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Bright Ideas Lesson Plans

Read, Think and Vote

A couple of months ago we had students read an article from The News-Journal about the war resolution being considered by Congress involving Iraq and President Bush´s presidential powers. After reading the article and discussing the subject to make sure they had a clear understanding of the issues involved, the students voted by secret ballet to inform local Congressman John Mica whether he should vote for or against the resolution. The students voted by a 2 to 1 margin for the resolution. My first and second period classes the following day were very interested in how the other classes voted. I then e-mailed the final vote to Congressman Mica´s office. A few days later I received a letter from the Congressman´s office. The Congressman sent a letter and information about Iraq to my home to share with the students. Several days later Congressman Mica voted for the resolution.

I created this lesson to encourage students to participate in democracy. This resolution may have given President Bush the authority to send off two of our teachers, who are in the Reserves, to a possible war. The News-Journal article helped model how students can participate in important decisions affecting our country. We successfully modeled how you can read The News-Journal, decide what your representatives should do about a problem and inform them of where you stand on an issue. The students especially liked the voting procedure.

Our principal, Dr Mongelli, instituted the Read, Think, and Write program at our school. Our lesson, as I told the students that day, was Read, Think and Vote.

John Navarra and Harriet Fordham
9-12 Grade
Pine Ridge High School

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