Lesson Plan: Elections, Campaigns and Voting AP.

United States Government and Politics 4 Day Lesson/Project Rationale: Participating in a mock campaign and election will allow students to gather a greater understanding of the election process and the work that goes into it. Learning about the candidates, parties and methods behind elections will create a more informed student who will be able to educate others on voting and parties. Curriculum Frameworks: USI.20, USG3.7, 5.2, 5.4 NCSS 10: Civic Ideals and Practice Learning Objectives: Students will be able to define and express the values of the two separate parties (democrats and Republicans). Students will be able to identify different voter groups and the issues that they are concerened with. Students will be able to Identify and explain the different parts of a campaign and election. Students will be able to explain different patterns and trends in voting behaviors. Teaching Methods: Technology, Group Work/Cooperative Learning, Research, Drama/Role Play, Procedure: Students will have read chapter 11 in Barrons Guide to the AP exam for the first day. Day1: Explan the project (5 minutes) Notes on Political parties You will be divided into two groups (more if a large class) Democrats and Republicans In these groups you will be researching your party and running a campaign and election as that party. You will be required to write 3 individual papers not long ones, create a campaing poster, video and group speech to be presented to the voting public. Hand out assignment list: Win the Election hand out o Point out that some are group oriented and others are individual papers, but can be researched as a group. o Explain that they will be narrowing down from three candidate to 1 and a VP. They will then run this candidate. o The papers cover: Parties and issues, potential candidates, Candidate issues, Campaing ideas and why they created the poster they did. The video is a 60 second ad on their candidate or against the other. Analysis paper is a review of the election and results and a connection to their readings.

All of their work and research over the next 3 class periods will be put forward in a mock election . Secure two classrooms (1 Jr, Sr and 1 Fr Sp) and have them be the voters Each group will present posters, speech and video to the classes. o Additional Points will be given to the party who wins the election(motivation to pick a realistic candidate) o Research time for rest of class o HW: Chapter 12 Barrons, Hippocmapus(website) political party eras, factors of party ID, party realignment and dealignment, Campaign finance reform Day 2: Review of their parties(short) o Notes on elections and campaigns o Research day. o Have students provide a brief summary of groups research as of this date. o Hw: Barrons 12,13, Hippocampus: primaries, caucuses and conventions, function of parties in America, third parties Day 3: Research day o Notes on media, public opinion and voting behavior o Final day of research o Students should have a candidate and VP selected and have brainstormed Ideas for video and posters(video to be made out of school on the weekend) o HW: Prepare for election, posters, video, papers Every day monitor students progress by having them provide updates at the end of class. Also continually circulate to see how they are doing with their research and papers Day 4: Final day/Election Day o Students will be given 30-40 minutes to put together their campaigns. Figure out what is left to do, how they want to organize their groups and method of delivery. This will also be a time where the groups will present to the class as a whole (a practice run for the other classes) Figure out who will go first(first by asking and then if both do not or do, flip a coin) o Move into the classes(make sure teachers have okayed it a few days in advanced)(30 minutes) Students give presentations, hand out ballots and the other class votes. Repeat in the second classroom o Return to classroom discuss what they saw and experienced during their campaings to the other classes (voting behavior or demographic behavior) and count votes, announce election results. Winning team gets +2 points on final grade of project.

Materials: Library time/Computers, Cameras for recording(students may have them, cell phones too), Group lists, Assignment sheets Assessment: Papers at the end of the project, Daily updates of research. Reading results.

Campaign and Election Project Assignments 2-4 Page paper (Informational writing) The goal of the paper is to gather information about your political party. This is a descriptive essay. You at least need to include the following: Short history of your party, Issues that your party finds important and their impact on the nation, Voter demographics, important states, a description of how your party selects candidates (both state and national) and at least 3 potential candidates for President of the United States. Each person must turn in an individual paper. 2-3 Page Paper on your Presidential Nominee (Informational/Argumentative writing) In this paper you are starting the campaign for President. Your goal is to introduce your candidate and give evidence of their qualifications. This is a mix between a argumentative and informational writing. Please include at least the following: Background information on your candidate (i.e. job history, family life, scandals or good deeds) of import, issues that are important to them and how they may align or not align with the party, potential vice presidential nominee and why you selected them. Each person must turn in an individual paper 2-3 minute presentation of your candidate and party (Persuasive) This should be a speech style presentation. The purpose of this will be to convince voters to vote for your candidate. In this speech you want to represent your candidates personal and political values and address the American people persuasively. The material for this can be largely pulled from your earlier papers. Media Representations: Poster(s): Your party has creative liberty with this, just keep it appropriate for school. The options for this paper range from focusing on your Presidential candidate alone, issues centered or a President/Vice president election ticket poster. This will be a group grade and only 1 is required. Feel free to make one of each if you have finished everything that is required. With this poster, Include a 1 page annotation paper explaining the elements of the poster and why you chose them and put them where they are. http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/ Website with old political posters 60 second commercial: Political ads are a mainstay in our election process; sometimes they are downright annoying in their frequency. This commercial can be in favor of your candidate or against the other candidate. If you chose to make one against the other candidate you must stick to important issues and no personal life attacks. You do not have to attack the issues the other party has chosen to run on, but you may want to do research on that individual if you choose to do a negative ad. Every group member needs to have a defined role in the commercial. With your video, your group must provide a list of roles for each person and a short description of them.

Final Paper: 2+ pages Your goal is to analyze the campaign and election process using your readings, what happened during your campaign development and election results. Explain the choices made by the parties during their campaign development and presentation. Why they chose certain styles of music or imagery, speech styles and order of presentation. Additionally, discuss voter dynamics and actions within each of the classrooms that we went into. Make a direct connection to Barrons and Hippocampus readings. What does each say happens during elections and what happened during ours?