Five Ways to Teach the Shutdown Though we've published quizzes, Student Opinion questions and other features about the government shutdown since it began on Oct. 1, we've been holding off on a lesson plan hoping, like everyone else, that the standoff would be resolved quickly. But as we near the end of the second week with no clear resolution in sight, we've decided to offer five ways for you to address this news in your classroom, regardless of what happens next. What Is the Government Shutdown, Why Did It Happen, and Who Is Responsible? If you have limited time to explore these three questions, you could simply have students read, answer questions and hold a discussion using our 6 Q's About the News piece on the lead Times article reporting on Day 1 of the shutdown. Students can also watch the video above, then offer their opinions about the shutdown via our Student Opinion question. However, all the hyper-politicized rhetoric can make anyone confused about what's really going in Washington, so the shutdown presents an opportunity for students to do some detective work to try to find their own answers. The following Times articles dig deeper into why this crisis started: Students can use these article, and others, to find an explanation for why the government shut down for the first time in 17 years. What Have the Effects Been So Far? The shutdown began Oct. 1, and since then The Times has published daily reports about the effects - on everything from the closure of the National Zoo's "panda cam" to the president's cancellation of his trip to an economic summit in Asia to the denial of death benefits for some military families. Students can do a scavenger hunt activity, where they work in groups to look through The Times, in print and in video, particularly the special section called "Fiscal Crisis," as well as outside news sources, listing as many effects as they can find. Remind them to cite sources as they go. After each small group presents, ask the class: "Which of the effects do you think are the worst? What Is the Impending Debt Ceiling Crisis? The shutdown is only part of the story. On Oct. 17, the government is set to run out of money to pay its bills, leading to a potential default by the United States, something that has never happened and which many economists and business leaders warn could be calamitous for the country and the economy. To understand the debt ceiling crisis, students can read the article "Treasury Puts a Date on When Cash May Run Out: Oct. 17″ and write about and discuss the following questions: What is the debt ceiling? What is a default? Why do many economists fear a default? What might happen? Why have Republicans in Congress been reluctant to raise the debt ceiling? Students can go further by trying to figure out what President Obama and Congress should do to move beyond this impasse. They can consider: Should President Obama ignore the debt ceiling? Should he interpret the 14th Amendment as giving him the authority to bypass Congress and pay all United States debt in full? Should Congressional Republicans offer to raise the debt ceiling to create more time to pursue their legislative goals with the shutdown? Here are select articles and Opinion pieces to help students think about those questions: How Will History View This Budget Stalemate? Students can imagine they are historians in the future trying to write the textbook passage that explains these fiscal problems and their significance in history. Do these problems demonstrate anything about the Republican and Democratic Parties? About Congress and the president? What, if any, fallout or change will happen because of this standoff? To help answer these questions, students might want to read through Opinion pieces and articles to get a variety of perspectives on what the drama in Washington might mean for the future. Here is a selection from The Times: How Can History Help Us Predict the Future? With no way of knowing whether this situation will be resolved in a day, or in a month or longer, we can only guess the future. Students can read about the previous shutdown 17 years ago to try to glean lessons from the past. Then they can consider these questions: How is the current standoff different from the 1995-96 shutdown? How did that end? How do you think this will end? Finally, for a more creative twist, students could complete the final Lego frames and captions in this Atlantic piece, "The Government Shutdown, Told in Lego." Perhaps they can find a way to make a fairy tale ending.