Elective Programming Ideas for Students | Edutopia

As the 2024 election approaches, many schools, teachers and principals are concerned about how to handle the event. Understandably, they feel pressure to appease a range of different views on how the event should be approached – from parents to staff to the students themselves. However, I would argue that the worst outcome would be no choice at all to address. Students see media about the election and the candidates every day (unfortunately, mostly from TikTok), so we can’t pretend that nothing significant is happening in early November.

I think it would certainly be a missed opportunity not to engage in this work. When the national discourse around polarized politics changes (I hope within my lifetime), we can begin to do this work in schools. Here are some concrete methods to help you with your approach to election programming.

As with any new activity or topic, students need a basic understanding of the content to fully engage. Ideally, this starts in the classroom. Although a government course would be the most obvious place to start, this is typically only available to high school and high school students.

Citizen discussions: At my school, we incorporate creative choice and civic discussions into the classroom. For example, seventh-grade history lessons discuss reading and election topics such as compulsory voting and the powers of the president. Our eighth grade history classes send postcards to graduates and encourage them to vote using postcards created by one of our high school graphic design classes.

Scientific exercises: You can also design lessons that take into account all of the environmental proposals on the ballot. Our high school green service learning group is analyzing a California environmental proposal in class using materials from the nonpartisan group CalMatters.

Art-related tasks: To integrate an artistic learning experience into the context of the electoral process, the high school graphic design classes are creating campaign designs for our school’s mock election.

Economic analysis: Finally, the high school economics classes analyzed the recent presidential debate to analyze the economic issues discussed by the candidates (and how realistic these ideas are).

It is important to recognize that elective instruction for students should occur both in-class and opt-in. It is beneficial for all students to hear a consistent message on election issues, but there should also be space for students who care deeply about the election to express these issues in a smaller setting with like-minded peers.

Not all teaching situations or discussions are suitable for delving deeper into the content (and not all teachers or classmates would be interested in doing so). That’s why we’re also taking the time to host optional student discussions during lunch about the recent debate and the election in general. A teacher will lead the middle school discussions, while a small group of high school students who have taken the time to analyze the debate will lead the high school discussion.

These discussions will continue after the election to explain the results and figure out where we see the election problems going forward (and there’s always another election on the horizon – in this case, the midterms).

Mock election: On October 8th, the California Secretary of State hosted the “California Student Mock Election,” which we attended. There, students were asked to vote on the presidential candidates as well as a number of statewide policies and proposals that will appear on the actual ballot. To prepare students, we focused on two proposals in particular, one on environmental protection and one on criminal justice reform. The graphic design courses created ballot teaching materials for students that explained the pros and cons of each measure. We then did the voting during lunch.

To fully simulate the electoral process, we conducted early voting and election day voting. During the first week of October, students were sent ballot introductory materials for the two proposals they would vote on, and electronic ballots (Google Forms) were mailed at the end of the first week. Students can submit their Google Form to complete early voting or they can vote in person during lunch on the second Thursday of October. The results were compiled and sent to the California Secretary of State.

Interaction with candidates: It is important for students to hear from the candidates themselves, and we invited the two candidates vying for our local Congressional seat (CA-49) to speak to students. One candidate spoke to high school students in mid-September and the other in mid-October.

It is important to invite both candidates in a race if you plan to have a speaker, not only to remain nonpartisan, but also to convey to students the importance of listening respectfully to speakers with whom they disagree (a ability I really hope). which they will take with them to their future college campuses). If you’re trying to contact a candidate to invite them to your school, you’ll find that most (if not all) candidates have a campaign website with contact information. If not, your local county party (Republican or Democrat) should have the contact information for the respective campaigns. Before the speaker comes to campus, you should clearly communicate to the school community (students and parents) that the speaker is coming and that both candidates have been invited.

How each school approaches the election will depend on the needs and interests of its school community, but I implore schools to take advantage of election season and set an example for our students of how a respectful, pluralistic society can engage in civil discourse. America will thank you later!