Lesson #1
We created a lesson plan for a twelfth grade government class using “The Ultimate Approval Rating,” by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr..  Our lesson would take place towards the end of the school year and is summative in nature.  We would have studied the American presidents in some way by this point.

We plan to introduce the lesson piece by piece, rather than explaining the plan for the entire period at the beginning.

I. Students will brainstorm individually about the qualities of a leader and the qualities of a great president. (3 minutes)
II. The class, as a whole, will come up with a list of the qualities of a leader and of a great president.  What is specific to being a great president?  What does it mean to be a great president?  Is that person effective?  Does he achieve social change?  Stability?  A lasting impact?  (15 minutes)
III. Create small groups by having the students count off.  Have the small groups rank the following list of presidents from Great to Failure: Lincoln, FDR, JFK, Buchanan, Nixon, T. Roosevelt, Johnson, Jefferson, Reagan, and Clinton.  Write the list down.  (15-20 minutes)
IV. We present Schlessinger’s ideas in Power Point presentation.  The presentation will include the ’96 Tally, as well as text summarizing the article.  (5 minutes)
V. The students will compare what they have come up with to what “The Jury” came up with.  They will evaluate and criticize both their own list and the Jury’s list.  (10 minutes)
VI. We will relate the lesson to contemporary ideas.  We will remind the students of their responsibility to choose a president, and ask if these values will be important in choosing that person.  (5 minutes)
 OBJECTIVES/GOALS:

Essential Question:
What makes a good leader?

Lesson Questions:
-What are the qualities of a good leader?
-What are the qualities of a great president?
-What is greatness?
-What is failure?

Students should come to a better understanding of what makes a great president.  They will come up with specific qualities both on their own and as a class.  According to those lists, they will evaluate how presidents in the past have fared on a scale of failure to greatness.  They will develop a sense of how their own participation in the political system has an effect on choosing a president.

In this lesson, we attempted to develop a variety of facets of understanding, but most importantly, the facet of perspective.  The students should:
-Create their own critical and insightful points of view
-See problems in multiple points of view
-Critique others’ viewpoints, including their own, their classmates’, and Schlessinger’s

Background Information: This lesson takes place in a Senior Government class in May after almost an entire year of learning about the role of the presidency and specific details of most presidential terms.  In addition, all students have completed an academic year of U.S. History and are familiar with the groups of people involved in this lesson.

Materials: Four copies each of seven primary or secondary source documents conveying the opinions and sentiments of the following groups: Seneca Falls Representatives; circa 1820; Black Panther Party, circa 1970; Sioux survivors of Wounded Knee Massacre, circa 1890, White slave and land owners in antebellum South, circa 1850; McCarthy-ite Anticommunists, circa 1950; working class European immigrants, circa 1930; Christian Coalition members, circa 1985.

Lesson Plan:
1.  Homework assigned prior to lesson was to read the Schlesinger article up to the analysis of Clinton’s presidency.
2.  Prior to class the desks are arranged in seven groups of four.  Each has a number (1-7) on the desk.
3.  As students enter the classroom, they are randomly handed a number and asked to sit at the desk that corresponds with that number. (2 minutes)
4.  When all students are seated at their assigned table, the teacher asks if there are any clarifying questions or reactions to the article.  (5 minutes).
5.  Teacher explains directions: “You will become members of different groups in U.S. History.  Your job, like the job of the historians that you read about last night, is to rank the effectiveness of different presidencies.  You will first decide, based on the document you will receive about your group, two or three criteria that your group looks for in an effective President.  Then, with those criteria in mind, you will pick one president to represent a great President, one President to represent an above average President, one as below average, and one as a failure.  Your decisions will depend on your perspective as members of the group you are representing.  You must be able to justify each of your choices.”  Teacher asks for clarifying questions, and then passes out copies of primary or secondary source documents to the groups. (3 minutes)
6.  Students then read the documents, decide on criteria, rank their Presidents, and create justifications for their choices.  (20 minutes)
7.  Each group then picks one or two spokespeople for their group.  The spokespeople present the criteria of a great President in relation to their group’s interest.  They list their four rankings, and then explain their choices for the President they chose as great and the President they chose as a failure.  As students explain, the teacher keeps track on the board of which Presidents were chosen.  (25 minutes)
8.  Homework or discussion, if time allows:  What is the role perspective plays in ranking Presidents?  Discuss the varieties of definitions of “great” and “failure”.  Is there such a thing as a “truly great President”?  Do the historians that ranked the Presidents in the Schlesinger article have their own biases?  What do you think they were?

