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poster politics: the art of persuasion  - cnn

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Poster politics: Can art influence elections?

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Most electoral posters are staid and boring, but clever and memorable political poster design may be able to impact an election outcome.

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Music and politics have always had a strained relationship, particularly in America, where barely a week passes in an election cycle without a rock star complaining about their song being used at a rally or a politician licensing music with accidentally inappropriate lyrics.

Regarding the latter, candidates know that it's the over-riding slogan of a song that has political value - like, "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow!" from Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop (as used by Bill Clinton) - and not a line tucked away in verse four that could be interpreted as being off-message.

It should be easy to pick something perfect, right? You'd think so, but plenty of presidential hopefuls have made a mess of things, as we'll now find out. (And, by the way, Ronald Reagan never campaigned with Bruce Springsteen's anti-war song Born in the U.S.A., despite many people thinking so.)

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1. Donald Trump, The Official Donald Trump Jam by USA Freedom Kids, 2016

Aside from the occasional unexpected endorsement, like from Azealia Banks (she later withdrew her support), The Donald's been extensively criticised by the great and good of pop, including by Slipknot's Corey Taylor, who accused Trump of "ugly bigotry and hatred", and Ricky Martin, who last year called him "racist, absurd and incoherent". Even our own Johnny Marr got in on the act saying that Donald looks like he has an "omelette on his head". Most recently, The Boss had a pop and anti-Trump indie artists have been releasing a song a day for 30 days in the run up to the 8 November vote.

When it comes to Trump's picks for campaign music, there's been a similar torrent of abuse. Adele wasn't at all happy that the Republican nominee was using her music at rallies and neither were Neil Young or The Rolling Stones. Or House of Pain. Or Brian May and Queen.

On the other hand, a girl group called USA Freedom Kids were initially ecstatic to be offered the opportunity to perform their song, The Official Donald Trump Jam, at a Trump rally in Pensacola, Florida in January. "Cowardice, are you serious? Apologies for freedom - I can't handle this!" the song begins. "When freedom rings, answer the call!"

The press had a field day, including the Mirror, who called The Official Donald Trump Jam "a jaw-droppingly bizarre North Korea-style propaganda song". It was widely mocked, presumably leading a Trump adviser to have a word about taking USA Freedom Kids out on the campaign trail. Come July, Jeff Popick, manager of the group and father of one of the girls, threatened to file a lawsuit against Team Trump for supposedly breaking an agreement to let them sell CDs at an event, then ditching them in Des Moines, Iowa, although the group had allegedly travelled to the city to perform at a rally.

"He has forsaken the USA Freedom Kids who have brought magic on him," Popick said.

2. George W. Bush, I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty, 2000

Dubya chose the Tom Petty song I Won't Back Down for his 2000 campaign. Until he received a cease and desist order from Petty's publisher, and immediately backed down.

He made a significant clanger in 2004, too. One of his songs for that campaign was Still the One by Orleans, which begins: "We've been together since way back when / Sometimes I never want to see you again." Whoops.

3. Ross Perot, Crazy by Patsy Cline, 1992

In the above clip from a 2011 Radio 2 documentary, Suzi Quatro begins a quest to discover the woman behind the myth that is country singer Patsy Cline.

Patsy was best-known for her recording of Willie Nelson's Crazy - an excellent song, but not the kind of ditty you'd imagine a presidential candidate using to promote their suitability to become leader of the free world. Unless they're Ross Perot, the charismatic Texan businessman who ran as an independent in 1992 against Bill Clinton and George Bush.

Crazy is about being hopelessly in love, but Perot chose it because he relished everyone thinking he was nuts. More alarmingly, he seemed to think swathes of America had a screw loose, saying on the day before the election: "There are millions of crazy people in this country. And I'll say tomorrow I bet it'll be a crazy day at the polls."

He predicted he'd win in all 50 states. He didn't win in any, but he did secure a staggering 18.9 per cent of the popular vote. And then he ran again in 1996 - less successfully - as the nominee of the Reform Party, which he'd formed in 1995.

