#Myparty14 Optional extension activities and suggested calendar
Here are some suggested activities and a calendar to frame the election project. Feel free to pick and choose which ones you like or come up with your ideas!
This schedule assumes a two hour block and a PBL style classroom. Adjust accordingly. Remember student commercials are due to #miched on October 31th. Recommended first day for this project schedule is October 13th.
Day 1
Entry Event/Doc.
Knows/Need to know's
Introduce political spectrum activity
Day 2
Research and present issues to the class. Have students stand by spot based on the issue.
Day 3
Students write about most important issue.
Define civility
Day 4
Create a civility rubric.
Give students historical examples to evaluate.
Day 5
Start party history jigsaw
Research
Present Jigsaw research to class.
Research Snyder/Schauer Platforms
Day 6
Present Jigsaw research to class.
Research Snyder/Schauer Platforms
Day 7
article considering bias
Study 3rd party candidates
Day 8
opinion article considering bias.
Students create groups (3-5) based on common interests to create their own party
Day 9
Students draft their party platform.
Day 10
Critical friends of party platform with two other groups.
Discuss advertising techniques and rhetoric.
Watch previous campaign commercials and rank them for civility by their rubric.
Day 11
Storyboard and write script for 30 sec. commercial.
Day 12
Film and edit commercial.
Day 13
Film and edit commercial.
Day 14
Watch commercials. Use civility rubric. Give speeches.
Vote
Day 15
Announce winners. Reflect
Celebrate!
Day 16
Have winning party debate with another school.
Reflect on the election, the project, and civility.
- Political Spectrum: Hang a long sheet of paper across the room representing the political spectrum: Label it: Right/Conservative, Left/Liberal, and Middle/Moderate. Have students brainstorm a list of different political issues. Assign students an issue in groups and have them research all three perspectives on their issue. Then have students summarize all three views on separate sticky notes. Have each group explain their issue to the class and then place stickies on the long paper showing how a person in each place would feel about their issue. After everyone has presented facilitator reads off different issues and students move to where they are on the spectrum for each issue. Hopefully most students will find themselves in different spots depending on the issue.
- As a wrap-up literacy task student would write to a prompt about where they would stand on the spectrum and which of the issues are most important to them personally.
- Have students take this quiz. Are you a libertarian/communitarian/liberal/conservative?
- Civility Rubric: Students define civility in groups. Then students make a civility rubric which they can use to judge politicians. Could have them use it to assess the debates.
- Left/Right infograph
- Throw a “Debate Party” at your school to watch the debates and grade them according to your civility rubric.
- Party History Jigsaw: Students research the philosophical origins of the Democrat and Republican parties by looking at FDR’s New Deal, LBJ’s Great Society, and Reaganomics in a group jigsaw and report back their findings.
- Look at the platforms of Snyder (Links to issues in the upper right corner) and Schauer (Link “On the Issues” in top center of page) and compare them to their traditional “party line.”
- Have students take this quiz about their political opinions. http://www.isidewith.com/
- Students research and learn about 3rd party candidates both currently and in the past.
- Students create their own campaign party and platform (written product/literacy task)
- Look at advertising techniques. Students watch campaign commercials and identify techniques used.
- Students create a 30 sec. campaign commercial that will be voted on at the school level and the top one from each school will be posted to the #miched site for voting.
- Find a partner school in Michigan and have a debate between your school’s winning party via skype or Google Hangout.
- Contact local and state politicians or others involved in campaigns to learn more about their beliefs and how the process. Invite them to talk to you via chat tools or in person.
This schedule assumes a two hour block and a PBL style classroom. Adjust accordingly. Remember student commercials are due to #miched on October 31th. Recommended first day for this project schedule is October 13th.
Day 1
Entry Event/Doc.
Knows/Need to know's
Introduce political spectrum activity
Day 2
Research and present issues to the class. Have students stand by spot based on the issue.
Day 3
Students write about most important issue.
Define civility
Day 4
Create a civility rubric.
Give students historical examples to evaluate.
Day 5
Start party history jigsaw
Research
Present Jigsaw research to class.
Research Snyder/Schauer Platforms
Day 6
Present Jigsaw research to class.
Research Snyder/Schauer Platforms
Day 7
article considering bias
Study 3rd party candidates
Day 8
opinion article considering bias.
Students create groups (3-5) based on common interests to create their own party
Day 9
Students draft their party platform.
Day 10
Critical friends of party platform with two other groups.
Discuss advertising techniques and rhetoric.
Watch previous campaign commercials and rank them for civility by their rubric.
Day 11
Storyboard and write script for 30 sec. commercial.
Day 12
Film and edit commercial.
Day 13
Film and edit commercial.
Day 14
Watch commercials. Use civility rubric. Give speeches.
Vote
Day 15
Announce winners. Reflect
Celebrate!
Day 16
Have winning party debate with another school.
Reflect on the election, the project, and civility.
