Q Instructions For this discussion, rather than creating posts and responding to your classmates' posts, you will be filming and sharing your own testimony, then watching and responding to your classmates' testimony. Follow the steps below to participate in this discussion. 1. Prepare your testimony. You will pretend that you are testifying in front of a committee of the legislative body most appropriate to your policy issue. Prepare and present no more than five minutes of testimony in support of your proposed policy changes outlined in Advocacy Project assignments. Your testimony should follow this format: o Introduction: Who you are and who you represent o Body: Discuss the policy at hand, and give your argument(s) for the specific changes you see necessary to the policy. o Refute alternative suggestions, or potential arguments against your proposal. o Closing remarks: Sum up your proposal, and thank the committee. 2. Deliver Your Testimony • Sit up straight • Speak slowly and clearly • Make eye contact (don't read) • Be conversational • Follow protocol and be respectful Format: • "Mr. Chairman/Madam Chairwoman and members of the committee ..." (name the committee you are presenting to - for example, the U.S. Senate on Aging) • "My name is ________ and I represent __________." [Describe your role in 1-2 sentences]. • "I'm speaking today in support of/opposition to [identify the policy by name and number]. • Quickly summarize the policy (if necessary) or identify which parts of the policy you'll be addressing (if appropriate). • Make 1 or 2 main points. Support with a limited number of statistics and/or story. (In real life, you would try to use examples from the committee members' home states/districts.) • "In conclusion, I urge you to support/oppose [policy]." • "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them." It is recommended that you either record the video to a file on your computer, or to a cloud server (Zoom, Google Drive, YouTube, etc.). Upload the video here or provide a link to the file here. This video will also serve as the starting point for this week's discussion, so you ALSO need to upload the written version of this testimony HERE by the assignment due date. 3. Watch and Respond to Peers Then, respond USING VIDEO to at least three of your classmates' testimonies by May 2. Make sure that in the beginning of your response, you state the name of the person to whom you are responding, and the topic they are discussing. Once you have responded to your classmates, you should also look for any responses to your video, and make sure that you respond by answering any questions that were raised or acknowledging their posts. ________________________________________ Requirements • Upload your video/share the link by the assignment on this page by the due date. • Respond via video to at least three individual testimonies from your classmates on this page by the end of the module. o Responses should be substantive and add to the discussion. Ask the original poster a question, provide an additional resource, or suggest a different approach to the problem. o Responses should be just 2-3 minutes. • Respond via video or textto the classmates who provided feedback on your video, closing that feedback loop. o These final posts can be 50-200 words. • Review the Discussion Rubric to ensure that you meet all of the grading criteria.