4. Richard Nixon, Click with Dick, 1960

Presidential candidates using an existing popular song for political purposes can be traced back to at least 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt's advisers played Happy Days are Here Again from the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows at the Democratic National Convention.

Nonetheless, specially-commissioned jingles were still popular in 1960, leading to Republican candidate Richard Nixon to inexplicably campaign with a song called Click with Dick. Opening lyrics? "Come on and / Click with Dick / The one that none can lick."

Now, those were more innocent times, but make no mistake - they weren't that innocent.

His opponent, JFK, coolly got Frank Sinatra to re-record his 1959 hit High Hopes with new lyrics - "Oops, there goes the opposition / KERPLOP! K-E-DOUBLE-N-E-D-Y!" - which proved to be as prophetic as the name 'Dick' suggesting Nixon might be a bit of a wrong'un. He was eventually elected twice, but resigned as president in 1974 following the Watergate scandal.

5. Hillary Clinton, Roar by Katy Perry, 2016

Where to start with Hillary and pop culture? Perhaps with this list from Teen Vogue of 15 Awkward Times Presidential Candidates Used Pop Culture In Their Campaigns, in which the writer says: "We apologise if this list seems like a lot of Hillary, but sometimes it seems like the Democratic hopeful is never not trying to relate to the #youths."

Hillary dabbing on Ellen, "Chillary" Clinton on Snapchat, Hillary trying to make Lena Dunham part of her squad (she eventually succeeded), and that excruciating tweet from her official account - "How does your student loan debt make you feel? Tell us in 3 emojis or less" - all get a mention, but not Hillary's tricky relationship with Katy Perry.

In June 2014, Perry tweeted, "I told @hillaryclinton that I would write her a 'theme' song if she needs it..." to which Hillary, or whoever operates her Twitter account, responded: "Well that's not a Hard Choice. You already did! Keep letting us hear you Roar."

Their political allegiance came into question in February when it was revealed that Perry's company, Kitty Purry Inc., was paid almost $70,000 in December 2015 for "event production". Was Perry being sponsored to endorse Clinton, who was beginning to lose much of the #youth interest to her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders? Camp Clinton say they were only covering expenses - a realistic claim, but a hard one to prove.

Since then, we've seen a lot of Katy and Hillary chumming it up. Most notably, Perry performed Rise and Roar at the Democratic National Convention in July. Interestingly, she started Roar halfway through, conveniently missing the last line of verse one: "I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything."

6. Bob Dole, I'm a Dole Man, 1996

The 1996 election pitched Bill Clinton, the incumbent, against Ross Perot and Senator Bob Dole, a Republican heavyweight thought to be capable of taking out Clinton, who had had a tough four years in the White House.

Going against Dole was his age (he was 73), so his team tried to jazz him up by using a take on the 1966 Sam & Dave (above) classic Soul Man as one of his campaign songs. The new lyrics, written by Sam, were surprisingly feisty: "Insults, I got a truck load / And when you get 'em / Give back some." Also: "And he hates Bill / From Little Rock."

What could possibly go wrong? Commentators were quick to point out the disparity between a song about racial struggle being adapted for a rich conservative, and also that the chorus sounded like, "I'm a dull man!" when chanted by supporters at rallies.

Worse was to come. Sam penned the new lyrics, but he didn't write the original ones, or the music. The song was written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, who threatened, via their publishing company, to sue for $100,000 for each time the song was played. Dole's team originally claimed - perfectly reasonably - "fair use", because their version was a parody, before backing off.

Amazingly, they then turned to Springsteen's Born in the USA, until The Boss objected.

Dole didn't win the 1996 election.

7. John Quincy Adams, Little Know Ye Who's Coming, 1828

You might think of fear-mongering and negative campaigning as modern phenomena symptomatic of a slide in the quality of presidential candidates, but things were far worse in the 19th century, judging by John Quincy Adams's campaign song in the 1828 election.

