next part of the meeting involved reports by different
groups. The first person to
present information to the board was the head of the food
service for the district. They are
beginning a new program to feed meals to district students in
the after school program at the
4. John Doe
Hope Center. The Hope Center provides after school and
alternative education programs for the
district. The school district has been providing a snack for the
participants, but funding is
available for providing the students dinner and meals on
Fridays.
The next report was by students and teachers/coaches of the
Lamar High School Bullying
Prevention Committee. The Lamar School District received a
Bully Prevention grant through the
Colorado Department of Education (CDE). As part of the grant,
each school is required to
implement bullying prevention curriculum and have a
committee made up of students and staff
to plan activities. The committees are required to have a kick-
off activity as well as other
activities from the student voice. Members of the committee
reported about the kick-off week
activities which included a BBQ during the school day and a
dodgeball tournament during the
evening. They stated that many teachers had doubts having a
dodgeball tournament as part of a
5. bully prevention program. They divided students into teams
randomly so that they did not form
their own teams with friends. There was excellent participation
and it was a successful event.
The BBQ was held on the front grass at the high school and all
students had lunch together and
were fed hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and cookies. The lunch
was prepared by school board
members, Rotary Club members, Zonta Club members and
volunteer parents. Other successful
projects that the Bullying Prevention Committee has recently
done include having the
homerooms make valentine cards to distribute to local nursing
homes, the hospital and
businesses. The members of the committee invited other
students to help deliver the cards
around town on the Friday before this school board meeting.
The cards from the students were
well received in the community.
Another group that presented at the board meeting was the
Lamar High School DECA
students who attended a conference in New York. This was the
first time the LHS DECA
6. John Doe
program was able to attend this conference, which was approved
by the school board in a
previous meeting. The students discussed the fundraising
activities that they did to raise the
money to attend the conference, including a golf tournament.
The students also showed a Power
Point presentation of the places they were able to go and the
sessions they attended. Each
student took turns discussing a different slide.
The next part of the meeting involved the board completing the
yearly evaluation for the
superintendent. Because this was done in an executive session,
the audience was required to
leave the board room.
Under new business, there were several field trip requests
approved, personnel matters,
and grant information. When students will travel overnight or
over 200 miles round trip, the
school board policy states that school board approval is required
prior to the trip
(https://sites.google.com/lamarschools.org/district/district/polic
7. ies/section-j?authuser=0).
Among the field trips that were approved were middle school
Gifted and Talented students to
Legislative Day in Denver, Lincoln Alternative School students
to a conference in Eads, the high
school DECA students to the state conference, and the high
school knowledge bowl team to the
state meet in Fort Collins. When individuals are selected for
employment, the recommendations
must be approved by the school board. The board also reviews
individuals retiring and
resigning. Contracts that were approved during this meeting
included the superintendent and the
transfer of the high school vice principal to the principal
position.
When I chose to go to the school board meeting, I was not sure
what to expect with parts
of the agenda. The agenda was posted online a few days prior
to the meeting, so I knew what
would be covered, but I did not know what kind of discussion
they would have about each item.
I have attended two school board meetings prior to this one. I
attended part of one as an
https://sites.google.com/lamarschools.org/district/district/polici
8. es/section-j?authuser=0
John Doe
elementary student to observe for a project. The second school
board meeting that I attended
was when I was in eighth grade. I had attended Colorado Close-
Up with three other gifted and
talented students. As mentioned before, student trips that are
overnight trips must have prior
approval by the school board. Because they approved the trip
and the funding, we gave a report
about the experience. When I went to the first two meetings, I
was not required to stay for the
whole meeting so I had not seen what goes on throughout the
entire meeting. When the board
went into executive session to discuss the superintendent’s
evaluation, the only individuals
allowed in the board room were the board members and the
superintendent. Prior to attending
this meeting, I did not realize that the audience would have to
leave the room while the board
was in executive session.
What I did expect was that the board would go through the
agenda items, discuss them,
9. and make a decision about what to do. In fact, most of the
meeting went according to how I had
thought it would. Each agenda item was discussed and voted
on.