Activity 1: Question and Answer (10 minutes)
Objective: Assess the students’ knowledge of U.S. presidents, and questioning the factors that create presidential popularity.

Facets explored: Perspective, Explanation.

Today, we are going to be talking about the American presidency and especially examining the question of: Is what makes a good president necessarily a popular president?  And how to define those two terms: “good” and “popular.”

Have written on the board two columns of presidents’ names: one column for the virtually unknown and one for the well-known.

Ask the students if they know anything about the lesser-known presidents: ie Rutherford B. Hayes, Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Howard Taft, etc.  Students may be stumped.  Proceed to ask why these presidents are fairly unknown.  Student answers might include: they didn’t do anything, history books don’t talk about them as much, they weren’t popular, etc.

Ask students of they know anything about the well-known ones: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, etc.  Ask them why these presidents were so popular.  Student answers may include: they did important things (ask students to name a specific incident), they stopped wars, they addressed major issues of the times, etc.

Activity 2:  Lecture (25 minutes)
Objectives: Providing a factual framework for students to work with by comparing a “good” president (Abraham Lincoln) with a “bad” president (Warren Harding).  Comparing a “good” president” with a “popular” president.  Addressing the question: What makes a good leader?  Is a good leader the same as a popular leader?  What is the role of popular opinion in determining the success of the president?

Essential question: How is success in politics measured?

Lincoln vs. Harding: Highlighting important events during their presidencies.  Explain why Lincoln’s achievements became success, whereas Harding’s became overlooked or scandals.  Emphasize that Lincoln is a clear example of a “good” president and Harding is a “bad” one.

Good vs. popular: Lincoln was both good and popular, whereas Harding was a bad yet popular president.  Raise the question then: what is the difference between good and popular?

Good: A good leader is one that challenges the status quo and takes risks to preserve the integrity of his country and his people.  Popular: A leader that appeals to the people’s sentiments.  Give some examples of these combinations: Lincoln was good and popular.  Harding was bad and popular.  Woodrow Wilson was a good president, but unpopular.  Grant was both a failure and unpopular (and an alcoholic.)

Conclusion: Good and popular do not always go hand in hand, as demonstrated by the given examples.  The teacher also hopes students will grasp the power of popular opinion in determining the success of a president even after he has left office and passed away.

Activity 3: Small Group Work (7 minutes)
Objective: Application to today’s conception of the presidency.

Facets explored: Application, Interpretation, Self-Knowledge

Break up class into small groups (4-5 people) to discuss how they, as citizens, would categorize contemporary presidents, namely George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.  Be sure that students can justify their opinions with concrete facts and pertinent events/incidents.

Activity 4: Presentation (13 minutes)
Objective: Students to share results with the class.  Learning respect for one another’s opinions, as well as learning to express one’s views.

Facets explored: Explanation, Self-Knowledge, Perspective.

Have each group nominate a spokesperson to share with the class. The teacher needs to make sure that students know that it is okay and even beneficial to disagree.  There are no wrong answers!

Activity 5: Debate (time permitting)
Objective: Using critical thinking skills to convey and defend one’s opinions.

Facets explored: Explanation, Perspective.

Teacher facilitates as students rise to the occasion and defend their ideas.

Goals for the lesson: Our goal is if for the students to think critically about what qualities are necessary for a person to be a great President.  We want students to be able to leave with a better understanding of how to make an informed decision when voting for a political candidate.

Unit Questions
a) What makes a great President?
b) Is a great President necessarily a popular President?

Lesson
1) Quickwrite (5 minutes)
a) Ask students to take out their daily journal.
b) Have students write their response to the prompt on the board.
i) Prompt: “In your opinion, what qualities make a great President?”