Adams, a Republican, had beaten Democrat Andrew Jackson in an extraordinarily close race in 1824 and, as incumbent, he was at an advantage when he faced Jackson again four years later. Jackson, though, fought a strong campaign, forcing Adams to go on the attack with an bewilderingly vicious song, Little Know Ye Who's Coming, which predicted that America would be beset by the following horrors if he lost the race: fire, swords, knives, guns, famine, slavery, plundering, robbing, fear, plague, pestilence, Satanism.

The American public weren't impressed and elected Jackson by a landslide.

Related links

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The 7 most awkward campaign songs used by US presidential candidates

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Music and politics have always had a strained relationship, particularly in America, where barely a week passes in an election cycle without a rock star complaining about their song being used at a rally or a politician licensing music with accidentally inappropriate lyrics.

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According to the Teaching Tolerance report The Trump Effect: The Impact of the Presidential Campaign on Our Nation's Schools, nearly 40 percent of the 2,000 teachers who responded to TT's election survey are hesitant to teach about the election. Some educators cite concerns about the students who fear being ostracized or even deported if certain candidates win. Other teachers don't know how to handle the fact that students are repeating the hate-filled language they hear from candidates' speeches and social media posts. Still other teachers, like me, feel they must discuss this election with students.

Here are a two of the strategies I have used to teach students the skills to decode what is being said. Focusing on these skills has helped my students come to realizations all their own. Kids who were enjoying the excitement that comes with blaming and bullying have pumped the brakes and thought a little more carefully.
Talk with students about "they" and "them."
The use of "they" is a favorite campaign tactic. Candidates are making statements about what "they" do, how "they" are hurting our country. Sometimes "they" are Muslims. Sometimes "they" are women. Sometimes "they" are a particular minority or ethnicity. Sometimes "they" are the poor; sometimes "they" are the rich.

One quick exercise is to have students scan through the Twitter feeds of various candidates and count the number of times third-person pronouns are used. Have them search for those words in speeches and debates as well. Which groups are being replaced and generalized most frequently in their statements?

Talk about the use of stereotypes and what happens when you categorize an entire group of people with such a broad brush. Ask students to do a little research and find examples of individuals who are from that larger group but do not embody the characteristic being attributed to all of "them."

You need not do a lot of editorializing, as these patterns begin to speak for themselves.
Conduct formal debates in class.
Assign teams of two or more to opposing sides of the topics most frequently discussed in the campaign. Using a formal debate structure with constructive speeches, cross-examination and rebuttals makes students go through the process of researching the topic, formulating opinions and engaging in civil discourse.

My seniors just finished doing this, and the results were outstanding. Students claiming immigrants were bad for our economy had to provide statistics to support that claim, which they found tricky. The opposition arguing for the economic benefit these workers bring to our country also needed support. They found a great deal.

One of the greatest benefits came from the direct nature of cross-examination. Showing students a couple of clips from presidential debates-clips of candidates rolling their eyes as an opponent spoke or displaying body language that was aggressive or disrespectful-can provide a master class in how not to behave when the goal is an exchange of ideas.

We often stopped the questioning to discuss how to better phrase a question or response. We talked about the need to root responses in fact rather than opinion. We talked about the need to call out the opposition on empty and inflammatory rhetoric rather than simply throwing back your own.

Students may be susceptible to some of the biased language they're hearing from presidential candidates, but teachers are in a position to show them a better path.
Knoll is a writer and English teacher at a public school in New Jersey.

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A Need to Speak: Teaching About the 2016 Election

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Bring election season to your classroom with book resources, lesson plans, reproducibles, and activities.

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This election has been unlike any in modern history. According to a survey of educators by Teaching Tolerance, the campaign's contentious tone has spilled over into classrooms. Presidential elections are exciting for students and provide an opportunity to discuss and debate a range of issues in the classroom. But this year, that excitement is more likely to turn into conflict.

Setting ground rules and promoting civility in debates can help students avoid conflicts and encourage fruitful debates. How? Start with Teaching Tolerance's lesson plan Civil Discourse in the Classroom, which teaches students how to developed reasoned arguments from unsubstantiated claims. You'll find a wealth of tips and how-to articles on their Election 2016 Resources page, as well.

