Student Perspectives: Leslie Martin's Students

• Leslie Martin's teaching style
• Working in groups
• Role-playing
• Lessons learned
• Constructivist learning
• The issues
• The group's process
• Civic education

At the time these students were interviewed, they were ninth-graders at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, North Carolina, which is a suburb of Winston-Salem. They were near the end of an honors-level two-semester course on U.S. government, civics, and economics, taught by Leslie Martin. The students discuss their experience creating a federal budget. First, they worked in cooperative-learning groups to develop a budget that reflected the priorities of the executive branch and later represented a Member of Congress in a Congressional budget hearing.