As a class, students examine the presidential candidates and their election platforms. Some students may be eligible to vote within a few years. The activities will help them learn to ask the kinds of questions that result in making informed choices. The primary purpose of the lesson is to give students experience as they prepare for the time when they will have the privilege of voting. As a class, students examine the presidential candidates and explore their platforms.
Students compare the candidates' platforms and create a chart to use to make decisions.
Using the chart of candidate platforms as criteria, each student chooses the candidate who most represents his or her beliefs and values. Students collect information, pictures, speeches, and paraphernalia about their candidates. Students showcase their candidates in scrapbooks, bulletin board displays, slideshows, PowerPoint presentations, cardboard-framed portraits, or other creative displays. Each student writes a 1,000-word persuasive essay explaining why fellow students should vote for his or her candidate. Students work together to set up and hold a mock election, preferably on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7.