Once you've covered these basics, students will be better equipped to explore, discuss, and debate the issues. The open educational resources and digital collections below can help supplement student research and examination of the 2016 election. From collections that focus specifically on this year's campaigns, to more general U.S. government lesson plans, a variety of resources are available. The good news: The majority of them are free to use.

Election 2016: Lesson Plans, Resources, and Primary Sources

Election Central From PBS LearningMedia: This collection features a little bit of everything: election news, history, and ideas for facilitating classroom debates. Be sure to check out the Election Process tab, which features a video series that highlights the many facets of winning the presidency. Also, PBS NewsHour Extra has a number of great Election 2016 resources for students.

C-SPAN Road to the White House: If you're looking for video clips of the candidates, this is your source. Featuring video coverage of many campaign stops around the country, there are videos for all of the Democratic and Republican contenders. Campaign 2016, a C-SPAN Classroom resource, features a rich collection of lessons and accompanying videos that cover a number of election topics, including the electoral college, campaign ads, and campaign finance.

Electoral College Lessons From Gilder Lehrman: Looking to help students understand the U.S. electoral map? The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History has a series of lesson plans -- How We Elect a President: The Electoral College -- for elementary, middle school, and high school students. All are free for educators and students who have signed up for a subscription. Additionally, an interactive presidential timeline and a database of election results are available. The resource " Every Four Years: Introducing Presidential Elections" is a wonderful introduction for middle school students.

iCivics Politics and Public Policy Unit: From interactive games, to exciting print-and-go lessons, this collection is the perfect place to start learning about elections for elementary and middle school students. Plus, iCivics has also developed a page full of Election 2016 resources for teachers. Try a mock election in your class, have kids play the Win the White House election simulation game, or learn about how voters evaluate candidates. All resources are free for educators to use, but the site does require registration.

Great Free Resources for Teaching Election 2016: With links to in-house content, as well as classroom-friendly political websites, this New York Times Learning Network collection will enable students to conduct in-depth research into a variety of election issues. From developing campaign advertisements and editorial cartoons, to lessons that explore the impact of the youth vote, these activities offer students eye-opening opportunities to research today's unique political climate.

Learn Everything About Voting: Citizens, Not Spectators, a program from the Center for Civic Education, is designed to promote voting among young Americans. To encourage civic participation, the Center developed a useful curriculum for students in grades 4-12 designed to "demystify the voting process," with lessons that help students understand voter registration, how voting works, and the steps it takes to become an informed voter.

Iowa Caucus 101 Curriculum: Developed by Iowa educators, Caucus 101 is a comprehensive curriculum that's designed to provide insight into the first contest of the primary season. The curriculum is designed to be integrated over one week with options for 90-, 60- or 30-minute lessons each day. Also, check out New Hampshire Public Television's resources for the 2016 state primary, which explain the history and importance of the country's second primary contest.

Additional Election and Political Classroom Resources

How are you planning on incorporating the 2016 Election in your classroom? Share resources, ideas, and tips in the comments.

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Election 2016: Lesson Plans and Digital Resources for Educators

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This election has been unlike any in modern history. According to a survey of educators by Teaching Tolerance, the campaign's contentious tone has spilled over into classrooms. Presidential elections are exciting for students and provide an opportunity to discuss and debate a range of issues in the classroom.

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The 2016 presidential race has been a roller-coaster ride of suspense and surprises from the beginning - and one replete with valuable "teachable moments" that shouldn't be missed.

Below, we suggest over a dozen instructional strategies and useful, free websites that can help teach students about our nation's most pressing issues and the way our democracy works, as well as encourage them to voice their opinions and get involved in the issues they care about most.

Please use our comments section to share additional resources we may have missed. We'll be updating this page throughout 2016.

From now until November, we'll be offering regular election teaching resources, including lesson plans, Student Opinion questions, contests and our four-part election unit. Find the most evergreen posts on our regularly updated Election 2016 Teaching and Learning Homepage.
1. Discuss the Issues in Our Civil Conversation Challenge
Between Oct. 3 and Nov. 7, we invite teenagers to have productive, respectful conversations on our site about issues that divide us this election season, including immigration, guns and climate change. And, we'll ask students what are the issues they care about most.

