Ideas on How to Act: Be Informed, Speak Up, Act Lesson Plan (Grades 9–12)

• PRINT
• EMAIL

1. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper giving your opinion on an important issue, making sure to support your views with facts.
   
   
2. Have a discussion with someone supporting the opposite viewpoint on an issue. Gather information and have a discussion in which you make arguments using facts to support your position.
   
   
3. Write an article on an important issue for a class or school newspaper. Explain the issue and give background information. Use facts and data to support your position. You could also use facts and data to portray the opposite viewpoint.
   
   
4. Create a chart to educate the public on an important current issue. Present the arguments for each side. Post this chart on the Internet.
   
   
5. Write an explanation of a different viewpoint than you hold on a particular issue so that you can further understand it. Find facts and data to support the oppositional viewpoint.
   
   
6. Take a survey of classmates or other people regarding their viewpoints on a particular issue. Record peoples' opinions and their reasons for holding them. Analyze the data and figure out what the most popular view and least popular view are. What are the common beliefs, and why do you think people feel this way?
   
   
7. Explore a Web site devoted to an issue that you find important. Do you agree with all the information on their site? Do they have other suggestions on things you could do to support your cause? Share your perspectives with the group.
   
   
8. Record a podcast on an important current issue. Give background on the issue and then describe both sides. You could also work together with a partner to each take a side and present your data on each side of the issue.
   
   
9. Create a poster or a political cartoon illustrating your position on an important issue. Give information on the issue and illustrate your viewpoint with facts and data.

Election 2008: McCain Woos Michigan
Tucked among factory machines in a steel stamping plant in Belleville, Michigan, about 300 people crowded onto folding chairs to hear John McCain talk about why he should be the next President and to ask him why as well.

Election 2008: Meet John McCain
Learn more about the life, family, and policies of Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

UNIT PLAN	Democracy: A Big Challenge Presents a unit plan on the drafting and signing of the U.S. Constitution, with an exercise geared towards cooperative learning through research,...
ONLINE ACTIVITY	Election 2008: Kid Reporters Blog the Debates Scholastic Kid Reporters blog the 2008 presidential and vice presidential debates.