5 Ways to Get Your Students Involved in the 2012 Election

We are less than three weeks away from the 2012 election, and classrooms across the country are abuzz with activity surrounding the upcoming election. Now is the perfect time to get your students involved in this historic event by teaching them about important election issues and encouraging them to share their own thoughts, opinions, and predictions.

1. Have students break down the issues.

Election issues can sometimes be confusing for students, and teachers! Have your students pick one of the issues covered in the Breaking Down the Issues series. After reading about the candidates’ positions on the issue, have your students write an editorial blog post or produce a video defending their own position on the issue and share it with the Citizen Journalists team.

2. Deconstruct the final presidential debate on October 22.

Have students use our FREE debate guide to take notes during the last presidential debate. The next day, have students report back on who they thought won the debate and why. Ask them if they can predict who will win the election based on the results of the candidates’ debate performances?

3. Hold a class competition to predict the electoral college vote.

Have your students use the Voters Ed interactive Electoral College map to make predictions about what the Electoral College vote will look like on Election Day. You can even make it a friendly competition to encourage students to base their predictions off of previous trends and current election news for swing states.

4. Debate the issues.

As a class, select one of the topics in the Debate the Issues discussion forums. Have students post their own thoughts on the issue. Next, have them read through the posts from their peers and comment on at least one of the other posts. Alternatively, as a class, come up with a discussion forum topic of your own. Allow students to share their voices on the issues that are most important to them.

5. Participate in the National Mock Election.

It’s not too late to sign up your class to participate in the largest student National Mock Election. Get your students involved in the democratic process early to teach them the importance of their vote. You can enroll your students by registering here. Voting begins October 25 and National Mock Election Day is November 1.