Get Real: Teaching about the Presidential Election

THE SEASON is upon us, and sometimes it seems never ending: The presidential campaign. While the media bombards us with the latest debate, visits of candidates to potential supporters, op-ed articles, and so on, what do young people make of all of this? What do they understand about presidential elections? Do they care who will be president? Do they understand the democratic process and how we elect a president? Will they grow up to be voters and involved in the democratic process? What are schools doing to help students learn about all of this? During the last presidential election, John Waldman, a 5th- and 6th-grade teacher at PS #1 Elementary School in Santa Monica, California, wanted to make the presidential election a dynamic and exciting learning experience for his students. He used the Storypath strategy to bring these events to the forefront of his curriculum in order to focus on the process of the presidential election. The Storypath strategy uses a straightforward narrative format with scenes, characters, and plot to organize content into meaningful learning experiences. As Wiggins and McTighe clearly articulate, "A clear and compelling narrative helps us find meaning, not just scattered facts and abstract ideas. Stories help us remember and make sense of our lives and the lives around us. ... A story is not a diversion; the best stories make our lives more understandable and focused." (1) And so, the teachers and students ventured into a story--learning important democratic principles and experiencing the highs and lows of a presidential campaign. Through an inquiry process, the teacher leads students down a pathway of learning and, in this case, students figure out how the election process works and a president is elected. Ultimately, Storypath is successful because students ask their own questions. They are invested in learning the answers to their questions, and the teacher guides the process to ensure that educational objectives are achieved. Traditional units on the presidential election are likely to ask students to identify candidates and party platforms and then decide who they want to be president, perhaps by staging a mock election. Our experience is that students often find this tedious and abstract and that the election doesn't generate much excitement. There is no convincing evidence that this experience will plant seeds for later participation in the democratic process. Voting statistics suggest that a high percentage of citizens do not vote, especially citizens in their early 20s. The U.S. Census Bureau's data state that only 47% of 18- to 24-year-old citizens voted in the 2004 election. (2) If a paramount duty of public education is to prepare students for an active role in democracy, this percentage would suggest that schools are failing. This issue becomes particularly acute in low-income schools. If we use family income as a measure of voter participation, the data are clear: "Citizens with higher incomes were more likely to register and to vote. The voting rate among citizens living in families with annual incomes of $50,000 or more was 77% compared with 48% for citizens living in families with incomes under $20,000." (3) These data present serious problems for students in high-poverty schools where social studies has been pushed out of the school day to allow more time for literacy and mathematics. Leming, Ellington, and Schug in a national survey confirmed that in elementary schools, social studies gets significantly less time than reading and math during the school week. (4) Thus, a highly motivating curriculum designed to engage students in authentic democratic processes is essential. What could be more important than preparing students for participating in a democratic society? Waldman's experience with Storypath did not sacrifice learning about the democratic process at the expense of developing strong literacy skills. In fact, Storypath provided a genuine context for reading and writing well. …