Are the candidates talking to me? - · PDF file · 2015-09-16K‐12 Education...

www.GenerationNation.org

DEBATE WATCH Debates are a great way to learn about each candidate, their positions on key issues, the way they interact, and more. GenerationNation provides a variety of hands‐on activities to help students learn while watching, attending, reading about and discussing the debates – all in a fun, educational, non‐partisan way! Debate calendar and activities http://generationnation.org/index.php/CLC/entry/candidate‐debates Electing a President http://generationnation.org/index.php/CLC/entry/office‐of‐the‐president Activities

Are they Talking to Me? Debate Scorecard Getting the Message Across Candidate Strategy Debate Bingo Write the Headline Connecting Governments Check the Facts What’s Your Response? 5 tips for being an active, informed voter Student Voice

http://generationnation.org/index.php/CLC/entry/candidate-debates

http://generationnation.org/index.php/CLC/entry/office-of-the-president

ARE THEY TALKING TO ME?

Pick and predict

Before you watch or read about the debates and candidates:

Decide which 1‐3 topics are most important to you.

Then decide which 1‐3 topics you predict the candidates will talk about.

Are the topics you picked the same, or different, as the ones you predict they will talk about?

Watch or read about the debates and candidates:

Were your topics covered? How many times? Did you correctly predict what the candidates would talk about?

POSSIBLE TOPICS

Animals

Children/ Youth

Cities

College

Economy

Energy

Environment

Global issues

Government

Healthcare

Housing

Immigration

Jobs

Justice

K‐12 Education

Leadership

Military

NASA

Other countries

Politics

Pre‐K Education

Race relations

Research

Safety

Taxes

Technology

Terrorism

Transportation

Working together

Other?

Use the worksheet on the next page to write your topics and take notes.

GenerationNation | www.GenerationNation.org

ARE THEY TALKING TO ME?

MY TOPICS:

Date: Debate:

CANDIDATE NAME

PREDICTION OF TOPICS

HOW MANY TIMES MY TOPICS WERE MENTIONED

BIG TOPICS COVERED

WHO COVERED THE TOPICS I AM INTERESTED IN?

WHY WERE THE TOPICS THE SAME AS, OR DIFFERENT THAN, THE ONES I PICKED?

OTHER NOTES (WRITE ON BACK OF PAGE)


DEBATE SCORECARD

Debate name _____________________________________________________________________________ and date

Location _____________________________________________________________________________

Debate format _____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

What is the format of the debate? Who is asking the questions? Who is participating? Where are the candidates standing or sitting? How is the stage decorated? Would you make changes? What? Why?

Moderators _____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

What are the moderators and audience doing? What kinds of people are in the audience? Why? Does anything stand out or surprise you?

Other notes _____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

GenerationNation | www.GenerationNation.org |

DEBATE SCORECARD

Candidate Candidate Candidate Candidates:

Winner? Why?

Which topics are being covered? Do you agree that the topics are most important? Why or why not?

What surprised you? Why?


DEBATE SCORECARD

Candidate Candidate Candidate What did you learn?

What did you hope to see that you didn’t?

What will you remember about this debate?


DEBATE SCORECARD

Candidate Candidate Candidate Other comments, notes and questions about the debate


GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS

Watch candidates in interviews and debates. Write your answers or share in groups, with your class or at home.

What is the key message the candidate is trying to deliver?

How does the speaker communicate the information? Does the candidate read from a piece of paper?

Does the candidate raise or lower his/her voice or move his/her hands to illustrate a specific point?

Does the speaker show emotions and expressions? How? Why? When?

Does the candidate look confident? How can you tell?

How is the candidate dressed? Does this matter?

Do people pay attention? How?

Is the candidate persuasive? How?

What is the most effective thing he/she does to communicate the information? Least effective?

Make copies for each candidate, interview or debate, and compare notes. Do the candidates change their delivery in different debates or interviews?


GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS

Date: Interview or debate:

CANDIDATE NAME

Key message

Communication skills

Confidence

Appearance

Do people pay attention?

Is the person persuasive?

Most effective

Least effective


CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Role of the campaign manager and strategist

The role of the campaign manager is an exciting, essential, and challenging one. The campaign manager is in charge of the day‐to‐day operations, and strategies, of the candidate’s campaign. This includes hiring staff, planning appearances, and using strategy to help the candidate to promote his/her message to voters in order to win an election. The manager needs to have, and continue to develop, knowledge, networks, and professional skills.

Your job for this election: advise the candidate

Your job is to advise the candidate and to develop a strategy that will enable him/her to win the election.

Choose a candidate and follow them as they campaign.

Pay attention. Watch speeches and debates, check social media, read news articles/watch tv news coverage, and keep track of polls.

Analyze what is happening now, and use that information…

…to create a winning strategy for the election.

Factors to consider include:

Messaging ‐ What information is the candidate trying to get across?

Methods ‐ What are the communication tools being used? Is the candidate presenting a good image?

Audience – Who is the candidate targeting? How is the candidate perceived in the public, including by voters and the media?

