Sometimes I am surprised at the things kids love to do. This lesson was one of them. Surprising, yet effective. My objective is two-fold: 1.) Understand what third parties offer to elections if they NEVER will win 2.) Describe why third parties will never win. We kick class off by reading two articles: one from Fox News and the other from Boston University. These articles are great because they highlight the spoiler effect of third party candidates, as well as the critic and innovator role. I ask students to role play that they are campaign coordinators for Romney and Obama, and to come up with campaign strategy. Some of my draconian kids want to kill off Johnson, but I remind them that their candidate will probably lose the election, so it is counterproductive (as well as illegal). It takes a while, and some gentle prodding, but we eventually land on trying to take up the issues that poll well with voters as their own, provided the issues don't stray too far away from the party in the electorate's values. We have a brief foray into third party history, with Deb's impact on the suffrage movement, and Perot's impact on the election of 1996 and the balanced budget movement during the Clinton Administration.
So why is it so hard to be a third party-er? Kids postulate barriers to success... and we hit them up in no certain order.
I follow up with asking them why they personally would vote for a third party candidate... and get some great answers. Sort A Party Activity Kids love their phones and to write on the board. This final activity is fun, and the kids get into it. I direct students to this Directory of Political Parties. They work in pairs to choose a party, read the summary, and then go up to the board (YES!) and categorize the party into one of four types of minor parties:
Students have to stand next to their contribution and justify why they sorted it as they did. If while students are preparing to go up and someone else categorizes their party first, they should find a different party. It is a race, and the kids get into it. My summative questions at the end: What type of minor political party is most likely to impact the outcome of the election? Why or why not? What are the biggest impediments to minor parties’ success in elections?
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Jen's bookshelf: nerdcation
I want to start by thanking Mr. Snowden and Mr. Greenwald for their uncompromising dedication to giving the NSA violations air time and transparency.
I wanted to share some of the most important things I have learned from this book bef...
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nerdcation
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nerdcation and to-read
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nerdcation and to-read
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nerdcation and to-read
AuthorI lovgov. LOVE IT! I love teaching government, learning about it, debating, discussing, asking questions about government. And not the standard boiler plate questions, but the hard ones that are NOT in the books. Archives
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