As mentioned, I have attended school board meetings two times
prior to this meeting. I
have also attended a Lamar City Council meeting once as part
of a school project. The city
council meeting was similar to the school board meeting in that
they had an agenda to follow and
had items to discuss and make decisions about. The main
difference between the two entities is
what they govern. The school board makes decisions about the
schools, personnel, facilities,
curriculum, and many other things related to the running of a
school district. The city council
deals with things from the city light and power plant, to the
running of the swimming pool, to
street maintenance, and many other items dealing with the
municipal government.
I had a positive experience interacting with my school board.
They were very welcoming
to members of the audience but were also serious about the job
they were there to do. Because I
10. John Doe
live in a small town, the members of the school board are my
neighbors. I see many of them
around town and at school functions. The school board
members volunteer their time to be on
this decision-making body and are there to do a job that they
have chosen to take on. I found it
to be very informative and I have a better understanding of the
role our school board plays in the
school district. If the opportunity or the need arises for me to
This interaction experience ties into the course in several ways.
The school board is a
government entity that operates on the local level, making
decisions for all aspects of the school
district. School board members are volunteers and are elected
by the voters in the district. “An
important foundation to the American system of government is
our participatory political culture
in which the people are afforded many different opportunities to
participate in their government”
(https://ccco.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/201942/viewConte
nt/20671878/View). Running
11. for, and serving on the school board is an important way that
individuals can get involved on the
local level. Attending and voicing an opinion on issues by
contacting the members of the board
are also very important ways citizens can get involved without
running for the board. According
to the 2008 American National Election Study, fifty-five
percent of the individuals surveyed had
attended a city council or a school board meeting. Of those who
believe that they have a say in
the government, sixty-nine percent have attended city council or
school board meetings
(Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, page 215).
An important part of interacting with the government involves
being informed of the
issues and voting for the elected officials who represent us.
However, participation rates vary
depending on the election. During the 2012 presidential
election fifty-nine percent of the adult
population vote, whereas local level elections draw a lot fewer
voters, often under ten percent of
eligible voters (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, page 216).
https://ccco.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/201942/viewConten
12. t/20671878/View
John Doe
What I have learned about the democracy from this interaction
is that it takes
participation by individuals at all levels of government to make
democracy work. If we do not
have people willing to serve in the elected positions, the
democratic process does not work.
People have many different reasons why they run for office.
Some individuals want to give back
to the school district, some want to make a difference with
children, and some have something
they would like to see changed, among other reasons. When I
looked into the backgrounds of
the members of the school board, two are retired teachers and
two have spouses who worked for
the district so they have an idea of the workings of the district.
Four members have their own
businesses which is an advantage with the financial
responsibilities of the board.
Another conclusion that I made about democracy because of this
interaction is that we as
citizens also need to do our part and participate. I was
13. disappointed to see the low average of
voter turnout for local elections, which are elections that can
come down to a few votes. We also
should use the opportunity to contact our representatives if we
have thoughts on issues or
concerns. As I reach the age of voting, I am encouraged to
participate in the democratic process.
John Doe
References
CDE. (n.d.). School Bullying Prevention and Education Grant
Program. Retrieved February 25,
2018, from https://www.cde.state.co.us/mtss/bullying/bpeg
CASB. (n.d.). Colorado Association of School Boards.
Retrieved February 25, 2018, from
https://www.casb.org/domain/54
Edwards III, G.C., Wattenberg, M.P., & R.L. Lineberry, (2014).
