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Electing a president:
Lessons for teaching
about the presidential primaries
Candidates are crisscrossing the country in a quest for the votes that will put their name on the presidential ballot in November. Capitalize on this "teachable moment" with five lessons that teach about the process and engage students in learning about it.
As the grueling primary process begins, Election Day seems a long way away. But, before we know it, voters will be lining up at the polls to cast their ballots in the next presidential election.
Election resources
Make classroom connections to this year's elections
What is a president?Election WebQuest
Design a presidential candidateElection Day: Classroom activities
Understanding political parties Election Day: Ten more classroom activitiesElections and our government: In words a third grader can understandU.S. presidents on the InternetUse editorial cartoons to teach about elections past and presentAmerica's freedom documentsWhy teach current events?
Although Election Day will get most of the attention, the primaries leading up to Election Day also offer many opportunities for teaching about the American political process and citizens' roles and responsibilities. For example, are your students aware that primaries are a relatively new political development? A century ago, ordinary citizens had little say in the process of choosing each party's presidential candidate; choosing the candidate was more of a backroom process, carried out by party leaders and political insiders.
To help you teach about the development of our current election system, try the following special resources:
How does the primary process work?How stuff works: CaucusesStudent scavenger hunt on 2012 Iowa Caucus
Lessons for teaching about presidential primaries
This week, Education World provides lessons to help you teach about the presidential election process. The lessons include a special emphasis on the presidential primaries. Click each of the five lesson headlines below for a complete teaching resource. (Appropriate grade levels for each lesson appear in parentheses.)
Primary and caucus calendar
Create a calendar of upcoming primaries and caucuses. (Grades 3-12)
Getting to know the candidates: Analyzing campaign ads
Learn about candidates' positions by analyzing their campaign ads. (Grades 3-12)
Campaign ad critique
Students learn a lesson in media literacy. (Grades 6-12)
How does the primary process work?
Learn how the primary and caucus process works. Work sheet included. (Grades 3-12)
Presidential eligibility
Could Britney Spears be elected president? Roger Clemens? Learn who can and who can't run for president. (Grades 3-12)
The presidential campaign game
Experience the political process and learn what it takes to manage a political campaign. (Grades 9-12)
Updated 2/13/2016
Are you tired of having the same old activities at your school's end-of-the-year field day? Are you eager to hold a very special field day event this year? This week's lessons provide more ideas than you can possibly use -- and links to many more. You will find
field day activities that individual students can excel and have fun with;
great relays for small teams of students that teach sportsmanship;
activities that involve the whole class;
more than a dozen themed field day ideas (if themes are your preference); and
a bubbly way to cap off the day!
Resources for Fitness Month
• More Field Day Lessons
• Fitness Fun
• Let's Get Physical
• Sports Math Scores Points With Students and Teachers
• Teacher-Submitted Lessons: Physical Education
• Computers and Phys Ed Do Mix
• The Web Puts 'Fizz' Into Phys-ical Fitness
• Great Web Sites for Teaching Physical Fitness
We have provided all the ideas, all you need to do now is the preparation. Field day success is guaranteed if you prepare and plan well.
To help you get off on the right foot, we've put together some field day preparation tips. You'll find those tips in the endbar at the end of this article. In addition, our parent company, S&S Worldwide, is the leader in providing field day resources to schools nationwide. Visit their field day page to access PE Central's exclusive ebook, Top 10 Field Day Activities along with fun products to use today at your events.
FIVE LESSONS FOR A FANTASTIC FIELD DAY
Below are five lessons that provide all the ingredients for a fantastic field day. Click each lesson headlines for a complete teaching resource. (Appropriate grade levels for each lesson appear in parentheses.)
Twenty Field Day Activities Any Kid Can Do (And Do Well!)
Twenty great field day activities that emphasize fun over skill. (Grades Pre K-8)
Fifteen Field Day Relays
Relay races can be a fun part of any field day. Included: 15 great relay ideas! (Grade K-12)
Field Day Games for Whole-Class Fun
Field day games including a Teacher Sled Race, Water Balloon Volleyball, more! (Grades K-12)
Bubble Blast
Bubbles inspire learning and fun -- and clean desks too. A nice field day addition! (Grades PreK-8)
Preparation and Planning Ensure Field Day Success
With a little advance planning, field day can be as special and as much fun as you choose to make it. Following are some decisions you'll want to make before the actual field day arrives
• How many activities will you set up?
• How will the events be organized? Will students move from activity to activity with their classmates (which will enable the inclusion of relay activities), or will you set up 20 different activities and let students select the ones they most want to participate in?
• Will students receive awards as they complete an activity?
You might provide a different colored ribbon or a different colored jellybean for each completed activity.
Each student might wear a card listing all the possible activities; a star is placed on the card as each activity is completed.
Each student might earn a different colored link on a paper chain for each completed activity.
• Will you hold an awards ceremony?
Awards might recognize the best "scores" for each activity by grade level or class.
Special awards might be given to students who complete the most activities, providing an incentive for students to do as many activities as possible during the field day. That keeps students moving and encourages them to participate in activities with have shorter lines.
• Will teachers supervise the different activities? Or will parents be involved so teachers can stay with their own classes or serve as general assistants? (The more parents the better!)
• What other special activities will coincide with field day?
Might you plan a family cookout? Will the local radio station be invited to broadcast live from and provide music for Field Day festivities? Will older students dress in costumes and provide a cheering section for younger students? Will each class create a banner? Will a prize be awarded for the best banner?
• Be sure to have a nurse available.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2007, 2015 Education World
(Image courtesy of Michael Jacobs Productions and Touchstone Television.)