Impact – Is the current strategy working? Is the candidate attracting (or alienating) potential voters?

Strategy – What does the candidate need to do to be the most successful?


CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Candidate Name

Office

Date of election

ANALYZE WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW

What does the candidate want people to know? What are the 1‐3 key messages?

How is the candidate currently getting the message out? What’s working the best? Worst? Why?

Website

Social media

News media

Public appearances

Debates

Candidate’s words/dress/demeanor

Other

Who is the audience the candidate is trying to reach? Is it everyone? Or, is it a specific group of voters?

Is this candidate doing an effective job in getting the message to the people he/she wants to target? Why or why not? How do you know?


CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Candidate Name

Office

Date of election

ANALYZE THE CANDIDATE AND CAMPAIGN: SWOT

A good tool for analysis is called a SWOT analysis: look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Helpful for success Harmful for success

Candidate

What are his/her strengths?

(example: the candidate is a great public speaker)

What are his/her weaknesses?

(example: sometimes your candidate does not stick to the facts)

External environment

What are the opportunities for the candidate or to promote the campaign? (example: TV debate)

What are the threats/ competition for the candidate? (example: a popular issue that is the opposite of the candidate’s stance or another candidate who is rising in the polls)


CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Candidate Name

Office

Date of election

CREATE A STRATEGY

Based on the information you know, advise the candidate on strategy for the next steps of the campaign.

What is the #1 thing the candidate need to keep doing? Why? How? (strength)

What is the #1 thing the candidate need to change? Why? How? (weakness)

Should the candidate take advantage of an opportunity? Why? How?

Should the candidate address a threat/the competition? Why? How?


CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Candidate Name

Office

Date of election

TAKING ACTION

Campaigns are busy! How might you prioritize the strategies? It is helpful to use a priority matrix to help you make decisions and take actions. What must be done? Is it urgent? Important? Both? Neither?

URGENT NOT URGENT

IMPORTANT 1. Do this now

2. Schedule this next

NOT

IMPORTANT

3. Delegate to someone else (campaign staff can do it)

4. Do if extra time or skip it


CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Candidate Name

Office

Date of election

ADVISE THE CANDIDATE: SMART GOALS

Now, it is time to put your strategy to work. What is your advice for your candidate? It is important to outline the strategy and how success will be measured. A tool for this is a SMART goal.

Specific In order to win, the candidate should: A specific goal should include what, when, where, who, why

(Example: Use social media to talk about the education. Polling shows young voters rate it as the most important issue in this election.)

Measurable How will success be measured?

Like grades or sports scores, numbers help to measure progress toward a goal. (Example: Increase social media followers by 10% every month.)

Achievable Is it possible? A strategy should be a reach – and be realistic.

(Example: While the candidate would love to have support from 100% of the voters, the campaign will target most likely voters and undecideds.)

Relevant Is it relevant?

How well does the strategy connect to the overall goals of the campaign and the current needs of the voters/city/country/world? (Example: Should the candidate focus on job training for babies or affordable college tuition for young adults?)

Time When will this happen? Setting a deadline helps to create action and get results (Example: by January 1, 2016)


CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Candidate Name

Office

Date of election

I advise the candidate to:

My reasons are:

This will increase the candidate’s success because:

Then, the next action the candidate needs to take is:


DEBATE BINGO

Watch the presidential candidates. Mark the topics they talk about. Use a different color for each candidate.

Bipartisan

Military/Defense Global issues Environment Education

Competitive

Immigration Vision Work Together Americans

Jobs

(Write your own) Terrorism Energy Healthcare

Schools

The poor (Write your own) Constitution Uninsured

Illegal

Economy Working Class Budget (Write your own)

(Write your own)

My friend Transportation Business Technology

Children/Youth

Taxes

Race (Write your own) Religion


CONNECTING GOVERNMENTS

Watch the debates. If you are studying any form of government in school, keep track of the number of times the candidate mentions something that could impact a different level of government.

Date: Debate:

CANDIDATE NAME

STUDENT COUNCIL

SCHOOL BOARD

CITY OR TOWN

COUNTY

STATE

UNITED STATES

GLOBAL

OTHER?


WRITE THE HEADLINE

Read about the candidates and watch videos of interviews and debates. Pay attention, and answer these questions. Write your answers to share in groups or with your class or with your family.

If you were reporting on what the candidate said, what would your headline be?

The next day, read actual headlines. Were you close? Were they right? Why or why not?

Read headlines from different news sources. What do they say?

Are the news headlines from different sources similar or different? In what ways? Why?

