United States Presidents Josh Yaus

1
United States Presidents Josh Yaus

• Josh Yaus

2
Objective

• Students will develop understanding of the lives
  and contributions of the US Presidents
• Students will demonstrate proficiency using
  search engines to find reliable sources
• Students will demonstrate presentation skills.

3
Objectives (contd

• Students will use software to edit their video.

4
Materials

• Hat with names of presidents
• Internet access
• Digital video camera capable of storing 2 hours
  worth of footage
• A set designed to look like the oval office
• Video editing software (teacher)

5
Introduction/Anticipatory Set

• The students will be shown a Youtube clip of the
  Presidents song done by the Animaniacs. This is a
  clip from a 90s cartoon so presidents like Bush
  and Obama are not included. This clip does show
  the presidents in order and provides quick facts
  about each one in a humorous way.

6
Intro/AS (contd)

• The students will then told their assignment. On
  the board we will brainstorm what key information
  should be presented when giving their speech. I
  will emphasize certain topics, such as their
  early life and career before the presidency,
  state of origin, party, vice president, family,
  the work they did in office, and any interesting
  facts.

7
Intro/AS (contd)

• If a president died in office that must be
  covered in the students presentations as well.

8
Procedure

• Have students pick a presidents name out of a hat
  (some will be left out- Clinton may be removed
  depending on maturity level of the class).

9
Procedure (contd)

• I would also leave out some of the more boring
  presidencies like Hayes, Harrison and Ford
• Once the students have picked they will be asked
  to write down their presidents name and the
  information they need to look up. I will
  demonstrate how to use a search engine and also
  write some important web sites on the board

10
Procedure (contd)

• Students will research their presidents using
  these sites as well as Google and ask.
• http//www.presidentsusa.net/
• http//www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/

11
Procedure (contd)

• I will make sure to emphasize that anything they
  find that may not be common knowledge (such as
  Taft getting stuck in the White House bathtub)
  needs to be mentioned in at least two different
  sources.

12
Procedure (contd)

• The students will then do their research and turn
  in their notes at the end of the day. I will read
  over the notes and give comments. The students
  will then be asked to create a 10 minute speech
  as their president giving all the pertinent
  information as well as one or two interesting
  facts people may not know.

13
Procedure (contd)

• I will edit the film with the students on the
  computer and demonstrate how to use the software
  in class. We will add an introduction before each
  presentation reading (student name) as
  (presidents name). I will also try to add the
  presidential seal in the corner of the video to
  make the video look professional. The
  presentations will then be burned onto a DVD for
  each student to take home.

14
Additional Info

• A brief lecture will be given about the
  presidents we left out of the hat.
• Students will be asked to participate in this
  lecture and talk about what they think makes a
  good president.

15
Review

• The following day students will be split into two
  teams and play a presidential jeopardy game. Each
  student will be given information and asked to
  name that president. Points will be tallied and
  the winning team gets a free question on their
  quiz the following day.

16
Assessment

• Students will be given a quiz which will be
  matching the presidents name to a brief
  description. This grade will not count for much
  as I will focus primarily on their presentations.
  If the student put time into their presentation
  and did the research necessary they will be given
  an A. The test will only be 25 of their overall
  grade for the unit, while presentations will be
  worth 75.