2) Small group discussion (10 minutes)
a) After 5 minutes of writing, ask students to number off 1 to 6 and break into small groups.  Send each small group to a designated area of the room.
b) As a small group, have the students share their responses to the prompt.  Have the students review each member’s response and come to a consensus about the five most important qualities that make a great President and why.
c) Have the group write their list on a piece of butcher paper.

3) Presentations to the class (15 minutes)
a) Post lists in the front of the class.
b) Have each group present their list of qualities to the class and reasoning behind choosing those qualities.
i) As the students present, have those listening ask questions about why the members chose those specific qualities.
ii) Possible questions we will ask those presenting to get the conversation moving:
(1) Why does (blank) quality help a President do a good job?
(2) How does (blank) quality help a President deal with foreign/domestic policy?
(3) Is this quality absolutely necessary for a person to be a great President?
(4)  If a candidate displays these good qualities during a campaign, does that necessarily mean they will continue to have these qualities while in office?
(5) If a candidate displayed these qualities, would you vote for him/her?

4) Question posed to the class (20 minutes)
a) After all the groups have presented and the class has started debating qualities that make a good President, we will ask the class:
i) If a President encompasses all of these qualities will he/she necessarily be a popular President along with being a great President?
b) Have class explore this issue.  In a less formal style then earlier, have students begin discussing qualities that have made past Presidents popular with the general public.
i) Ask whether these popular Presidents were also good Presidents for our nation.
ii) Give examples:
(1) Tell class that in a recent poll published by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., President Reagan was ranked as an “average” President by a group of 32 historians.  However, during his two terms, he had exceedingly high approval ratings from the American people.
(a) Were people naïve about his abilities as a President?
(b) How can we explain the discrepancy between the poll and the approval ratings?
(c) Who is correct, the poll or the American people?  Is this a question we can really answer?
(d) If a candidate/incumbent were popular would that be enough to make you vote for him/her?  Are there more important qualities a candidate or President must have besides just their popularity?

5) Explain homework assignment (5 minutes)
a) Write a 1 to 2 page commentary.
b) Choose a United States President whom you think was either a great President but not popular or a popular President who was not great.  Defend your position for choosing that particular President based on your thoughts and class discussions.
c) Due tomorrow at the beginning of class.

If the lesson runs too long, shorten length of last discussion regarding popularity.

Commentary on Lesson Plan

This lesson plan will be used during a unit on elections and political campaigns.  The students have previously in the year studied the Electoral College, the duties of the executive branch as outlined by the Constitution, our past United States Presidents, and how political campaigns are run.

What Makes a Great Leader?

Student’s Grade Level: 12th
Subject: Civics
Time of Year Lesson is Given: The week before an election when discussion of leadership is at its highest

Lesson Topic:
Through different means of individual, group, and class discussion, this lesson will use the students’ knowledge of U.S. History, World History and current events to encourage them to think critically about what it is that makes a leader great and apply that process to the upcoming elections.

Rationale:
Students’ opinions of present day leaders are often formed by extraneous sources, whether they be the media, parents, friends, teachers or the feelings of the community in which they live.  This lesson will challenge the students to think independently about a compelling question and come up with their own set of criteria in which they will be asked to apply to present and past leaders.

Objectives:
Scrutinizing our leaders is one of the foremost rights that we have as American citizens.  Critical to that responsibly is exercising that right in an intelligent, rational, and considered manner.  In general, the objective of this lesson is two-fold:  First, at the end of this lesson, students should be able to define what, in their own mind, constitutes a great leader and ascribe that definition to past and present-day leaders.  Second, the lesson will empower students to be participants in the upcoming election by enabling them to use that information in a way that helps them act on one of the course’s essential questions, “How can I make a difference in my society?”

Specifically, at the end of the 55-minute period, students should be able to:
? Define, in their own mind, what the characteristics of a great leader are
? Apply that criteria to both present and past leaders
? Use that criteria to support their own claims of great leadership in both the written and oral form
? Think critically and participate thoughtfully in an often highly charged – yet fundamentally important – discussion of our American democratic system
? Use the information generated by the lesson to be civic participants by participating in the election of leaders.