Well, we’ve made it to spring. And with that revelation, educators, administrators, and school staff alike might be noticing some changes within the student body: it’s senioritis season.
Symptoms of senioritis may include (but are not limited to):
Mild to moderate cases of staring out the window
Swollen ego
Homework fatigue
Inflammation of the whining gland
Acute mediocrity
Short-term memory loss
Excessive tardiness
Classroom intolerance
Excessive hallway wandering
Existential malaise
Causes and Diagnosis
Now, although contagious, there are actually many potential (and effective) treatments for most cases of senioritis, even after it has reached a critical level of infection. However, the best prognosis comes from catching it in its early stages. Treatment plans mostly center around acknowledgement of the upcoming transition and setting up systems within your classroom and the larger school community to honor and encourage post-high school exploration and independence. Senioritis has roots in both detachment anxiety and a desire to get a head start on the next phase of life. Helping students to take these first few steps in their senior year—with the guidance of their trusted academic community—can help to ease such anxieties. Consider some of the treatment recommendations below. In certain cases, these treatments are just good teaching practice, but paying extra mind to these aspects of our practice can particularly ease the symptoms of an infected senioritis patient.
Common Treatments
Encourage students to take a college course. By senior year, many students are already excited to embark on a new educational journey. Whether it’s a university or a trade, they’re likely thinking about something quite specialized. Most local universities and community colleges have programs for ambitious high school youth looking to get an early jump on acquiring post-high school skills. Although this is probably not a new idea for your school community, it is a common misconception that only exceptional students should be encouraged to take this academic leap. This is far from true. Although your most ambitious academics are likely to do phenomenally well in the collegiate environment, don’t forget your strugglers. Often, you’ll find that all they really needed was an opportunity like this to explore something important to them. And college might not be the only option. Work study and local apprenticeship programs might also be a great way to get graduating students in a field of their choosing, while earning credits their senior year. Online courses and independent studies might also be an option for your school community.
Offer Choice. Students preparing to enter the working world, college, or otherwise are starting to feel the excitement of independence. Why fight against it? Whenever possible, give these students added flexibility within the classroom. This could be as simple as allowing creativity around a learning outcome or even adjusting the scope of a particular assignment in order to integrate their particular focus area or interests. What is your student’s post-high school plan? How could they incorporate this passion into your classroom to help make their work more relevant, while also giving them a head start in their upcoming professional career? For instance, could an aspiring clinical psychologist work to diagnose Holden Caulfield? Could an aspiring mechanic draft a lab report after experimenting with different motor oil brands? Perhaps your interior designer could use geometry to make the best use of an awkwardly constructed home space. These small adjustments could mean the world to your seniors who feel ready to embark on the next phase of their life journey. Check out the Universal Design for Learning’s guidelines for providing multiple means of engagement here.
Senior Projects. Schoolwide buildup to a culminating senior project or portfolio presentation can keep students engaged in their learning by celebrating reflection and encouraging community action. Senior projects tend to encourage students to connect their years of learning to both the local and global communities. They allow students to create meaning out of all their hard work and put it to action in a thoughtful and self-driven way. Getting these young adults creating community gardens, tackling social justice on the streets, or raising funds for a community organization can really incentivize students who are ready to reap the fruits of their classroom labor. Similarly, portfolio presentations as a sort of “academic defense” give students time to reflect on their years of learning and metacognitively identify their own growth, challenges, and strengths. In such cases, students will often present to their school, families, teachers, and community what they believe they have accomplished in their years of formal education so far. Many schools use these sorts of “capstone” projects in order to help students to understand the true purpose of an educated and well-examined life. They can be phenomenal ways to challenge your seniors to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Check out Sante Fe High School’s senior project framework here. Teaching Channel discusses senior defenses here.
Introduce Privileges. As educators, we hope that by the end of students’ time with us, they have become independent thinkers and life-long learners. And a very real part of our “adult world” includes learning how to manage our own time—a challenge often first encountered when the stakes are much too high (college, the workplace, etc.). Consider the possibility of adopting school or class-wide “senior privileges” to help students practice this sort of responsibility before graduation day. Some schools might allow seniors within a certain GPA to choose how they spend their time in class with laminated hall passes. This might allow a student the freedom to work with a peer in the library on an essay they are struggling with, instead of participating in the test review day in calculus – a course they are passing with flying colors. Seniors might be given the flexibility to come into school late or leave early to account for out-of-school projects, jobs, or other personal responsibilities. Even the opportunity to leave campus for lunch or to run their own class meetings shows seniors that we trust them. It allows them to practice making the choices that will ultimately affect their own future, while providing the safety net of the high school community. Such privileges remind our seniors that we believe in them, and that they are ready for whatever’s up next.
Finally, an ounce of prevention. The weather’s warm. The buds of May begin to unfold. The sunshine calls all students with whispers of summer. Unfortunately, these signs of spring only aggravate the symptoms of senioritis. So plan for the outbreak. Perhaps line up some interactive field trips for your spring session. Can you get outside for a field study? Tour a workplace? Encourage neighborhood interviews? Link up with a community organization to bring the potential of real change to their fingertips? Managing senioritis starts with the curriculum. What opportunities are your lessons providing that allow students to explore their world in a new way? What can you give them that they haven’t already seen? How can you get your seniors applying new skills and concepts, as opposed to keeping them theoretical? Most importantly, how can you change the learning environment? They’re not high schoolers anymore. Planning opportunities to get your students out of the classroom in the spring will help them cope better with the anxiety of departing the high school classroom.
Written by Keith Lambert, Education World Associate Contributing Editor
Lambert is an English / Language Arts teacher and teacher trainer in Connecticut.Receive timely lesson ideas and PD tips
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