Government in America:
People, politics, and policy (16th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Lamar School District Re 2 Board of Education. (2018,
14. February 12). Board of Education
Regular Session. Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/lamarschools.org/district/district/board -
minutes-agendas
https://www.casb.org/domain/54
https://sites.google.com/lamarschools.org/district/district/board-
minutes-agendas
1
Running head: MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY
SERVICES
Medicare Outpatient Therapy Services
Jane Doe
Colorado Community College
April 15, 2018
15. 2
MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES
Medicare Outpatient Therapy Services
In the United States, we are fortunate enough to have a
democratic government that
encourages people to participate. Political participation can be
done in many ways including
voting, protesting, petitioning, giving to political causes,
attending meetings, and contacting
representatives (Edwards, Wattenberg, & Lineberry, 2014,
p.215). Many citizens choose not to
participate in our government, or only participate by voting,
which is the most common form of
political participation. For this assignment, we were encouraged
to participate in our government
by writing a representative, serving as a representative, or
attending a government meeting.
I decided to contact Montana’s House Representative and two
Senators. I sent them each
16. a separate letter on their government websites regarding my
confusion on the cap that was placed
on Medicare Outpatient Therapy Services. These letters were
sent to Representative Greg
Gianforte, Senator Jon Tester, and Senator Steve Daines. I
initially sent letters to each entity on
January 30, 2018, to which I did not receive a response from
any of them. After I submitted my
outline for this interaction project, I decided that maybe my
emails did not go through, so I went
through and sent each of the representatives another letter,
requesting more information on the
cap on March 26, 2018. I received responses in a timely manner
to my second letters.
Medicare outpatient therapy services include occupational
therapy, speech pathology, and
physical therapy. There was to be a cap placed on these services
by January 1, 2018, at which
Medicare recipients could not receive occupational therapy after
their $2,010 cap was met, or a
combined cap of $2,010 was met for speech pathology services
and physical therapy (Parsons
17. 3
MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES
2017). Since January, I have found this subject to be quite
confusing, and I was never positive on
what was going on with it.
Since I started this project at the beginning of the semester,
there have been changes and
actions taken to repeal the cap on Medicare outpatient therapy
services. According to the
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, “Congress has
repealed the hard cap and
established a targeted medical review threshold of $3,000. Once
patients have exceeded the
previous therapy cap amount of $2,010, speech-language
pathologists are required to apply the
KX modifier on the claim form to attest to ongoing medical
necessity and continue to submit
claims for coverage. If the speech-language pathologist meets
the targeting criteria established
under the law, then the medical records for some of their claims
above the $3,000 threshold may
be requested for review” (February 8, 2018). Because Congress
acted, Medicare recipients will
be able to receive these services beyond the previous cap.
18. “Confusion ensued in early 2018,
when therapists and patients were unsure how much therapy
would be covered for Medicare
beneficiaries in 2018. But in February 2018, Congress passed
legislation that repealed the
outpatient therapy caps, retroactive to January 1, 2018” (Norris,
2018). Actions were also taken
to provide speech-generating devices under Medicare for those
that need them. Speech-
generating devices are used by those who cannot verbally
communicate their needs or have
speech impairments. The largest population of those who need
these devices are patients with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and
Parkinson’s disease (American Speech-
Language-Hearing Association, February 8, 2018).
I chose to interact with Representative Gianforte, and Senators
Testor and Daines
because I thought they would be the quickest way in which I
could receive clarification on
Medicare outpatient services. There has been a lot of confusion
regarding this topic since last
19. 4
MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES
year, and I was hoping to get my questions answered straight
from the source, instead of relying
on what I am able to find on the internet. Therapy services have
become relatively important to
me this past year, as many people I know use one of these
services, although not under Medicare.
Personally, my three-year-old son has recently began receiving
speech pathology services
through the school system, to which we are very thankful. My
boss has also recently had a
stroke, which has required him to receive both speech pathology
services and physical therapy. I
have been able to see the amazing impact these services can
have and hope that anyone who
needs a therapy service, is able to receive it to the extent they
need.
This experience did not turn out to be quite what I expected
when I initially started the
project. Before I sent letters to each of the representatives, I
thought that it would be more
difficult to get into contact with them than it was. This was a
pleasant surprise. I was able to find
20. their contact information easily on their government websites.
