During The Dirksen Congressional Center's annual Congress in the Classroom® workshop participants are asked to introduce the lesson plans, resources, and techniques that have proven successful in teaching about Congress in their classrooms.A 2008 participant, Jan Loyd, Cabot Junior High South, Cabot, AR, presented a lesson entitled, "Elect Me! Creating a Campaign Platform and Advertisement."
Students will be a candidate for an election as a United States Representative or Senator in the upcoming election. They will need to decide which party fits their political views best. Next, they will plan and present a 3-5 minute campaign commercial about them as a candidate, their platform, and why the voters should vote for them.
Latest 2008 election news & information from MSN; presidential election opinion & analysis; compare Republican & Democratic presidential candidates on issues; political video & blogs; current polls; election map; more.
The Elections channel includes information on 18 topics related to elections, voting or running for political office. Learn more about presidential debates, the electoral college or the voting system.
An outstanding compilation of resource books for elections. They are for all ages and most of them are available for purchase online, but 3 of them are available to be read online.
eLECTIONS is a nonpartisan election simulation game developed by Cable in the Classroom, in partnership with CNN, C-SPAN and The History Channel, and available, free, online. Refreshed and updated for 2008, it takes advantage of broadband technology - with its capacity to deliver video, audio, excellent interactivity, design and content - to support active, meaningful and memorable learning.
Great compilation of lessons and resources for elections (all grade levels). The resources continue to grow and you can contribute your own lessons to this site.
Entire collection of lesson plans and teacher resources for elections, government, voting, constitution, electoral college, teen voting and civic engagement, etc. from HotChalk.com
This looks like a great online project for the 2008 election for K-6 students. They vote for president and the data is available for them to use in many projects. Site includes resource links, indeas and books.
Info shared by Nancy Golubic, Project Coordinator, Boardman, Ohio. I've just posted my Election 2008 Online project. Four years ago, I ended up with almost 5,000 kids across the country voting. This year I hope to get more votes. Take a look. It says that registration opens on August 18th, but the registration link already works.
Karen McMillan's List: Election 2008 - This list is a collection of websites concerning the upcoming presidential election. It is geared toward lesson planning and research for lesson planning.
As the November elections approach, here are some Web sites to help you get your students interested and involved.
Elementary
Middle and High School
Election History
The latest breakdown by The New York Times of which states are considered to be in play in the presidential election, along with how all the states voted in the past five elections.
links for a complete unit study on the upcoming 2008 presidential election. These PreK and K-10 links will lead you to articles, hands-on activities and other exercises that are compatible with the Montessori classified reading cards, grammar, creative writing, math, social studies and other extensive lesson plans
Just received an email announcement about these resources and they look great. Some of the links include sites and resources we have already shared in our group.
Excellent lesson plan for gr. 9-12 where students take on role of political analyst. Designed for 2004 election but could easily be modified for 2008. Another great lesson plan from HotChalk.
comprehensive lesson plan for gr. 9-12 including assessment, discussion questions, etc.
Overview
Students take on the role of a political analyst, forecasting the electoral vote count for the 2004 presidential election. In order to make a prediction, students are introduced to campaign issues, the Electoral College, the role of swing states, and the importance of political participation. The lesson plan includes a fun, interactive classroom competition where students make electoral predictions and compare with the actual results following the November 2nd voting deadline.
For months, the magic that once surrounded Barack Obama's presidential candidacy was lost in a fog of petty politics: the negative ads, the Clinton dramas, the degrading of Obama to the status of a mere "celebrity," the back-and-forth with John McCain over who is an elitist and who is a flip-flopper.
The recent direction of the campaign reflects a basic political fact: If this contest turns out to be a big election, Obama will almost certainly win. But if it is converted into a small election, Obama could well lose. And the McCain campaign has done all it could to bring Obama back to earth and to dissipate the sense of possibility he once inspired.
If it did nothing else, this week's Democratic National Convention served as a reminder of the historical import of Obama's nomination and the astonishing transformation of the country in just three generations.
Have students review the origin, purpose and function of the Electoral College. Ask students: What is the "winner take all" system? Are there any states that do not follow this system? If so, how do they determine their electoral vote allocation? How many electoral votes are needed to win the presidency?
Next, divide students into small groups and assign each group a current swing state in the 2008 presidential race. Consult the CNN Electoral Map Calculator for a list of swing states. Then, refer groups to online resources, including CNN's Election Center 2008 on the CNN Politics site, to identify the following for their assigned swing state:
* the number of electoral votes that are up for grabs
* the state's key political issues
* the U.S. presidential candidates' stances on these key issues
* the state's demographic composition
* the state's voting record in past presidential elections
Weclome to SpeechWars, a great way to see what the candidates are saying. Simply type in a word, click "Go", and SpeechWars shows you how often the candidates used the word in their speeches. You can also compare two words by using both text boxes.
The United States Library of Congress has selected SpeechWars for inclusion in its official historic collections of Internet materials related to Election 2008. The United States Library of Congress preserves the Nation's cultural artifacts and provides enduring access to them. The Library's traditional functions, acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to the Congress and to the American people to foster education and scholarship extend to digital materials, including Web sites. The Library will make this collection available to researchers. The Library's vision is to preserve these Web materials about Election 2008, and to permit researchers from across the world to access them.
The GOP opens its convention here Monday as a party in peril.
Hobbled by an unpopular president, a disillusioned and divided base, and low poll ratings on almost every domestic issue, the party of Nixon and Reagan and Bush may well be at the end of a historic 40-year grasp on power, say conservative thinkers and political historians.
Republicans lost the House of Representatives in 2006, and are now at risk of losing the Senate. They were defeated in special elections this year in congressional districts that in some cases hadn't elected a Democrat since the days of Lyndon Johnson.
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