Red State. Blue State. Battleground State. It can all be
very confusing, especially for school students. Every time a Presidential
election rolls around, I remember my seventh grade social studies teacher in
Philadelphia, who on Election Day, gave each of us an outline map of the United
Stated an told us to color in each state’s winner as the ballots were cast. The
year was 1960 and the election was between John F. Kennedy and Richard M.
Nixon. It turned out to be a very close election that was not finally decided
until the next day. When my mom told me to go to bed on election, the outcome
was not yet decided. It was all very exciting. I learned quite a lot about the electoral
process. It was a teachable moment in civics then and it is now.
Distribute those outline maps and have your students engage
in the election process. You don’t have to discuss who to vote for or the
qualities of the candidates.
It’s not too early introduce your students to the process of electing
a president and to develop the good habit of being a responsible citizen and
vote.
C.2016 J. Margolis
No comments:
Post a Comment