Special from Dennis Jenkins
Thank you for allowing me to work with your child during these next three weeks! We have 11 students in our class and we are excited about the learning opportunities that will be provided each day as we study presidential politics.
We started off our curriculum by examining criteria that historians use to evaluate how effective presidents are. We then brainstormed some of the biggest decisions that presidents have made. Students then did a ranking task activity in which they ranked their choices for their top five most significant decisions made by a president. Students then took a pre-assessment over Andrew Jackson’s presidency and the administrations from 1969 to 1988.
After lunch, students were then introduced to the presidential candidates or cabinet members who never got to be president as of 2015. Students were told a story of 13 people who came up short while running for president or wanted to be a president. Each student then put on one of the presidential contender masks for the photo below!
We then examined the legacy of the Age of Jackson as we took notes over the significance of how Andrew Jackson ushered in the era of the common man during the birth of modern politics.
Near the end of class students were given options for an article of their choice that dealt with current events. Students had to write a short summary over their article, different viewpoints that were presented in the article, and which opinion they agreed with the most. Students shared in Monday night’s study hall what they learned from their article. Students also contrasted what they learned during study hall time about the background of Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon.
Today we contrasted the Revolution of 1828 that ushered in the Age of Jackson with the Revolution of 1968 that brought Richard Nixon into the presidency. We also examined some of the biggest foreign policy decisions that Richard Nixon made during his presidency. Students spent part of class and study hall researching and debating some of the biggest court cases that occurred during Nixon’s first term.