Title:

Is the Electoral College an adequate representation of the American populous as a whole?

Grade: 9-12

Overall Goal: The overall goal of this lesson is for students to research a stance on the given
question. The Research should bring forward facts and statements about the topic. This is to
make students become more proficient in doing research based not only government but in
history. (Looking to the founding fathers when they created this system).

Students will be split into two groups based on the stance to this question. They will have to
organize an argument based on their stance and research. These arguments should be concise
and students should be able to make a point and have the tools they need to back their point.
These facts need to be backed by reliable sources they have found throughout the research
process. They should as a group write out all the points they plan to use and have the source
attached or linked on the document.

Based on the argument they have built the two groups will come together and hold a debate.
The goal of this is for students to have a better chance at holding fact driven debate, improve
upon oratory skills, and being able to think and respond on their feet. This debate should stay
calm and collected and be held in a professional manner. If students would like to make things
seem more real, they can come dressed in more formal attire, however this would not be
mandatory and they would not be penalized if they didn’t.

Students will be assessed based on the content of the debate, how they are able to get their
point across with the backing of facts they have found. Students would also be expected to turn
in all the sources and facts they have found, so the teacher can check to make sure the facts they
used are backed by reliable sources. Students would be expected to be involved in an equal
amount of work during the research process and the physical debate.

Standards Learning Objective Assessment

USG.3.13 Explain the electoral
process in terms of election laws
and election systems on the
national, state and local level.
Students will be able to identify the Our assessment will
Electoral College’s role in deciding be an in-class
the Presidential Election debate where we
will evenly split up
into two groups: one
in favor of the
electoral college,
and one opposing
the electoral college.
 They will be graded
on their use of
information and facts
in their debate, as
well as being an
active participate

USG.3.16 Explain and evaluate Students will be able to evaluate

the original purpose and function how the Electoral College shapes
of the Electoral College and its elections.
relevance today
Students will be able to analyze how
the Electoral College affected the
outcome of the 2016 Presidential
Election.

Students will be able to understand

how the number of delegates
allocated to each state is decided,
and how this is an attempt to
balance the scale between rural and
urban areas.

Key Terms & Definitions:

● Electoral College: In the United States its a body of people representing the states of the
US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.
● Founding Fathers: The founding fathers was a groups of representatives that were
involved in the American Revolution, they would help form and create the constitution
that we have today.
● Debate: argue about (a subject), especially in a formal manner.
● Reliable sources: A source that is trustworthy and has the authors name, date published,
title, website, and peer reviewed
● Research: he systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order
to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

Lesson Introduction (Hook or Grabber):

To begin the lesson we will start with an activity called “What are they saying?” To perform this
activity the instructor will write the words “Electoral College” on the board. The students will each
be given a post-it note and they will write down what they know or think about the Electoral
College. They will then place them on the board and the teacher will then read them outloud in
order to keep all students involved. This will be an activity that allows students to get engaged
and excited about the lesson but it also allows for the teacher to gauge where the class stands in
terms of what they already know about the Electoral College.

Lesson Main :

Introduce the Central Question: After completing the “What are they saying” activity, we will
introduce the question, “Is the Electoral College an adequate representation of the American
populous as a whole?” We will describe how they will be split into two groups: one side will be in
support of keeping the Electoral College, and the other team will be in support of doing away
with the Electoral College. They will then be told, no matter their personal beliefs, they will
conduct research as a team, using reliable internet sources, in order to gather information to
support their viewpoint and strengthen their argument. Students will need access to computers,
iPads, or any other piece of technology that has access to the Internet. They will also need to
designate a scribe to write down their information, so they have easy access to it during the
debate. This introduction should take only about 5 minutes.

Brief Content Lecture: Once we have discussed the layout of this assignment, I will give a brief
overview of the processes of the Electoral College and its past implications on the presidential
election. Also, I will detail why the Founders initially created the Electoral College and what they
intended is purpose would be. I will give this small presentation using a PowerPoint I have
created and I will project it onto the screen in the front of the classroom, so all of the students can
see it. After this, I will let the students begin to research within their groups. The presentation
should only take about 5-10 minutes.

Research in Groups: At this point, the students will divide into their two groups based on the
viewpoint assigned to them. They will all use their computer or iPad to find reliable facts and
information that they can use in support of their debate. Each person will be required to
contribute at least one fact to the group in order to insure participation from every group
member. The scribe will not be required to find a fact. Instead they will write down every piece of
information their group members find onto a piece of paper, with legible handwriting. The scribe
needs to have good enough handwriting so every group member can use the paper of
information to participate during the debate. This part of the lesson should take 20-25 minutes.

