Pressing the Flesh: Political Campaigns
By guest blogger Joann Wasik at TheGateway.org
With the U.S. presidential election less than a month away, the presidential campaigns are in total swing. Each candidate is decorated raising campaign funds and vying with each other to promote their messages and views. Information technology's a fortuitous time to show students how the entrada process works, and how voter attitudes ofttimes change over time. Inevitably, many early frontrunners fizzle out, while other political contenders slog forth in the shadows until some aspect of their campaign happens to catch the popular imagination. While political campaigns are ofttimes viewed as either high drama or theatres of the cool, they are still a vitally important element in the democratic procedure.
Political campaigns have been around for millennia. In Pompeii, archeologists have excavated ruins covered with political graffiti, such equally "All the goldsmiths recommend the election of Gaius Cuspius Pansa equally aedile." In the 19th century, British politician William Ewart Gladstone is mostly acknowledged every bit having run the first "modern" political campaign, as he gave a series of public foreign policy speeches every bit a mode of introducing himself to curious voters. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson played political muddied pool by challenge that his opponent for president, the incumbent John Adams, planned to marry his son to the girl of the much-loathed British monarch Rex George III. Despite the outlandishness of the prevarication, enough voters believed Jefferson'south accusation that Jefferson amassed more than votes and won the election. Other U.S. presidential candidates took a different tack: while his rival William Jennings Bryan traveled the nation by train to address crowds of voters, William McKinley stayed at home during his campaign for the presidency. Occasionally, if enough people gathered exterior his home, McKinley would address them from his front porch while his wife served lemonade. It's unclear exactly when the exercise of kissing babies on the campaign trail first began, but near historians trace its origins to Andrew Jackson's campaign.
For students, there is no shortage of opportunities to learn well-nigh political campaigns occurring both in the U.S. and away. TV news, Facebook and Twitter feeds, and conventional print and Internet media offer plenty of information on political hopefuls and their upcoming elections. While learning about the political process and the nature of campaigns, students can as well acquire to examine candidates' campaign advertisements and messages critically, seeking to separate propaganda from fact. Teachers tin can also point out the potent employ of symbolism in political posters, logos, and speeches by the candidates, and how entrada letters are advisedly crafted to appeal to voters.
This calendar week, I've selected 3 resource on aspects of political campaigns that are appropriate for various grade levels. As ever, we'll also be featuring several new lessons and resources daily on this topic on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so be sure to cheque those pages daily.
Election Message Board
Subjects: Civics
Grade: Yard-two
In this lesson, students share election-oriented data they gather from the media past constructing a bulletin board of articles and pictures. This lesson was created past Kids Voting USA, Inc., an organization that aims to help students become engaged citizens. To this end, Kids Voting United states of america offers curriculum materials, activities, and lesson plans that focus on civics instruction.
Democracy Project: All Aboard the Campaign Train
Subjects: Social Studies, Civics, Government, Math
Class: 3-6
In this lesson, students heighten support for members of their fictional political party at the local, state and national levels while on the campaign trail. Based on a student-created itinerary, the students volition map the cantankerous-country entrada stops. The students will estimate inflow and departure times and the distance between stops using an atlas. The students will accept fourth dimension zones into consideration when calculating arrival and difference times. The students will check these estimates by using Internet mapping sites like MapQuest or Vicinity. This resource is a product of PBS TeacherSource, which provides preK-12 educational resources and activities for educators tied to PBS programming. Many resources are correlated to local and national standards.
Elect Me! Creating a Entrada Platform and Advertizing
Course: 8-12
Students will be a candidate for an election equally a Us Representative or Senator in the upcoming election. They volition need to decide with party fits their political views best, program, and present a iii-five minute entrada commercial about them as a candidate, their platform, and why the voters should vote for them. This resources was produced by The Dirksen Congressional Eye, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that seeks to meliorate civic engagement by promoting a better understanding of Congress and its leaders through archival, research, and educational programs.
Peggy's companion column:
Resources mentioned in this post:
Source: https://www.weareteachers.com/pressing-the-flesh-political-campaigns/
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