Big Apple Social Studies: Design a Political Party

I use this project with my Participation in Government classes to engage the students in the development and role that political parties play in the United States government system. Particularly of interest now since the 2018 midterm elections just occurred and the 2020 elections are going to arrive before we know it! This project calls for students to come together in groups of four or five and develop their own political party. Each group is charged with developing a political party name, slogan, logo, press release, party platform, and stump speech. One member of the group will also represent the party as the presidential candidate. This person will participate in a class debate positioning each of the party candidates against one another to discuss their party's positions on key policy issues. After the debate has concluded, each candidate is given time to read their stump speech before each student exercises their right to vote in a class presidential election. The class is then provided with a link to a google form to vote for the candidate they most resonated with.

My students love this project. Their engagement is through the roof with this project and the students really get into the role of designing their own political platforms based off of their beliefs. Many of the students have shared with me that this project helped them to better understand political parties and the process of campaigning in the United States political system. New to this project are the Google Forms incorporated for class elections. In addition, the project has recently been revamped to include a pathway for teachers to discuss the process of impeachment through a simulation activity. Google forms are provided to encourage an impeachment simulation with teachers having to develop their own scenario.

The logos, ideas, and speeches these groups have shared are so creative. It really is great to see a project captivate a class in such a way where the students are able to easily apply it to their own personal lives. Below are some pictures of previous logos created by some of my students and also a preview of the project itself. If you want a copy of the materials, it is available in my store on Teacher Pay Teacher (TpT) by clicking on this link (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Big-Apple-Social-Studies).