Digital Storytelling of the Executive Branch

Digital Storytelling of the Executive Branch

Do you have a favorite president? Have you ever wanted to research one president in particular? Now is your chance! Your assignment is to create a digital storybook about a previous United States President using VoiceThread.

Directions:

Step 1: Visit the North Stokes High School website. Click on “Departments” on the left side of the screen. Then click on “Social Studies.” Next click on “Meghan Wood.” Scroll down the page until you see “Civics and Economics Links.” Click on “Presidential VoiceThread.”

Step 2: Watch the tutorial on how to create a VoiceThread. Then create your own account.

Step 3: Watch the Sample Presidential VoiceThread.

Step 4: Use the “Template for Script” to record your answers to Parts 1-7 for the project. You should type your answers in complete sentences. The information you type will be read aloud to create the audio within your VoiceThread.

Step 5: Use the following websites to research a past U.S. President and complete Parts 1-7.

www.wikipedia.org Search using “Presidents of the United States.” When the new page is displayed scroll down until you see “List of Presidents” then click on the President’s name to access information.

www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents

www.presidentsusa.net

www.americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/home.html Click on the picture of the President you selected at the top of the screen.

www.smithsonianeducation.org/president/gallerydetail.aspx?section=a

www.apples4theteacher.com/holdiays/presidents-day/past-president-of-usa.html

www.americanpresidents.org Go to the “Pick a President” tab and select a President.

Project Outline

Part 1 - Qualifications and Term of Office

·  How does the President you selected fulfill the requirements to be President? At what age did he become President? Where was he born?

·  How many terms did your president serve?

·  What were the years in which he served?

Part 2 – Characteristics or Interesting Facts of the President

·  Describe at least three interesting facts about the President that you chose. This can include but is not limited to educational background, family, previous job, and hobbies.

Part 3 –Roles, Duties, and Powers of the President

Remember that the President’s roles, duties, and powers can overlap.

·  Pick 3 – 4 roles of the President we reviewed in class and describe how the President you selected fulfilled or carried out those roles.

·  See the “Roles or Hats of the President” worksheet

·  Did the President fulfill any powers or duties listed from Article II of the Constitution? If so, give a brief description how the President executed the powers or duties.

Part 4 – Foreign Policy

·  What foreign policy actions or accomplishments did the President have while in office? Provide a brief description of each action you researched.

Part 5 – Legislative and Judicial Branches

·  Did the President you selected work with the Legislative or Judicial Branch while in office? If so explain how he worked with either branch.

Part 6 – Extra Credit

·  Based upon your research, did the selected President execute any principles of democracy? If he did, please explain how he executed the principles.

·  As a reminder the Principles of Democracy include: rule of law, limited government, checks and balances, separation of powers, popular sovereignty)

Part 7– Conclusion (Your Opinion)

·  Based upon the Constitutional description of the President, as well as the research you conducted, did the President you chose successfully lead the Executive Branch? Please explain your answer.

Part 8 - Once you have researched information for Parts 1-7 find a picture to represent each part of the project to embed in your VoiceThread. Once you have uploaded your pictures begin an audio recording of the information you found.

Part 9 – References

·  Please list all resources used to complete your research on the “Template for Script” paper. This includes websites, books, and pictures.