by Dennis Jenkins
On Tuesday morning, our class analyzed historical rankings contrasting the presidencies of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. The students shared topics they had researched that occurred during the first term of George W. Bush and watched a clip about his presidency. Part of our class took part in a round-table discussion over private property and public use in Kelo v. City of New London and created campaign posters and buttons for presidential candidates we had studied in the last week. The other students prepared for a role-play debate between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. We then watched commercials from each candidate and a clip from their debate in the 2004 presidential election. The class next observed a re-creation of the debate between Kerry (Isabella) and Bush (Nora) and afterwards watched political satire on the debate.
After lunch, students went to the computer lab to continue with their research for the Presidential Legacy Debate Tournament and their Mount Rushmore Project. When we returned, the entire class participated in the second round of the debate. Today’s winners were Sean, Finn, Shawn, Nora, Isabella, Elizabeth, and Maggie.
During study hall, the students finished the second round of the debate and continued working on their Mount Rushmore Project.
Note: Teacher Dennis Jenkins will be posting updates on his course, Presidential Politics, throughout VAMPY.