Monday morning students got to see which of their classmates they were going to face starting in this week’s Presidential Hall of Fame Tournament. We contrasted several campaign ads by George W. Bush and Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election. We read a handout and part of their textbook over the controversy surrounding this election.
Students watched several SNL political satire debates over the three debates between Bush and Gore. Before our morning break, students responded to the significance of third party candidates in presidential elections and whether or not they think the Supreme Court ruled correctly during their verdict concerning the outcome of the Florida recount during the election.
After our morning break, student groups shared their responses to the impact of third party candidates and how they would have voted had they been on the Supreme Court during the 2000 election. The students voted down party lines (like the real Supreme Court) as the 7 Democrat students voted to continue the recount in Florida and the 4 Republican students voted to stop the recount.
Students watched a clip from Saturday Night Live of George H.W. Bush telling his son how to beat Al Gore. Students watched a variety of funny presidential bloopers concerning the presidency of George W. Bush. We then contrasted each candidate’s debating style as we watched clips from two of the presidential debates between Bush and Gore. Students got with their political parties and made a campaign poster for Bush and Gore for their upcoming debate after lunch.
When we got back after lunch, students watched Myles and Bryce debate as Gore and Bush during the 2000 election. Students were assigned a famous president for the Presidential Hall of Fame Tournament that will start tomorrow. We then went to the library where each student researched information on their candidate for the Hall of Fame Tournament. Students also began their research for the study hall project of creating their own version of Mount Rushmore.
When students returned from the library we took a class picture with the Arabic class where some of their students sang Happy Birthday to our class in Arabic. We read a handout over the first term of George W. Bush as students shared what they deemed to be the most significant foreign and domestic issues during his first four years in office.
We then watched a clip from SNL of the ending of the controversial election between Bush and Gore. Students spent the last 15 minutes of class going over their assessment from last week, as we examined some of the more challenging questions. They were reminded that each question was an example of a real AP U.S. History exam question to help prepare them for upcoming AP classes they might take back at their school.
Last night during study hall, students began working on their Mount Rushmore project.
