The purpose of the wiki is to serve as a course exercise in EDM 510 related to blog development.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Tracking the Elections

http://www.votelaw.com/blog/archives/redistricting/ 
As you know, in 4th grade we study Alabama History. That opens up many unique opportunities for us as teachers. Hopefully, this specific subject matter makes it easier to create some relevance in your teaching for students. Our students strive to understand the concepts we teach, but sometimes their lack of familiarity brings their interest level down to a zero. 

Another big theme in the curriculum this year is government. This is such critical knowledge our students need to be successful in the future. To better understand government, state and federal, we could allow students to research and follow the elections taking place around them. Obviously the presidential election is the most newsworthy, but we could focus mainly on elections happening in our city, county, and state.

 We could create a bulletin board in the hallway that depicts the hierarchy of the state and local government. Students could highlight what positions were up for election and even compare that to the same display of the federal government. There are countless maps and charts students can be asked to interpret or create related to the elections (which is a critical component in our math curriculum this year).

Please share any other ideas you have for creating a cohesive and exciting plan.
Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2016 at 11:15 AM

    Wow. This is a really impressive blog. Once again you've married relevant content and appealing design!

    This really is a great year for real-world application of political lessons. Perhaps you could incorporate a Twitter feed that follows certain political accounts or hashtags. A good place to look for charts and ostensibly objective polling and predictions is the @fivethirtyeight account run by the popular statistician, Nate Silver.

    Maybe you could also have a link that notes upcoming live streaming events (of debates or other big events?).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LMusgroveFebruary 23, 2016 at 9:46 PM

      Thanks, Robin. I'll check out @fivethirtyeight. Finding the right twitter feed or hashtag would be such a great addition. I know the kids will respond well to the real time flow of information.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2016 at 1:35 PM

    Great Blog!

    I think that if students could hold a mock election and run for the same positions as those in the government they could better understand the positions and get familiar with campaigning and election procedures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LMusgroveFebruary 23, 2016 at 9:42 PM

      Good idea, Joshua! I would need a brainstorming session, but it would be great if I could give the students some responsibility along with the titles they run for. Class senators? Classroom council? :)

      Delete
  3. UnknownFebruary 23, 2016 at 5:44 PM

    This is awesome! I loved Alabama history. I loved learning the different numbers of the counties and being able to look at a car tag and knowing the county of the car tag. I can still remember filling out the blank Alabama map with the different counties.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Charlie AFebruary 23, 2016 at 7:16 PM

    This is a good looking blog with the Alabama map and the different districts indicated and highlighted. Shows a lot of detail. Good job.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)