Activities

Setting the Stage  (5 minutes)
Students are asked to individually identify three characteristics of a great leader and support their criteria by writing one or two sentences on why they feel each characteristic is critical to great leadership.

Activity #1: Group Collaboration  (5 minutes)
Students are randomly divided by the instructor into groups of four and told to share their responses with the others in the group and explain why they feel each is critical to great leadership.  After each student has shared with the group, the group will be asked to discuss and choose just three of what they feel are the most vital qualities of great leadership.

Activity #2 Class Discussion:  (15 minutes)
Once groups have decided on three qualities, they will be asked to present their findings to the class, where the instructor will write the qualities on the board.  If more than four unique qualities exist, the class will vote on what it believes to be the most critical to great leadership.

Activity #3 Group Attribution of Qualities to Prominent Leaders and Debate Against Other Leaders  (20 minutes)
Groups will then be assigned one of six prominent leaders of history.  Their objective is to use their prior knowledge of U.S. History, World History and current events to argue for and defend their candidate in a debate against another prominent leader (represented by another group) over who should be considered the greatest.  Each group’s argument should only be based on the four characteristics identified by the class as necessary for great leadership.  By giving specific examples in history, each group should not only argue why their particular leader possesses the requisite qualities, but also why the other leader’s qualities are inadequate in comparison.

Groups will debate the qualities of their leaders in the following format

  George Washington will debate Abraham Lincoln
  Martin Luther King Jr. will debate Mikhail Gorbachev
  Ronald Reagan will debate Bill Clinton

Activity #4: Class Debrief and Assignment  (10 minutes)
Class will discuss the activity and share their individual feelings on the following:
? Whether it is critical to a free society for them to establish criteria on what makes leaders great
? How they felt about only being able to use three qualities to argue in favor or defend their particular leader
? Whether their idea of leadership evolved during the course of the class

The students will then be instructed to take home and read the Schlesinger article and address the following in an essay:
? Whether they agreed with the criteria that historians have used to rate the presidents
? Whether their criteria of what makes a great leader evolved further after reading the article
? What leadership qualities they feel each of the two candidates in the upcoming election has or lacks
? Whether they feel support for one candidate or another is justified using their own criteria for evaluating leaders

Context:
? 12th Grade Government Class
? Part of unit discussing the executive branch of government, nature of the presidency, and how public opinion shapes the presidential policy and vice versa.

Essential Question:  What makes a political leader a great leader?

Objectives:
? Students should be able to understand different perspectives about what makes a president great.
? Students should be able to formulate own criteria and a rubric for a great/average/below average president.
? Students should be able to place different presidents, especially the current president, in that rubric and be able to justify that placement.
? Students should be able to develop decision-making skills in political settings so as to further individual political agency.

Lesson:
? Students individually write down responses to two questions in the following order:
1.  List some presidents that you think are great presidents
2.  List criteria for what you think makes a president great
 (5 minutes)
? Discuss as a class their responses and record their responses.  Use an overhead of the Schlesinger graphic of the different rated presidents (but keep the designations covered up) to keep track of which presidents students named  (circle the different presidents).  Have another student write on the board the criteria for naming each president great.
(15 minutes)
? Brief lecture describing the Schlesinger poll and use quotes from the article to discuss the poll’s criteria.  Reveal polls designations of different presidents.
(10 minutes)
? Break students up into groups of 5 and ask them to do the following as a group:
1.  Develop a rubric to “grade” presidents and be prepared to justify your rubric.  Use butcher paper and markers to make the rubric.
2.  Place current president on the rubric and justify that placement as a group.  Paste a cut out of the current president on the rubric.
3.  Be prepared to present rubrics and your justifications for the criteria and placement to the class tomorrow.
 (20 minutes)
? Clean up tables and supplies. (5 minutes)

Homework:
Due tomorrow:  Ask two other people what presidents they think are great and why.  Write down their responses in 2 or more paragraphs.
Purpose of homework:  To help students develop a greater understanding of different perspectives about what makes a great leader, in particular a president.