Presidential Election Project (Assignments Student Pages)

Election 2008 - General information page on the 2008 Presidential election.

The election partner will

  • debate the issues of the election with their student, challenge their student to defend their opinions, ideas, and philosophies
  • support their student's efforts to understand the candidates and their positions, encourage them to ask good questions and identify the most significant issues in government today

History/Social Studies students will

  • read election materials and become familiar with candidates and the issues, create an initial response to the prompts and question topics
  • respond to the comments and questions put forth by their election partner, experience a presidential election with a high degree of civic responsibility and competence

Election Partner Procedures

  1. Election Partner. Students should recruit an "election partner" for this project. This partner must be an adult who has voted in no less than two presidential elections. Have the election partner send an email to the teacher agreeing to serve as partner for the project. They should be made aware of the entire lesson, number of posts that will be required, and the time necessary to help the student complete the project. They should email the teacher so the teacher is certain that the partner has Internet access. Due Date: Mid-Septemberbefore the November Presidential Election.
  2. Your Election Page. Teachers should create a packet of information about the candidates for president in the current election. After carefully reading the election packet of candidate profiles and issues, students will identify the top five issues that are important to them. Students will write a short paragraph about each of these issues on your election page and why that issue is important to them. Due Date: By End of September.
  3. First Discussion Post - Selecting a candidate for President.Students will answer the following questions in the discussion tab on their wiki page: What is the best process to use for selecting a candidate for president? How should you decide? Whose views are important for you to consider? Why? Do you allow the media, parents, friends, and other to influence how you make the decision?Students should fully discuss the answers to all of these questions and the process they believe should be used to begin making a choice for President. Election partners must comment on this post and the student must respond to their partner’s comments. Due Date: By End of September.
  4. Second Discussion Post - The Vice Presidential Candidate.Students will describe their views on the importance of the vice presidential candidate. Students should answer the following questions in the discussion tab on their wiki page: What are you looking for in the VP candidate? What are your views about the current two vice presidential candidates? Who is best suited to be president? How likely are you to use your knowledge of the VP candidate to help you decide how to cast your vote for president? Why? Election partners must comment on this post and the student must respond to their partner’s comments. Due Date: By Early October.
  5. Third Discussion Post - Presidential Debates/Media Coverage.Students should watch a presidential debate. (The teacher should record the debate for viewing or access it on a one of the major news networks online. (I.E. C-SPAN, NBC, CNN, etc.) Students will explain their views on the presidential debates and media coverage of the campaign. Students will answer the following questions in their discussion tab on their wiki page: How do the debates and other media coverage help you make a decision on a candidate? What do you look for in the debates or in candidates appearances on news programs and other interviews? Does the commentary help you?Election partners must comment on this post and the student must respond to their partner’s comments. Due Date: One week after a presidential debate.
  6. Final Discussion Post - Decision 2008. Students will choose a candidate for president. They should outline the reasons for choosing this candidate. They should answer if they would be willing to campaign for this candidate? Why or why not? Election partners must comment on this post and the student must respond to their partner’s comments. Due Date: Election Day
    Due Date: By Election Day
  7. Complete your Election Page.Students will complete their own election page with information about their candidate and the reasons for their choice. They should include at least five of the following: pictures of the candidates, biography, timeline, embedded videos (commercials, videos, etc.), electoral maps, links to campaign sites, selected candidate's positions on the issues, information about the Vice Presidential running mate, explanation of political and leadership experience, possible choices for Cabinet Secretary, etc. Due Date: By Election Day
  8. Peer Review and Comments. Allow students the time to review each other’s election choices and have them post feedback and comments on their work.
  9. Hold a mock election on Election Day.

Additional procedure:

Invite some of the adult election partners to come to school on Election Day to discuss the campaign, election, and their views about civic participation.