by Amber Lamastus
Up to this point in Presidential Politics, we have covered the presidencies from Kennedy through Ronald Reagan’s first term. Generally speaking, we cover a presidential term every day. We begin with a discussion over the president and move to studying real commercials from the candidate’s campaign and watching a few clips from the actual debates. We then have the students re-create the presidential debates where they discuss the relevant issues from the time.
Today, we concluded the first term of the presidency of Reagan with a role-play of the 1984 presidential debate, a video of the important decisions of the Reagan administration, and a comparison of the real debate versus how it was portrayed in the media by Saturday Night Live. We also officially began the final projects that will be completed by the end of next week. Students drew names out of a hat to determine which two presidents they would be defending in the Presidential Face-Off/Hall of Fame tournament. In addition, over the course of the next four study halls, students will have the freedom to redesign Mount Rushmore with their four favorite presidents. Each student will also have the opportunity to decorate his or her own poster and defend the legacies of the new presidents on his or her Mount Rushmore.
We are all very excited for our trip to Washington, D.C., later this week where we will see politics in action!