Length of Time:   4-6 class periods

Description

This four lesson unit allow students to explore different issues surrounding our electoral process. Designed to supplement a standard Social Studies curriculum, there are materials related to Political Cartoons, Election Maps, Political Parties and Voting Rights.  Using data, visual resources, and complex texts students will be guided from past to present to understand our complicated and occasionally confounding electoral process.  Lessons include identified standards, detailed procedures, Student Sheets, hard copies of resources, and assessment criteria.  Companion lessons on the site include Make Sense of the Electoral College, Presidential Checks and Balances, and The Constitution and Compromise.

Essential Questions

How does this essential right become distorted throughout our nation's past and present?

Common Core Standards

Grades 6-8: English/Language Arts; History/Social Studies

Key Ideas and Details

RH.6-8.2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

RH.6-8.7. Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Content Standards

National Geography Standards

Standard 1: How to Use Maps and Other Geographic Representations, Tools, and Technologies to Acquire, Process, and Report Information from a Spatial Perspective

Standard 3: How to Analyze the Spatial Organization of People, Places, and Environments on Earth’s Surface

Standard 17: How to Apply Geography to Interpret the Past

US History 1

History and Geography

Interpret Graphs, Charts and Maps

The Formation and Framework of American Democracy

Historical and Intellectual Origins of the US during the Constitutional Era

Basic Framework of American Democracy and Concepts of Government

Antebellum Expansion of Suffrage

Age of Jackson

Civil War and Reconstruction