From there, the option was given
to send them an email, and it even gave some options of topics
to contact them about. I honestly
did not expect it to be that easy to interact with the government
on that level. I received my first
response from House Representative Greg Gianforte the day
after I sent my letter. This was a
pleasant surprise to me as well, because I assumed that I would
be waiting at least a few days to
receive a response. I also received responses from Seator Jon
Tester and Senator Steve Daines
within a week of contacting them.
Like many other Americans, my biggest form of interaction
with the government was
voting before this assignment. Although I find voting to be the
most important way we can
interact with our government, by contacting government
officials, I felt more involved. Instead
of only interacting on their terms, I took the initiative to contact
them regarding a subject that I
didn’t understand fully. Voting can also seem impersonal or
meaningless at times. By contacting
21. 5
MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES
them on my terms, I felt that my answers came back personally,
and that what I was inquiring
about was important and mattered. Another interaction that I
have had with the government was
attending a city council meeting. I didn’t necessarily react at
the meeting and was merely there to
listen. The meeting that I attended was rather short and
followed a quick schedule. This is why I
chose not to attend a meeting for my interaction project. I felt
that I didn’t get enough
information, and I didn’t fully participate myself. When I sent
letters to government
representatives, I felt that I was fully participating, and I
couldn’t just sit back and listen without
initiating some conversation.
This experience has been mainly positive for me. It has
encouraged me to interact with
the government in the future. When I interacted, I felt much
more involved than I ever have
before. The experience made me feel that if I don’t understand
something in the future, I am able
22. to contact the government on my own to get the answers to my
questions. I used to feel that if I
didn’t understand something, I just had to do the research on my
own. Now, I will be more likely
to take initiative to find out the correct answers right from the
source. The biggest lesson that I
learned from this project is that if we don’t understand a
government policy, we shouldn’t feel
ashamed to ask the questions we have. Next time I interact with
the government by sending
letters, I would make sure to ask more specific questions about
the subject that I was contacting
them about. I felt that I might have been a little vague in my
questions, so in return, I didn’t feel
like the responses I got fully answered my questions. As I
mentioned before, I received my first
response from Greg Gianforte the next day. However, his
response was not quite what I
expected, and I didn’t get the answers that I was searching for. I
felt that I was answered quickly
without really looking at the questions that I was asking. It was
great that he got back to me so
quickly, but my confusion was not settled by his response. The
next response I received was
23. 6
MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES
from Senator Jon Tester on March 29th. His response was quite
short and to the point. The only
thing he mentioned about the cap on Medicare outpatient
therapy services, was that it was
repealed. I was glad to hear an answer as to what was currently
going on with the cap, but he
didn’t go into depth at all, so I felt that I didn’t get exactly what
I wanted to know fully across to
him. Senator Steve Daines was the last to respond to my email
on April 3rd. He also did not
answer my questions to the extent I expected, but he did
mention what was happening with
speech-generating devices, which I appreciated. Next time I
interact with the government this
way, I will be more specific, ask more questions, and follow up
if I don’t get responses that
answer my questions.
This project ties into our course, by providing us with the
opportunity to participate in our
government in a way which we might not before. According to
our textbook, “voting is the only
24. aspect of political participation that a majority of the population
reported engaging in” (Edwards,
Wattenberg, & Lineberry, 2014, p.216). In February, we all
participated in a class discussion
about political participation. In this discussion, we talked about
the low voter turnout. Many of
us mentioned that a large number of American citizens don’t
feel like they really matter when it
comes to politics. This project showed me that my thoughts and
questions do matter and will be
answered if I take the initiative to participate.
From this experience, I have learned that it is truly simple to
interact with a democratic
government. We have so many opportunities to be involved, that
most of us take for granted. We
are able to vote, contact many different levels of government,
attend meetings, sign petitions,
protest, and give to political organizations. Our democratic
government provides us with ways to
participate, and it is up to us to take advantage of the
opportunities that are presented in front of
7
25. MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES
us. I also learned through this project, that representatives are
willing to answer our questions,
which is something I didn’t necessarily think before.
