Election years can prove to be an exhilarating time in the classroom as students become energized by the political process occurring around them.

Immerse your students into the presidential election this year through these free resources designed to get them thinking- and participating.

PBS’ Debate Toolkit and Election Central

Teach your students how to debate with the best of them using this toilet that includes resources designed to engage students in holding discussions.

"From suggested discussion topics ranging from Healthcare to Gun Safety to Criminal Justice Reform, the PBS Education Tool Kit also contains a rollout plan for teachers to guide their students to become proficient in engaging in substantive discussions. By listening, sharing, questioning, and reflecting, students develop skills critical to becoming thoughtful, responsible citizens,” said PBS Learning Media in a statement.

In addition to the toolkit, PBS offers a variety of resources through PBS Election Central, such as a virtual field trip option and printable posters that are perfect decorations for election season.

The toolkit is made possible by a partnership between PBS Education, EXPLO and the Commission on Presidential Debates and is free for download here.

Voki’s Presidential Avatars

Vokia is a media tool that serves a great purpose during election season in schools.

Voki allows students to create avatars that resemble the presidential candidates that helps enhance the understanding of election topics while inspiring student interest.

For ideas on how Voki can best be used in the classroom, a similarly great resource, this Technology and Literacy blog, features a lesson plan that has students create a "45–60-second script for a commercial for the election of that president and record the commercial using Voki.”

Check out that useful lesson plan resource here.

National Writing Project’s Letter to the Next President 2.0

Beginning this month and continuing until November, letters2president.org will be a platform that allows America’s youth to "post written pieces, images, videos, and audio files that capture their voice on the election issues that matter to them.”

The idea is to display the ideas of youth writers from all over the country to provide a place for students to see the diversity of opinions that arise during election time.

The site also has a variety of resources for teachers, such as a webinar that instructs teachers on how to handle the controversial topics that come up during election years- especially this one. 

Education World’s Classroom Activities

Education World has been providing teachers with election year activities for several elections now!

This resource includes a variety of election season topics from Education World that include lessons in media literacy, a dictionary of election terms, election day experiments and a history of the Electoral College.

At least one of these dozens of resources is perfect for teaching about the election in your classroom.

Not to mention, it's important for you to keep track of where the presidential candiates and their re

Any other resources you’ve found to be useful during election season? Let us know!

Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

8/12/2016