Tuesday, we began class by singing Happy Birthday to our teaching assistant (Edina) as we bought her a jelly doughnut (she’s a big fan of JFK) & a birthday card that featured President Obama singing her Happy Birthday. Students then shared their own thoughts as to how George H.W. Bush would attempt to carry on the legacy of the Reagan years. We then looked at how historians ranked the presidency of George H.W. Bush before we examined the major events of his presidency through notes, a DVD clip over his administration & a lively debate by two of our students (Noemi & Garrett) as they role-played Michael Dukakis & George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential election. It was a close debate as five students had Dukakis the winner & four students voted Bush the winner. Before we went to lunch we watched two current events about yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling over Hobby Lobby’s case against Obamacare & we looked at Obama’s battle with Congress over Immigration Reform concerning the number of kids trying to get into the United States from Central America.
After lunch students were put into two groups where they had to create a poster supporting either Richard Nixon or John Kennedy from the first presidential debate during the 1960 election. Since it was my teaching assistant’s birthday, she wanted to re-create her favorite president’s first debate with Richard Nixon as she role-played JFK & I was Richard Nixon. The students voted 6 to 5 in favor of Kennedy winning the debate. We then watched funny presidential bloopers that featured some of the presidents we have discussed recently. At 3:00 we turned on the World Cup to watch the beginning of the game between the United States & Belgium while the students participated in a fake Presidential World Cup tournament. Students got to pick a president and attach a country to that president. We then did a mini-tournament that Ronald Reagan won in this year’s VAMPY World Cup over Warren Harding. Congratulations to Brock’s president of Ronald Reagan as he gave the country of Israel this year’s World Cup. Students also drew fictional flags that represented their president & country. Our class will judge the most creative flag tonight in Study Hall in addition to continuing their research on their version of Mount Rushmore.
Today, we will examine the 1992 presidential election & the first term of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Dennis Jenkins