2. Make an Editorial Cartoon.

Can students draw their opinions about the election? You bet. They can enter their drawings or illustrations in our Second Annual Editorial Cartoon Contest until Oct. 18. See the 2015 winners here and read our lesson plan about analyzing and drawing cartoons here.

3. Write a Letter to the Next President.

Want to give your students a voice in this election even if they're too young to vote? The National Writing Project, KQED and other educational partners (including The Learning Network) invite students ages 13 to 18 to write, or create, a letter to the next president.

Young people are invited to publish their writing or multimedia responses on a special showcase site. Watch the video above for more information.

4. Research Where Candidates Stand on Issues.

What does Donald J. Trump think about education? What does Hillary Clinton think about foreign policy? Students can research one or more candidates and present what they learned to the class. Or, as part of a larger mock election unit, they can use their research to inform voters about the stakes involved in this election.

To do their research, teachers and students can use the resources we outline in the " Who Are the Candidates" and " What Are the Issues " sections of our Election Unit.

5. Hold a Mock Election.

While citizens must be 18 to vote ( or 17 in many primaries), young people who aren't yet eligible can still participate in a national election. Our four-part 2016 Election Unit provides activities and resources to prepare your class to hold its own mock election, or to participate in one of these national mock elections: Youth Leadership Initiative, National Student/Parent Mock Election and KidsVotingUSA.
6. Analyze Campaign Commercials.
Stanford University's Political Communication Lab has gathered commercials from both the Republican and Democratic primaries, and the Living Room Candidate hosts presidential campaign commercials from 1952 to 2012. To hone their media literacy skills, students can use our TV commercial analysis chart as they watch to help guide their analysis.

Additional teaching resources include FlackCheck.org's "Could Lincoln Be Elected Today?" series, which explores the power of negative advertising, as well as its "Patterns of Deception" video, above, which highlights some of the misleading tactics already used by campaigns in this election.

7. Gamify the Election.

iCivics released a 2016 update of its " Win the White House " game, in which students get to manage their own presidential campaign by "strategically raising funds, polling voters, launching media campaigns and making personal appearances." During the game, students battle over electoral votes and popular support.

Or, want to give your students a stake in all the real-life election polling and predictions? The developers at Fantasy Geopolitics have announced a March Madness-style bracket challenge for the Electoral College, to be released this summer.

8. Exchange Ideas With a Pen Pal.

Do you want your students to join the national conversation about this country's future? PenPal Schools matches classes to be pen pals with students from a different geographic region in the United States. Over a six-week period, students are prompted to write about election issues during their pen-pal partnership.

9. Annotate the Election.

How can we teach students to be critical, media-savvy consumers of political news and campaign messages? Hypothes.is's collaborative annotation tool is a digital way for students to comment on and converse about important news stories, ads, Op-Eds and other documents related to the 2016 election, both in scheduled " annotatathons" as well as in its annotation stream.

One important type of public annotation that students should be aware of is fact-checking. The New York Times maintains a running list of fact checks of the 2016 election, and the nonpartisan website FactCheck.org does the same.
10. Make Your Own Political Party
Want to get your students working together to create a new political party based on their own beliefs? The #MyParty16 election project provides resources and guidelines for students to create a party name, logo, platform and a 30-second campaign commercial.

11. Find Your Party or Candidate Match.

If your students are not sure which candidate they support - or even what party best expresses their beliefs - these online quizzes and games can help.

First, students can take this PBS Political Party Test to see whether their political values most closely align with Democrats or Republicans.

Then, they might try one of the following "matching" interactive tools to choose a candidate: iSideWith and Societly.

12. Watch, Analyze and Talk Back to the Debates.

Want to tap your students into the energy and suspense surrounding the election debates?

Use our new lesson plan to find six ideas, including posting to the special Student Opinion questions we will publish on the mornings of each debate to offer places for students to react in real time to what they see.

13. Understand and Exercise the Power of the Youth Vote.

Young people ages 18 to 29 have the lowest voter turnout of any age group. So one of the most important things eligible students can do is register to vote and be sure to cast their ballots.

