Creating a Budget, Part II
Originally created by Laurie Beaman from AISD and adapted and remixed by Sarah Morris from Nucleus Learning Network. With support from Victoria O'Dell, Mateo Clarke, Ashley Fisher, and Robert Friedman.
90 minutes total with the option to break activities into smaller chunks of time
Lesson 4 of 6 in the Budget Party Curriculum
Guide your learners as they continue crafting their own city budget by considering factors that influence the budget, city needs, and the effects of their decisions. Give your learners experience using the online Budget Party tool. Help them strengthen their critical thinking, research, debate, and communication skills while practicing skills like evaluate and synthesis.
Web Literacy Skills
21st Century Skills
Learning Objectives
- Learners will examine different aspects of the City of Austin budget and evaluate the contributions each makes to the city and its residents.
- Learners will make informed budget decisions guided by what they believe is in the best interest of their local districts and the City of Austin.
- Learners will begin to prioritize what they think is most important for the City of Austin to spend money on.
Audience
- Ages 14+
Materials
- Projector
- Computers or laptops with Internet access
- Index cards in three different colors (ideally red, green, and white)
- A poster with three columns
- See all Budget Party worksheets, broken down by lesson in this Google Drive Folder.
- Budget Party Project Directions
- Budget Party Department Research Worksheet
- Budget Party Worksheet
- Budget Opinions Worksheet
- Budget Party Game
- Assessment Overview
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Preparation and Introduction
Learning Progression
In this lesson, learners will:
- Explore, critically examine, and discuss complex issues and debates in the city of Austin and how those isues impact the budget.
- Continue working on their budget project using the online Budget Party game.
- Use research and critical thinking skills to develop and explain the reasoning behind their budget decisions.
- Reflect on their learning.
Scaffolding and Resources
In previous lessons learners explored both individual and city budgets more generally and the Austin city budget more specifically. They applied their knoweldge and understanding to creating their own budget, with an initial focus on public safety issues. In this lesson, learners will continue to develop their budget projects and focus on additional areas and departments in the city.
Preparation Instructions and Facilitation Tips
You can print out the worksheets and information packets or have your learners view and complete them online depending on your technology situation.
Divide your learners into cooperative learning groups to complete the activities.
Vocabulary
- Infrastructure
- Public Works
- Development Services
- Community Services
- Plannign and Zoning
- Municipal Courts
- Social Service Contracts
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Activities
85 minutesWarm-Up Activity 1 - 20 minutes
- Students will read statements about services provided by the City of Austin and evaluate their personal beliefs about these services using a worksheet.
- The services listed are directly correlated to the different departments that the City of Austin provides money to in its budget.
- After they finish the exercise, read each statement aloud. Have each learner stand in a differnet corner based on their opinion.
- Have a few people in each group share their reasoning.
Activity 2 - 55 minutes
- Have everyone return to their groups and get into the Budget Party game online.
- Have groups break up the remaining sections of the budget based on what interests them the most. There are 12 remaining departments to examine broadly under four sections (there are a few with more than one department to help provide equity in work distribution). Students will use the resources provided to them in prior lessons as well as the Budget Party game to make informed and justified changes to the budget allocation for their assigned section/departments. As they review this information, they will fill in the corresponding sections of the Budget Party worksheet, which they will use to share key details with other members of their group.
Activity 3 - 10 minutes
- Learners will return to the Warm-Up Activity worksheet and will match each of the statements to a department researched by members of their group. For each statement, students will work together to share and explain how it relates to the budget, and then they will share their first decisions about whether they think that department should receive an increase or decrease in funding and why. This will serve as a base for the final decisions they make as a group in the next class.
Reflection and Assessment
Closing Activity and Reflection
- Have everyone rank the departments in the section that they researched that they think should have priority in the final budget. On their worksheet, have them put a #1 next to the department that absolutely should receive an increase in funding, a #2 next to the department that may need an increase in funding, and a #3 next to the department which should have least priority in the final budget.
- Then have them fill out two sentences to turn in. The department (in the section that I researched) that would most benefit from a budget increase is [blank] because [blank]. The department (in the section that I researched) that we could potentially make cuts in the budget for is [blank] because [blank].