8
MEDICARE OUTPATIENT THERAPY SERVICES
References
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (February 8,
2018). Congress permanently
repeals the medicare therapy caps and ensures payment for
26. speech-generating devices.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
https://www.asha.org/News/2018/Congress-Permanently-
Repeals-the-Medicare-Therapy-
Caps-and-Ensures-Payment-for-Speech-Generating-Devices/.
Edwards III, G.C., Wattenberg, M.P., & Lineberry, R.L. (2014).
Government in America:
People, politics, and policy (16th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Norris, L. (2018). How did medicare benefits change for 2018?
Medicare Resources.
https://www.medicareresources.org/faqs/what-kind-of-medicare-
benefit-changes-can-i-
expect-this-year/.
Parsons, H. (2017). Access to therapy services threatened if
congress fails to act. The American
Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.
https://www.aota.org/Advocacy-
Policy/Congressional-Affairs/Legislative-Issues-
Update/2017/Access-to-Therapy-
Services-Threatened-if-Congress-Fails-to-Act.aspx.
https://www.asha.org/News/2018/Congress-Permanently-
28. 1. Write to your state or federal representative or senator to
gather information or express an opinion about an issue that is
of interest to you. (This can be done via the Internet).
2. Serve as a representative in student government. This could
be as an elected, appointed or voluntary position.
3. Attend a meeting of some government body. (City Council,
County Commissioners, School Board, Fire District, Student
Government, etc.) NOTE: Watching a meeting via television,
the internet, etc. is NOT considered a "physical interaction"
with government.
4. Other: Contact me immediately if you wish to complete this
assignment with some other type of involvement.
Whatever way you decide to participate in your government,
you must write up an analysis of your experience. The following
information must be addressed within your final project:
Introduction (at least 2 pages; worth up to 40 points)
· What government entity did you interact with and how did you
interact with it (i.e., attended a meeting, wrote letters, etc.)?
· Summarize the issues being dealt with, etc. What happened,
who or what was involved, etc?
· Summarize any follow-up meetings, results of actions taken,
etc.
· Explain fully why you choose this particular entity to interact
with.
Analysis (at least 4 pages; worth up to 80 points)
Please note this is not a blog or journal of your experience, but
a formal analysis.
· Was the experience what you expected? Why or why not?
Explain fully.
· Compare this interaction with other experiences you have had
interacting or participating with government; how is this
similar, different, etc.? Explain fully. (NOTE: All of you have
interacted with government at some level.)
· What is your opinion of this interaction experience; has this
encouraged or discouraged you to interact with government in
29. the future? What would you do differently next time? Explain
fully.
· Explain fully how this interaction experience ties into our
course. Provide several examples of specific concepts from the
readings and/or the many discussions we have had in the class.
What lessons have you learned about democracy from this
experience? Explain fully.
· Provide supporting documentation as appropriate (such as an
agenda, newspaper articles, working URLs to online minutes,
etc.) as a separate file attached to the assignment dropbox.
These items are separate, are intended to supplement your
project, and are therefore not counted in the total number of
pages in your final project.
Supporting documentation
You should also include supporting documentation such as
minutes of meetings, copies of letters, newspaper articles, etc.
as appropriate (these should be uploaded as separate files and
would NOT be included as part of your paper content). Label
each document at the top and put your name on each.
Deliverables: Format/Writing Quality worth up to 30 points:
· 2-page Introduction and 4-page Analysis for your Interaction
Project Topic essay (6 pages minimum total; no more than 10
pages total, not including supporting documentation and
references page).
· Put your name, date, and module # on the essay cover page,
together with the title of the project, in APA format.
· Use Times New Roman, 12 pt black font, 1-inch margins;
double-space the body of the essay, indent new paragraphs by
1/2 inch, and don't include extra spaces between paragraphs.
· You don't need to include an abstract.
· The essay must use college level English, grammar, spelling,
punctuation, etc.
· Use ONLY Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or save your
document as a Rich Text File (.rtf).
· The essay must use APA formatting, referencing, and
citations.
