The lesson plan below is intended to work with elections covered by ProCon, but may be adapted to work with other elections.
Objective:
Students will consider and write about their political opinions
Students will:
- research presidential candidates
- evaluate their own opinions on issues in the election
- think critically about political opinions
Resources/Materials:
- ProCon.org election coverage
- ProCon.org “Candidate Quiz”
Preparation:
This activity may be completed as a private journal entry essay if privacy will allow
students to be more candid about their political opinions.
Activity:
- Students should write a paragraph or two about which of the candidates covered by ProCon.org they believe they match most closely about issues with and/or which one they would vote for and explain why.
- Then have them take the Presidential Election quiz. Students should note the candidate they matched with most closely, on what issues they matched, and note any other close matches.
- Students should reflect on the results. Were these the expected results? Unexpected? How? Was anything learned about another candidate? About the student’s favored candidate? Were there any surprises about the candidate’s position on any issues? Does seeing how closely they match with a candidate on the issues change their opinions about who they would vote for in the election?
- Ask students to think about how they form opinions on the candidates. Where do they get information about the candidates? Do they follow them on social media? Do the opinions of their friends and family influence their opinions?
- Have students consider which issues matter most to them when making a decision about which candidate to support.
Evaluation:
- Quality of writing