Coordinate Debate Strategy in Groups: After they have gathered all of the information and have
scribed it onto a joint piece of paper, the teams will then discuss amongst themselves, what are
some counterpoints they can make to combat the opposing sides facts and information. This will
insure that they are better prepared for the debate, and that they will be more ready for what the
other team throws their way. They will also discuss what the order will be of who speaks, and
what they will say. This allows the debate to flow smoothly. The teacher’s job this whole time will
be to walk between the groups, listening in, making sure their staying on topic, and offering any
 help they can give. However, any help should be split evenly among both sides as to not give
one side an unfair advantage. Once the groups have laid out their plan, the debate will begin
(moderated by the teacher). This section should take 10-15 minutes.

Lesson Ending:
Debate: At the end of the lesson the students will be split into two sections. One side of the
class will be arguing that the electoral college should exist and the other half of the class will be
arguing that the electoral college should not exist and a new form of electing officials and
counting votes should be put in place. As the teacher in the room it is their job to be a moderator
of the debate. The teacher should make sure that the debate is orderly and key points are
getting hit. If key points are left it the teacher can propose a question that makes student answer
and it needs to be backed up by what they have found. Each student is to participate at least one
time with a relevant and helpful fact. At the end of the debate the students should all come
together to gather the main points of the debate from either side. The students will be graded on
the quality of information that they brought forth in order to back their argument, their
participation and amount of times they add to the discussion, and how professional they are
throughout the project.

Assessment Rubric:
Great ( 5 points) Average (4-3 points) Satisfactory (2 Poor (1 point)
points)

Quality of The group provided The group provided The group provided The group
Information 8-10 facts 6-8 facts supporting 4-6 facts supporting provided less
(Group Grade) supporting their their claim and each their claim and each than 4 facts that
claim and each was comes from a reliable comes from a come from
from a reliable source reliable source reliable sources
source

Participation Each student Each Student Student did not Student didn’t
(Individual participated and participated but the participate in participate in
Grade) provided a relevant fact they presented debate, but debate nor did
and helpful fact to wasn’t relevant or provided helpful he/she contribute
support their claim wasn’t from a reliable fact to the group a relevant and
source reliable fact to
their group

Professionalism Each student Student did one of N/A Student didn’t

(Individual dressed up for the the following: dress up for the
Grade) debate and were Dressed up or was debate and
respectful to the respectful to the he/she was
other group’s other group disrespectful to
members other classmates

Resources / Artifacts:

These should link to things you’ve actually created in support of the lesson. They should also be
reference above during the lesson (as shown above). Each team member should create one
artifact to support this lessons. Examples could include:
● Guided Research Packet
● Example presentation
● Webquest / Informational website
● Screencast
● Infographic- https://create.piktochart.com/output/29828454-new-piktochart (Bryan Cornelius)
● Content presentation-
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1je3Z7H9GB2Ed3dAlXJCO26zBHQ2rdQhMYAw
DI25RrN0/edit?usp=sharing This will be used for the brief content lecture (Brian Bacon)
● Informational Video (Chris) https://youtu.be/12uVyIM5M2E
● Anything else that would help support the lesson

Differentiation:

1. Differentiation for ability levels

● High ability learners: High ability learners will act as group leaders to help ensure that
their team is focused and on-task. These students are expected to be very involved in the
process of research, however, then need to make sure they are also helping other group
members and allowing others to be involved during the debate.

● Low ability learners: Low ability learners would have a more scaffolded guided research
packet that provided additional support for students. They are expected to work just as
much and be just as involved as other students.

Others to consider in your lesson. Remember, you need 4-5 differentiation ideas for full points:
 2. Differentiation for demographics
● This project is built around teams working together, students will have to learn how to
communicate and work with each other. They may have different ideas than other
students and need to work as a group in order to get the best result.

3. Differentiation for languages

● Packets will be given out in other languages for students who need help.
● The debate may be hard for them to be involved in, so if they are able to show the
instructor they did the research, they would not be penalized

4. Differentiation for access & resources

● Students will be given time in class to do work, as well as being taken to the school library
for materials they might need.

Anticipated Difficulties:
● Keeps student groups on task
● Making sure students have access to all the materials they need
● The debate might get heated, important to remind students to be respectful and calm
● Creating even and “fair” teams
● Making sure that students are done and prepared on time