Multiple Perspective Critique What the lesson was: The lesson depicted in the video was a starter on taxes,

but would also fall under the larger topic of fiscal and monetary policy. The lesson was given to a group of twelfth grade advanced students at Clarke Central High School in April 2014. In the video clip I discuss two different tax philosophies. In the video I explain Herman Cains tax philosophy when he was running for president in 2012 and I show a video put out by his campaign that explains his plan. The video is five minutes long, but I cut it off at the three minute mark. The video I also show is a video of President Obama explaining his tax plan and I explain what kind of plan he is presenting as well. This video is three minutes long.The starter lasted almost fourteen minutes in its entirety. After the starter, the students took notes on insurance and asset protection. What I notice about watching the video myself, is that when I pose a question there is usually some sort of response and engagement from the students. I also seem to stay at the front of the class a lot and do not walk around much during this lesson. However, I do look confident even though I sometimes fumble for the right wording in certain situations. The students seemed to be engaged. When I pose a question I would get multiple answers. If their actions had to be characterized, they would be characterized as being the perfect students (what I mean by perfect is the stereotypical view of good students). They are not being disruptive and would respond to me when I asked questions. The students are listening to information being presented to them, while not all the students may have been engaged, it was clear from

the responses to the questions and other questions that they posed that most were engaged. Analyzation/Critique: In this starter I wanted the students to see that there were multiple philosophies regarding taxes. While there are hundreds of philosophies regarding taxes, I wanted to concentrate on theories that are prominent in todays political discourse. I also wanted to hear the perspectives from the people that were presenting the theories, not just me talking about them. By using two popular tax theories of today, I was able to show students that there are for one, different theories and two, debates on taxes occur all the time. I want them to realize that there many different theories on taxes because they need to be exposed to different theories to become more educated about the world around them and the views that exist. If my students do not understand that there are multiple theories to taxation then they may become ignorant or closed minded instead of looking perspectives that may make them change their mind. The first perspective that I showed was Herman Cain and his flat tax. In retrospect, I should have discussed his exact plan more because his tax plan was not a simple flat tax, but a hybrid between a flat tax and fair tax. I feel this way because I feel like I did not give the theory justice. I feel like I did not explain his plan well enough. I started by alluding to taxes and politics. I wanted the students to know that these two things are often intertwined and thus makes all the more important to think about when they are voting. When I was about to show the video that depicted Herman Cains tax plan, I wanted the students to know that the video on Herman Cains tax plan was coming from a certain perspective, his campaign. I wanted the students to watch the clip

thinking of that perspective, so they would be more attentive to the facts that were presented in the video. As the video played I did not want to interject too much because it was such a short clip (3:00) and I do not think it would have necessarily been beneficial. I stopped the movie with some time left because not all the material was needed and I wanted to keep their engagement. After I showed the video to the students, I showed the students a picture of Herman Cain so they students could put a face with a name. Once I began to explain who Herman Cain was, one student remembered who he was, and I should have elaborated more on her answer, but I failed to do so. The reason why I did not address her comment in moment was that I was in the middle of explaining who he was. However, I should have simply gone back to her and asked her what she knew about the situation .I asked the students if there were any problems with Herman Cains staff making the video. I asked the class this question because I wanted to them to think critically about the things they watch and hear and the sources of those materials. The students were not able to recognize that their might be a bias in the video clip, I had to explain to them that the Cain campaign were the ones producing those numbers and that we should pay attention and think critically about that when listening to others facts. However, one student was able to recognize that Herman Cains video kind of supported the flat tax theory. When I asked what the main point of the videos a few students answered, with one student saying that, We pay to much.I also pointed out the cartoon on the powerpoint presentation. I wanted to show them something that would counteract the Herman Cain video, in order for them to see that not everyone agrees with that view and that there are arguments against his plan.

The next action that I took during this lesson was to show a video of President Obama describing his tax plan. I asked the students what a progressive tax rate was, and one student answered correctly that it was tax on the higher class people. Also, one student noted that President Obama wants a progressive tax plan, but the student did not know the exact plan. Before I showed the video, I explained to them the basics behind what President Obamas plan was and the differences it had with Herman Cains. At one point during the video I paused it to bring attention to the fact that both President Obama and Herman wanted their tax plans to be simple. I did this to show that politicians though running against one another will still sometimes use the same strategies to garner votes. After the video, I ask what they video was about and one student responded that President Obama wanted to raise taxes, which showed me that they were engaged in the video. At the end of the starter, I again tell the students that there are many different tax theories, but for the purposes of this lesson, I wanted to show the students some of the more popular ones currently and have them exposed to people who are influential and how they approach taxes. One student who came in late asked what a flat tax was as I was explaining it, him asking that question shows me that he was engaged at that moment and was curious to know the answer. Conclusion: In this lesson or starter I was able to show the students in my class that there are different views on taxes. I wanted to show them these multiple perspectives because the people advocating for tax changes will affect their lives increasingly as they get older. While I was not able to present all the different theories on taxes, I did present some present and popular views on taxes. In retrospect I wish I would have been able

to explain the reasoning behind the particular persons view on taxes, but time was limited to go into a real in depth look.