The new US Senate was seated yesterday, but two new Senators, Al Franken and Roland Burris, were not sworn in yesterday. CNN Student News and Reuters both have videos providing a quick overview of reasons why each Senator was not sworn in. I have embedded both videos below.

The New York Times Learning Network has posted a lesson plan about the qualifications for Senators and a good article about the various paths to the Senate. The lesson plan and article are designed for middle school and high school students. If you have struggling readers, have them turn on the vocabulary and geography help links within the article.

Applications for Education
These videos along with the lesson plan from the New York Times could be good resources for exploring with students some of the peculiarities and nuances of the US political process.
Every episode of CNN Student News is accompanied by a ten question summative quiz that is useful as a quick way to check for understanding.