Here are a few good places to look for headlines about national political candidates, issues, and debates:

Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com

New York Times www.nytimes.com

Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com

C‐SPAN www.cspan.org

CNN www.cnn.com

Fox News www.foxnews.com

Politico www.politico.com

BBC www.bbc.com

Al‐Jazeera www.aljazeera.com

Newseum www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages


WRITE THE HEADLINE

ACTIVITY AND DATE: _______________________________________________________________ My prediction: My Name:

My headline:

MEDIA SOURCE

HEADLINE

Actual headlines about the same debate, candidate, or topic Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com

New York Times www.nytimes.com

Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com


http://www.washingtonpost.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/

http://www.wsj.com/

WRITE THE HEADLINE

MEDIA SOURCE HEADLINE C‐SPAN www.cspan.org

CNN www.cnn.com

Fox News www.foxnews.com

Politico www.politico.com

BBC www.bbc.com

Al‐Jazeera www.aljazeera.com


http://www.cspan.org/

http://www.foxnews.com/

http://www.politico.com/

http://www.bbc.com/

http://www.aljazeera.com/

CHECK THE FACTS

Learning about the candidates and issues and want to check the facts?

1. Ask or look for evidence

2. Read what other fact‐checkers have found

3. Search Google ‐ and keep searching, using different keywords

4. Search the Deep Web, including the Wayback Machine

5. Look for experts with different perspectives

6. Check books and publications

7. Ask yourself: what else do I need to find and analyze before my fact‐checking is a success?

Here's a resource from PolitiFact: 7 Steps to Better Fact Checking www.politifact.com/truth‐o‐meter/article/2014/aug/20/7‐steps‐better‐fact‐checking/

Fact checking sites

Google www.Google.com

PolitiFact www.politifact.com

FactCheck www.factcheck.org

Washington Post Fact Checker www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact‐checker/


http://www.google.com/

https://archive.org/web/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/aug/20/7-steps-better-fact-checking/



http://www.google.com/

http://www.politifact.com/

http://www.factcheck.org/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/

WHAT’S YOUR RESPONSE?

Watch a debate on TV or the web. Play the role of the opposite candidate or political party.

Write and/or deliver your opposition response. Be sure to address key points the candidate made.

Why would YOUR ideas and solutions be better?

Debate name _________________________________________________________________ and date My response to: ____________________________________________________

(candidate name or political party name): Key points the other candidate made: My ideas and solutions are: My ideas and solutions are better because: Other information I want to share about myself, my ideas, or my opposition:


5 tips for being an active, informed voter

1. LEARN Learn about the candidates, the government offices they are running for, and any other key issues in the election.

If you find there is too much information, or too many candidates, one way to start is with an issue you care about (education, environment, jobs, healthcare, etc.). Then find information about the candidates and their views on that one issue.

2. THINK about, and ANALYZE, the information Do you have enough information to make a decision? (if not, find more information!)

• Is this information helpful? Is it from a good, truthful source? Does it fit with other facts you know? How does it make you feel?

• Why is the candidate running for office? What information do I need to decide if he/she is qualified for the position, and will be a good representative?

Tip: In an election, focus more on the individual candidates, their ideas, and their solutions ‐ and less on the political parties and their platforms.

3. DECIDE: Choose your candidate, or position on an issue Review what you have learned about the candidates. Based on the information you know, rate the candidates, and use that information to make a good decision. Consider the candidate’s background, positions, traits, and any other information important to you. Did they share ideas and solutions, or mostly complain? Decide which candidate you think will do the best job.

4. TAKE ACTION Active citizens and leaders don’t just read and think about information. They take action with it! One important opportunity for citizens to participate in democracy and in the community is by voting…every year. It is important to cast a ballot to make your voice heard!

You can make your voice heard outside of voting, too. Share your ideas and solutions for community problems, or report on a government meeting, leader or issue.

5. STAY ENGAGED: Keep paying attention and being involved Once you vote, are you finished? NO!

• After the election, look for the official election results. Keep track of the winning candidates ‐ do they keep their campaign promises? do they make good decisions?

• Stay involved ‐ watch or attend government meetings, keep up with the news, and contact elected officials about issues you care about.

If you are in high school, get involved in the Charlotte‐Mecklenburg Youth Council and help to solve community problems. Middle and elementary school students, one way to get involved is by making sure the youth council members – your representatives ‐ know what’s on YOUR mind!

www.GenerationNation.org GenerationNation @GenNation

STUDENT VOICE

SHARE WHAT YOU LEARN, THINK, SEE

Issues and topics important to or impacting youth People: political leaders, candidates, civic leaders, media Government meetings or decisions Events and speeches; media coverage about the elections or issues Your perspective about politics, government or leadership Anything else you think is relevant and interesting!

Tag/follow GenerationNation

@GenNation

@GenerationNation

GenerationNation

Tips for covering a news event

As a student, your perspective is very important – and is often missing from news reports and discussions about civic issues.

Consider your audience. What do people want to know about what happened? What can you tell them (or show with photos) that would be different than traditional media outlets?

How did people react to what was being said? What did YOU think about what was said?

You are the media. That means you help to inform the public about government actions, goals, and activities. The “media” includes traditional media, such as newspaper and TV reporters, as well as bloggers and people sharing information on social media.

Facts and Opinions – both important

o Reporting facts helps people who are not at the event to learn what is happening, who is talking, what you see, who is in the crowd, the location, etc.

o Sharing opinions helps people to learn and understand how the information impacts different people – especially students.


Are the candidates talking to me? - · PDF file · 2015-09-16K‐12 Education...

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