Inquiry Project
Laney Grady
1) Driving Question: What if everyone had the mindset “I’m only one vote, it won’t matter if I don’t cast mine” and if they did how would this affect the democratic system of the United States?
This driving question warrants in-depth study because it allows students to look into many aspects that go along with this question. Not only does it motivate and provoke them to look into the democratic system but, it also puts agency on them to put themselves into the situation. It requires them to not only ask this question but, to also ask this question to themself. This question will warrant in-depth study into the context of the current political debate and also study the current candidates study and possibly even develop some of their own political opinions and what they are going to decide to do based upon this driving question.
This driving question is an authentic and relevant issue because this question will be asked in an 12th grade English class, in which most students will be 18 and eligible to vote or it will be something that will be their civic duty in the future. It is a relevant issue/problem for these students because it might be one of the first times they are educated about the election, politics, and voting. This will be one of the first times that they are left to make their own decisions and opinions based on this topic.
Yes there are more than one plausible solutions to this problem. The solutions and answers will depend a lot on the information each student/group gathers. Students will have the opportunity to take either side to this issue and either side can be right as long as the process is completed that invokes an in-depth study and that there is evidence to back up the students claims.
This driving question provide opportunities for students to evaluate the effect of voting and the effects of democracy. They can analyze data on how much a person’s vote does matter. They can present the ideas that they have come to conclude based on their research through campaign videos and the presidential debates. They can use technological resources as evidence to defend their solutions and also use historical reference to defend their solutions as well. My goal for this driving question is to get my students involved in dealing with a pressing relevant issue. This will help them to use historical evidence, allow them to practice citing and using evidence to support their claims, and look at tactics used by politics and others that could be useful to help them in their own persuasive writing.
2) Grabber
Political TV Ads Side by Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk_oKvhWfHs
These videos hook the reader by allowing the reader to question what is true and what is untrue? What is believable and what is slander? This video motivates students to get to the bottom of this information and to also then take a side. It puts tv ads by each candidate side by side. It allows students to see what tactics the politician is using to sway voters towards them and away from the other side. It puts agency to the students to begin to examine what is true and what is untrue and just how their vote can make an impact in this election.
This grabber capitalizes on high emotion situations because it is dealing with politics and polarizing/controversial issues. Facing these high emotion situations is a problem skill that students will be able to work through when going through the process of answering this driving question. It somewhat holds them accountable and forces them to take a side to be able to show that every vote does count and if you don’t vote then your opinion that you worked to develop doesn’t have as much substance because they didn’t use their power in the issue.
This grabber establishes authenticity and relevance because it is something that is happening right now in the present. These might be ads that they have seen before on their tv or ads that they hear their family talking about. But, it allows them to have some control and say and allows them to begin to base their own opinion on the issue of the election and democracy.
This grabber would be used as an opportunity for the students to understand the importance of taking agency in the election and in our country’s democracy. It would be used after the initial driving question is asked and it would be played before they have had any real collaboration or research. In this lesson it will be kind of like the initial evidence and a somewhat of a call to action to motivate the students to work through the driving question.
3) Culminating Activity: After their initial response to the debate the students will take sides on who, from the tv ads they will side with. From their they will watch the debates within their groups highlighting strategies of the candidate they side with and establishing how they won and the other candidate lost. This should evoke emotion and interest in the topic to hopefully help the students understand why they should vote especially after they have developed a tie to the candidate.
This will gets student fired up and interested in the topic. It will allow them to see the issues and understand how the candidate they side with is. Students will also submit some write up and consensus of the debate. Students can write a paper, make a prezi, make a video, a poster, or anything else. This is to show their experience had when watching the debate and then to show how they made their decision.
Students will have access to a class google document in which students can write the pros and cons of each candidate. Through students responses on this google doc I will then group them into smaller groups based on whose comments were the most similar and who felt the most compelled to actually vote. Ideally there will be three groups: republican, democrat, and other, those who still may not see the importance of their vote. Students will then present the reasons that their candidate is the ideal one.
Next, after the presentation, students will select one group member at a time to take the role of their candidate and answer a specific question or ask a question or participate in the debate in some way working to embody their candidate’s character and identity. They will hold a mock debate in the classroom, answering the questions not based on their own opinions but on the candidate they have decided to side with. This will give students a chance to embody what their candidate thinks and also role-play and have a little fun with this assignment.
The final debate will be graded on authenticity, dress, how they answered the questions, and how involved each member was in preparing their representative. The final determining factor was how they worked to exhibit the importance of voting to the candidates by providing evidence on what could happen if they do not vote/if no one votes. They need to showcase the cons of this situation.
This activity is authentic because it requires students to form their own opinions through a collaborative process and then showcase how important it is to vote to the class.
This activity does allow students to present their solution to the problem through the debate in which they side and identify why everyone should use their voice and vote. It allows them to defend their solution as well because it is in a in-the-moment debate activity in which part of the process is actively defending their conclusion.
This activity requires a lot of student collaboration, it goes from large group, to individual, to small group, and then back to large group for the debate. It allows each student to participate and work with others to help come to their solution to the driving question.
How will I judge what students have learned from the activity?
iRubric Rubric for the Culminating Activity
https://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=ZX6CC24&sp=true&nocache=1477270291650
Culminating Activity Enter rubric description | ||||
Poor 5 pts | Fair 10 pts | Good 15 pts | ||
Authenticity Enter description | Poor Students did not stay in character and did not take the debate seriously. They avoided questions and often laughed or acted inappropriately. | Fair Overall, they worked to embody the character of the candidate but they were allowing their own opinions to skew the conversations in an inauthentic way. | Good Student embodied the character of their candidate throughout the debate. They answered all questions and behaved appropriately. | |
Dress Enter description | Poor Student did not dress business casual. | Fair Student attempted to dress business casual but, did not. | Good Student dressed in the business casual attire. | |
Participation Enter description | Poor Student did not willingly participate and did not want to present or did not help with the groups prep for the debate. They did not turn in the write-up or did not end up siding with either side. | Fair Student only somewhat helped with the prep for the debate. Student did not fully participate in the debate. | Good Student turned in all of the prep work and also helped contribute to the group efforts. Student participate in the debate and ending up developing a solution to the driving question that was well supported. | |
Collaboration | Poor Students did not participate and had problems with group members and getting things turned in on time. | Fair Student helped with the group at the bare minimum level but some group members still felt they might not have been pulling their weight and/or the presence of prior research was missing. | Good Students helped and collaborate their fair share in the process and worked to help get everything turned in on time and completed. | |
Ideally, at the end of the lesson, we will take a day to help those who are 18, because it is a senior English class, to help register to vote and hopefully schedule it into the voting day to allow them to vote and demonstrate the importance of voting.