I love teaching Social Studies... and with teaching Social Studies comes the topic of the election. I love teaching students about the election process and everything related to it. You might think the students would find this dry and boring, but it is quite the opposite. The students get very excited learning about the election and one of their favorite parts is learning about the electoral college. Every day for the last two weeks the students have begged me to show them the most recent polling results and the corresponding electoral map. Each day the students would watch states change from battleground state to lean Democrat (or lean Republican), and back again. They nearly mounted a revolt when they found out a candidate could win the popular vote, yet still lose the presidency in the electoral college. We had some wonderful classroom discussions and really delved into the intricacies of the American electoral system. Tonight the students went home with blank electoral college maps and said they would watch the returns as they colored each state red or blue. This is what teaching is all about! The kids and their teacher getting excited about learning.
Check out the photo below. You will notice the book I'm holding... "Duck for President!". This book chronicles the adventures of Duck as he campaigns for leadership of the barnyard, Governor, and eventually President. It's a fun way for kids to learn about campaigning and elections. You may also notice my two mascots, Ellie and Don. Ellie the elephant represents the Republicans, and Don the Donkey represents the Democrats. The kids loved following Ellie and Don as they actively "campaigned" for Trump and Clinton respectively. Finally, notice my shirt... RED! This is my secret and subliminal support for the Red States and Mr. Trump. I choose not to reveal my political affiliations to my students, but wearing a red shirt allows me to support my candidate without actively saying so.
Now it's time to go home and watch the returns with my family. It's going to be a fun (and interesting) night.
Ellie
Don
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