In preparation, students can read about why many eligible voters don't vote, and then evaluate proposals to increase voter turnout, like universal registration and early voting. And they can assess the effectiveness of creative campaigns to increase voting rates, like Rock the Vote. They can then write a proposal or hold a debate about how to increase voter participation in their community or state.

14. Write an Editorial About an Issue That Matters to You.

Even though sound bites often take center stage, the presidential election should be about real issues. While The Learning Network's Student Editorial Contest is held in the spring, there's no reason why teachers can't use the same rules, lesson plans and student writing models to form the basis of an election-related writing project. If the topics are still relevant, students can even submit their work later in the school year in our contest.

15. Learn About the Electoral Process.

What is a primary? What is a political party? What is the Electoral College? These are just some of the questions that come up naturally as students watch a presidential election unfold.

Students can think critically about our primary and caucus and Electoral College systems.

For more information about the electoral process, The Times maintains a 2016 primary calendar and results page, along with a daily update of what to know about the presidential race today. And iCivics offers a teachers guide and related student activities.
16. Understand the Campaigns Through a News Literacy Lens
The Center for News Literacy offers a series of lessons on "Making Sense of the Campaign" on issues like bias in reporting, how polling works, and how to know if candidates are telling the truth.
17. Volunteer to Engage Others in the Electoral Process
This list, from Youth Service America suggests all of the following and provides links to explain how:

Conduct voter registration drives.

Educate voters by developing voter guides.

Educate voters and engage candidates about an issue you care about.

Host a convention or debate watch.

Organize a debate, forum, or town hall.

Host a Service Stop to engage candidates.

Organize Get-Out-The-Vote activities.

Hold mock elections to teach younger students about the electoral process.

Become a citizen journalist and make your voice heard during the election.

Volunteer for campaigns.

Serve as poll workers or election judges on Election Day.

Help protect student voting rights.

Vote.

Ask your mayor to support service and youth engagement in policymaking.

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Great Free Resources for Teaching Election 2016

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We suggest over a dozen instructional strategies and useful, free websites that can help teach students about our nation's most pressing issues and the way our democracy works, as well as encourage them to voice their opinions about the issues they care about most.

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PBS has teacher-favorite election-themed resources to enhance lesson plans and spark discussion in the classroom.

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With last month's conventions and next month's debates, it's a perfect time to bring a little election conversation into your classroom.

Here are some non-partisan ways to mix politics with classroom activities.

Red State, Blue State, Where is That State?

These days, you can't read an article or watch a news report on the election without seeing a map of the U.S. shaded according to states lean Democratic or Republican. It's a perfect way to help younger students memorize state names and locations. On a regular basis, give students a blank U.S. map and provide oral or written instructions about how to color it in (California is blue, Alabama is red, etc.). Give students time to color in the map; then have them compare their work with an "answer key" map. Doing this on a regular basis helps students practice identifying each state and can also give them a sense of the progress of the election.

Advertising and Politics

Many middle and high school English teachers do a unit on advertising. It teaches persuasive language and can help students become more thoughtful consumers. Put a spin on that same old unit by using political ads instead of cereal and toy commercials. Ask students to identify the symbols or persuasive language used in ads by the Obama and Romney campaigns or in ads for local candidates.

The Politics of Numbers

Answer the age-old student question, "Why do we need to know this?" by showing students how math - specifically, how to create graphs - plays an important role in the election. Visit a nonpartisan site like Real Clear Politics or Politico and gather their latest polling data. Then have students practice creating graphs - bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, and more - to demonstrate the changes in the presidential race, your state's House or Senate races, or the popularity of a given ballot measure. This can be a one-class-period graph-making review or a regular component of math lessons from now through Election Day.

Students Making Policy

From the President of the United States to a local School Board member, many of the people currently running for office will have an impact on education policy and, therefore, on your students' lives. Ask students, "If you were running for an office, what would your education policy be?" Even younger students can write a short assignment on "If I Was in Charge of Our School." Older students can make authentic recommendations about changes to school policy. Have them debate their ideas and finish the assignment by writing letters to the school board, the governor, or the President, in which they make their case for education reform.

