UBD Electoral Politics Established Goals: 6.

1 Civic Inquiry and Public Discourse Use forms of inquiry and construct reasoned arguments to engage in public discourse around policy and public issues by investigating the question: How can citizens acquire information, solve problems, make decisions, and defend positions about public policy issues? 6.2 Participating in Civic Life Describe multiple opportunities for citizens to participate in civic life by investigating the question: How can citizens participate in civic life Understandings: Essential Questions: - I want students to understand that the American - Does the electoral process (through primaries, electoral process is a complex structure trying to debates, polls, campaign finance, electoral college, meet the demands of all those involved (candidates, etc.) ensure that those elected accurately represent voters, interest groups, etc.) These structures have the will of the people? been designed to create equality among candidates. -How do American citizens and candidates interact -I want them to understand how primaries, debates, to shape/shift the political spectrum? polls, campaign finance, electoral college, etc. privilege some candidates and create obstacles for -How does American politics work out complex others. issues (healthcare reform, immigration, economy/taxation). - I want them to understand how the interaction between all those involved in the electoral process work together to shape/shift our American political spectrum and how this process brings attention to difficult issues and possible solutions. Students will know Students will be able to -The political spectrum - Place candidate and issues on a spectrum -The election cycles - Create a timeline for the election process -Two party systems and voter behavior - Perform research from the viewpoint of a -How third parties fit into American politics particular party or interest group. -Campaign finance regulation - Participate in a mock debate and election -What an interest group is and what a PAC is -Both sides on the issues of immigration, taxation, and healthcare reform -How a debate affects swing voters -The goals and results of polling How the media influences an election The requirements to vote in America Stage 1- Desired Results

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence Performance Tasks: Other Evidence: Formative assessments: -Journal of QuickWrites and collected notes and -Vocabulary quiz worksheets -Multiple discussions - Class debate materials Summative Assessment: --Daily QuickWrites on material from previous day -Class election or leading into new material -Multiple choice test with short answer and essay --Guided notes and supplementary worksheets -Class debate G Goal: The students will work together to put on a nationally televised debate. They will each perform a different type of research and come together to create a debate that illustrates the complexity of the issues, possible solutions, and bias. R Role: The students will each have one of three roles. They will either be a candidate for president or vice-president, an interest group, or a researcher on a major issue for one of the parties. A- Audience: The students will be performing for themselves. Individual they will interact with most of the content but during the final presentation they will see each side and how the issues involve all three roles. S- The students will all have to do research on the issues or their interest group. They need to be well versed in their parties views and what to expect from the opposing party. P- Performance: The students will collectively create an hour long debate. The issue advisors will turn in their research to assist the candidates on their specific issues. The candidates will be asked a series of questions. The interest groups will break up the debate with a commercial after announcing who they are, who they support, and why. S- standards: Each role has a specific document that must be turned in before the debate begins. They also must complete a guided notes worksheet during the debate if they are not a candidate.

Learning Activities:

Stage 3 Learning Plan

W- Where are we going? Why? What is expected? Many students will have a general idea of where this unit is going in a broad sense from the beginning. They have watched or at least heard of presidential election by the time they are juniors in high school. By the end of this unit though we hope to have the students to a new level of thinking about the election process. We will explore a lot of different topics that many students have not applied to the process of becoming President of the United States including the media, polling, and issues of national importance. The entire unit will be a simulation and every activity will either be a simulation or a form of preparation. H- How will we hook and hold student interest? Choosing issues that students are passionate about will encourage them to become more involved with the unit. As the unit progresses we can continually touch back on issues that had students fired up. We can also introduce new issues or see what questions they may have about a specific topic. Students will also be able to clearly see the end goal of their work. Because students will be split into groups for this election simulation both sides will want to compete and outperform the other in our series of simulations. As long as the desire to outperform remains healthy this will be a form of intrinsic motivation throughout the unit. E- How will we equip students for expected performances? Students will be expected to do research on behalf of their party or an interest group during this unit. The debate will be the simulation that will require the most research time and background knowledge. To help prepare the students they will be given one class period in the computer lab to perform their research and ask questions as needed. The students will also be provided with material and articles that they can reference before and during the class debate. R- How will we help students to rethink and revise? As a class we will consistently tie what we have learned about candidate and issues back to what we are doing in the unit. This may be done with a short writing exercise in the beginning or at the end of class, followed by a discussion. We will also have time to reflect on the simulations we just watched. This will give the student an opportunity to digest what they just watched before moving onto a new topic. E- How will students self evaluate and reflect on their learning? Students will have their writings and a collection of their work in this unit that they must hang onto. Before the final assessment they will need to organize and review this material. This will give them a chance to reflect and possible catch up in an area they may be struggling in. T- How will we tailor learning to varied needs, interests, styles? Because all of the simulations have different roles, and candidates self announce to run in the primaries, I believe this unit has a lot of built in tailoring to different needs. I also will let student choose what they want to do so they can pick sides and issues they are interested in. O- How will we organize and sequence the learning? Organization is essential for any unit, but especially if there is going to be a lot of student participation. I will create an outline for all of the simulation in which the students will be expected to perform (primary, debate, election)