30. · A reference page must be included. You must use a minimum
of three sources. These may include information gathered by
attending a meeting. The speaker or government entity should
be named in a citation.
· You must incorporate concepts from the course e-text and use
APA-style in-text notes for all references.
· For more information and models of APA formatting, see
the APA Toolkit in the Syllabus Module.
See an example of an Interaction Project Essay here.
See a second example of an Interaction Project Essay here.
See the Schedule and Course Rubrics in the Syllabus Module for
due dates and grading information.
Module 4 Interaction Project: Essay
Overview
The
Interaction Project
in this course is broken down into several smaller components
to allow you to
work on the project throughout the semester.
You should check the Schedule and the assignment
dropbox very carefully for the appropriate due dates of each
component.
The projec
t culminates in
Module 4 with a final essay, and in Module 5 with an
opportunity for you to present your project to your
31. peers. See
the Grading and Evaluation page of the Syllabus for more
information on the points value of
this assignment.
Instructions
Y
ou are to prepare an essay related to a political i ssue reflecting
on a physical interaction with any level
of government and then document and analyze that interaction.
This assignment is worth 150 points.
Examples of possible interactions:
1.
Write to your
state or federal representative or senator to gather information
or express an
opinion about an issue that is of interest to you. (This can be
done via the Internet).
2.
Serve as a representative in student government. This could be
as an elected, appointed o
r
voluntary position.
3.
Attend a meeting of some government body. (City Council,
32. County Commissioners, School
Board, Fire District, Student Government, etc.)
NOTE:
Watching
a meeting via television, the
internet, etc. is NOT considered a "physical interaction" with
government.
4.
Other: Contact me
immediately if you wish to complete this assignment with some
other type of
involvement.
Whatever way you decide to participate in y
our government, you must write up an analysis of your
experience. The following information must be addressed within
your final project:
Introduction (at least 2 pages; worth up to 40 points)
·
What government entity did you interact with and how did you
int
eract with it (i.e., attended a
meeting, wrote letters, etc.)?
·
33. Summarize the issues being dealt with, etc. What happened,
who or what was involved, etc?
·
Summarize any follow
-
up meetings, results of actions taken, etc.
·
Explain fully why you choose this part
icular entity to interact with.
Analysis (at least 4 pages; worth up to 80 points)
Please note this is not a blog or journal of your experience, but
a formal analysis.
·
Was the experience what you expected?
Why or why not?
Explain fully.
Module 4 Interaction Project: Essay
Overview
The Interaction Project in this course is broken down into
several smaller components to allow you to
work on the project throughout the semester. You should check
34. the Schedule and the assignment
dropbox very carefully for the appropriate due dates of each
component. The project culminates in
Module 4 with a final essay, and in Module 5 with an
opportunity for you to present your project to your
peers. See the Grading and Evaluation page of the Syllabus for
more information on the points value of
this assignment.
Instructions
You are to prepare an essay related to a political issue
reflecting on a physical interaction with any level
of government and then document and analyze that interaction.
This assignment is worth 150 points.
Examples of possible interactions:
1. Write to your state or federal representative or senator to
gather information or express an
opinion about an issue that is of interest to you. (This can be
done via the Internet).
2. Serve as a representative in student government. This could
be as an elected, appointed or
voluntary position.
3. Attend a meeting of some government body. (City Council,
County Commissioners, School
Board, Fire District, Student Government, etc.) NOTE:
Watching a meeting via television, the
internet, etc. is NOT considered a "physical interaction" with
government.
4. Other: Contact me immediately if you wish to complete this
assignment with some other type of
involvement.
Whatever way you decide to participate in your government,
you must write up an analysis of your
experience. The following information must be addressed within
your final project:
Introduction (at least 2 pages; worth up to 40 points)
35. you interact with it (i.e., attended a
meeting, wrote letters, etc.)?
who or what was involved, etc?
-up meetings, results of actions taken,
etc.
with.
Analysis (at least 4 pages; worth up to 80 points)
Please note this is not a blog or journal of your experience, but
a formal analysis.
Explain fully.
