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The presidential race is on everyone's minds - last week was the exciting GOP National Convention and the week before was the historic Democratic National Convention. It is exciting, and topical, to talk about it in the classroom and encourages student to develop important skills at the same time.
As educators, we cannot promote one person or one party over another, but that does not mean we should be ignoring the 2008 presidential race in the classroom. Get your kids to watch the debates, read the blogs and columns, and come to their own decisions - the classroom is a great place for kids to share their ideas and feelings about the election. Here are some ideas that will both get the students excited and involved in what they are seeing on television and on the Web: There is a great unit plan from The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) called Propaganda Techniques in Literature and Online Political Ads. What could be more relevant? It has some engaging ideas. Turns out NCTE also has a great Web site with lots of great free resources called ReadWriteThink. You might want to check it out on a regular basis. Here are examples of the multiple handouts for the Propaganda Techniques in Literature and Online Political Ads lesson plan:
The goals of the lesson plan are outstanding:
- Analyze texts to identify different types of propaganda techniques
- Identify and explain the goal of propaganda techniques used in a work of literature and an example of non-print media
- Compare and contrast examples of propaganda techniques used in a work of literature and visual media
- Identify and gather evidence from a secondary source
- Use visual literacy skills to analyze, interpret, and explain non-print media
- Participate in a class discussion, gather information, and write a persuasive essay that synthesizes information from their explorations of propaganda
- Some of the books that teachers can use include Orwell's 1984 and Brave New World, Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451, Orson Card's Ender's Game, and Margaret Atwood's HandMaid's Tale. There are many additional books, short stories, plays and movies that are also listed in the lesson plan and that you can use. Just check out the Web site.
- In addition to getting kids involved and interested in the presidential race, this lesson plan helps connect the real world with the literature they are reading, and provides and opportunity to teach them how to improve their own Web research as well as evaluate the credentials of a Web site.
There is even more to help you out:
- There are some great resources offered by By the People, a PBS resource that is organized by the NacNeil/Lehrer Productions to bring the views of "ordinary citizens" to a national level.
They have news for students, lesson plans, teachers resources and even video.
going to the Web site OntheIssues which has every candidate's position on all the issues.
- Democrats: Barack Obama, Joe Biden
- Republicans: John McCain, Sarah Palin
- You can find multiple points of dicussion from just one angle of the election process. The nomination of Sarah Palin, for example, brings up multiple opportunities for kids to do research about issues connected with her campaign. Kids can research the intelligent design vs. the theory of evolution debate, the issue of abstinence-only sex education vs. Planned Parenthood sex education, the problems associated with teenage pregnancy, the recent Alaskan history, the concept of a glass ceiling for women, and earmarks in federal funding.
- In addition Google offers some election tools for teachers that are timely and helpful.
For teachers of English and social studies what is going on in the political world makes for a natural teaching opportunity that will engage students and promote learning of basic skills. Hopefully, many of us will take this opportunity. Let's train students to be aware and engaged in the democratic process.
 Esther Wojcicki is the driving force behind the development of Palo Alto High School’s award-winning journalism program - the largest high school journalism program in the country. She focuses on assessing and improving student learning through low- and high-tech tools.
POSTED ON HOTCHALK.COM
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