Survey Says

Have students create their own survey about a candidate or issue. This activity can be adapted depending on the students' age and how much technology you want to incorporate. A very simple survey needs minimal technology (see Math is Fun for tips).

For older students, increase the complexity in any number of ways. Have them use a free tool like SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang to create an online survey. Work with them to write survey questions that might skew the results. Assign students to survey specific populations (varying ages, ethnicities, religious beliefs, education levels) and have them compare the results. No matter what approach you take, students get some math practice and also may learn some valuable lessons about polling data.

A Historical Perspective

Obama and Romney claim that this is the "most important election of our lifetimes." While adults may be skeptical of such statements, students may not know any better. Provide students with some perspective with an election-themed research assignment. Assign groups of students to elections throughout our history. Have students research the candidates, who won, what happened to the loser, and whether historians believe the winner was a good president. UC Santa Barbara's American Presidency project is a good place to start. Students may be amazed to realize that some great presidents were unappreciated in their own time, and they may be shocked by some of the less-than-great leaders our country has experienced.

Election-Based Math Lessons

Visit the NBCLearn site for a wide selection of election-oriented math lessons, designed by Carnegie Learning. Topics include statistics, polling, mean/median/mode, and more.

Language and Nuance in Presidential Politics

For high school students, consider exploring how the same information can be presented differently by campaigns or media outlets that have a particular agenda. Assign students to a topic (for example, the health care law passed under President Obama) and have them find examples of how the Obama and Romney campaigns talk about that topic. To extend the assignment further, have students explore conservative media outlets (Fox News, the Drudge Report, etc.) and liberal media outlets (MSNBC, the Huffington Post, etc.) and see how those news sources report the same story differently.

Problem-Solving: Voter Turnout

Introduce students to the ever-present issue of low voter turnout.Have students research what voter turnout is like in your state or community and consider potential solutions (Change in voter ID laws? Election Day holiday? More vote-by-mail or early voter programs?).Students can write an essay or an op-ed piece for a local paper in which they share what they have learned. If you're really feeling motivated, expand this into a service project to increase local voter turnout.

Way Back When Meets Here and Now

If you have tablets, a digital whiteboard, or a computer lab, you can bring the past to your students like never before. Try an app like Political Time Machine or visit The Living Room Candidate to watch political advertisements and historical footage from the past 50-100 years. Have students do a "scavenger hunt" through the materials to find "three vice-presidents who ran for president" or "two commercials that focus on issues about crime, guns, or drugs." As an alternative, use The Living Room Candidate's AdMaker to allow students to re-edit old campaign ads or make their own.

State and Local Election Coverage

While much of the country focuses on the presidential campaign, there are a host of state and local officials running for office, as well as state and local ballot measures. Use these as a basis for a range of different election-themed activities. Students could create their own version of a Voters' Guide that explains what each ballot measure means in plain language. Students could do research on local candidates - even interviewing them - and write a newspaper article on what they've learned. Students could create short videos about candidates or ballot measures that are meaningful to them. These may be less controversial, but still cover important topics for students to explore.

Transition and Inauguration

The election may be over in early November, but that doesn't mean you have to give up on politically-themed classroom activities. Have students research the transition process using available materials from the 2001 Clinton-Bush transition and the 2009 Bush-Obama transition.

Have younger students study presidential inaugurations. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies has a wealth of information about the traditions of an inauguration. Students could do a report on a previous inauguration, write a letter to the committee making recommendations for the 2013 inauguration, or make plans for what their inauguration would be like if they were elected president twenty or thirty years from now.

Both Democrats and Republicans can agree that using the election in the classroom can be fun, non-partisan, and educational!
How are you bringing the 2012 election into your classroom? Share with us in the comments section!
Image Source: The Associated Press

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12 Ways to Use the Presidential Election in Your Classroom

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With last month's conventions and next month's debates, it's a perfect time to bring a little election conversation into your classroom. Here are some non-partisan ways to mix politics with classroom activities. These days, you can't read an article or watch a news report on the election without seeing a map of the U.S.