Module 04/Instruction to Module 4 Interaction Project
Essay.htmlModule 4 Interaction Project: Essay
Overview
The Interaction Project in this course is broken down into
several smaller components to allow you to work on the project
throughout the semester. You should check the Schedule and
the assignment dropbox very carefully for the appropriate due
dates of each component. The project culminates in Module 4
with a final essay, and in Module 5 with an opportunity for you
to present your project to your peers. See the Grading and
Evaluation page of the Syllabus for more information on the
points value of this assignment.
Instructions
You are to prepare an essay related to a political issue
reflecting on a physical interaction with any level of
government and then document and analyze that
interaction. This assignment is worth 150 points.
Examples of possible interactions:Write to your state or federal
36. representative or senator to gather information or express an
opinion about an issue that is of interest to you. (This can be
done via the Internet).Serve as a representative in student
government. This could be as an elected, appointed or voluntary
position.Attend a meeting of some government body. (City
Council, County Commissioners, School Board, Fire District,
Student Government, etc.) NOTE: Watching a meeting via
television, the internet, etc. is NOT considered a "physical
interaction" with government. Other: Contact me immediately if
you wish to complete this assignment with some other type of
involvement.
Whatever way you decide to participate in your government,
you must write up an analysis of your experience. The following
information must be addressed within your final
project:Introduction (at least 2 pages; worth up to 40
points)What government entity did you interact with and how
did you interact with it (i.e., attended a meeting, wrote letters,
etc.)?Summarize the issues being dealt with, etc. What
happened, who or what was involved, etc?Summarize any
follow-up meetings, results of actions taken, etc.Explain fully
why you choose this particular entity to interact with.Analysis
(at least 4 pages; worth up to 80 points)
Please note this is not a blog or journal of your experience, but
a formal analysis.
Was the experience what you expected? Why or why not?
Explain fully.Compare this interaction with other experiences
you have had interacting or participating with government; how
is this similar, different, etc.? Explain fully. (NOTE: All of
you have interacted with government at some level.)What is
your opinion of this interaction experience; has this encouraged
or discouraged you to interact with government in the future?
37. What would you do differently next time? Explain
fully.Explain fully how this interaction experience ties into our
course. Provide several examples of specific concepts from the
readings and/or the many discussions we have had in the class.
What lessons have you learned about democracy from this
experience? Explain fully.Provide supporting documentation as
appropriate (such as an agenda, newspaper articles, working
URLs to online minutes, etc.) as a separate file attached to the
assignment dropbox. These items are separate, are intended to
supplement your project, and are therefore not counted in the
total number of pages in your final project. Supporting
documentation
You should also include supporting documentation such as
minutes of meetings, copies of letters, newspaper articles, etc.
as appropriate (these should be uploaded as separate files and
would NOT be included as part of your paper content). Label
each document at the top and put your name on
each.Deliverables: Format/Writing Quality worth up to 30
points:2-page Introduction and 4-page Analysis for your
Interaction Project Topic essay (6 pages minimum total; no
more than 10 pages total, not including supporting
documentation and references page).Put your name, date, and
module # on the essay cover page, together with the title of the
project, in APA format.Use Times New Roman, 12 pt black
font, 1-inch margins; double-space the body of the essay, indent
new paragraphs by 1/2 inch, and don't include extra spaces
between paragraphs.You don't need to include an abstract.The
essay must use college level English, grammar, spelling,
punctuation, etc.Use ONLY Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or
save your document as a Rich Text File (.rtf).The essay must
use APA formatting, referencing, and citations.A reference page
must be included. You must use a minimum of three sources.
These may include information gathered by attending a
meeting. The speaker or government entity should be named in
a citation. You must incorporate concepts from the course e-
text and use APA-style in-text notes for all references.For more
38. information and models of APA formatting, see the APA
Toolkit in the Syllabus Module.
See an example of an Interaction Project Essay here.
See a second example of an Interaction Project Essay here.
See the Schedule and Course Rubrics in the Syllabus Module for
due dates and grading information.
