Lesson Plan Guide

Name: John P. Truesdell

Lesson Title: What makes a candidate qualified for the Presidency?
Lesson Length: 70 minutes
Unit: Executive Branch
Course: U.S. Government
Grade Level: 11/12

Considering the context:

 Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to teach students the formal qualifications
for the Presidency of the United States, as well as to make students conscious of
the many informal qualifications that are considered when analyzing potential
candidates.

 Lesson in Unit Context: This lesson is the second day of a unit about the
executive branch. Prior to this lesson, students will have had a lesson about the
Electoral College, learning the math behind how a President gets elected. The
lesson also had students investigate the weaknesses and strengths of this electoral
system. Thus, this lesson connects to the prior days’ content because it naturally
transitions from looking at the process of being elected, to the personal
qualifications of those seeking to be elected. This lesson will be used to then
transition into a lesson about the actual powers and responsibilities s of the
Presidential office. Thus, the unit seeks to follow the steps a candidate would if
becoming elected.

 Goals/Objectives:

Students will be able to:

 Analyze the purposes, organization, functions, and processes of the
executive branch as enumerated in Article II of the Constitution (M.C.C.E
3.1.2)
 Explain the concept of public opinion, factors that shape it, and
contrasting views on the role it should play in public politics (M.C.C.E
3.5.4)
 3.5.6 Explain the significance of campaigns and elections in American
politics, current criticisms of campaigns, and proposals for their reform
(M.C.C.E 3.5.6)
 Explain the distinction between citizens by birth, naturalized citizens, and
non-citizens (M.C.C.E 5.2.1)

Considering the learner:

Coming into this lesson, I think students will have a very vague idea of
many of the qualifications that exist for becoming President without realizing it.
Most having lived in the US for their entire lives, these students have seen
 multiple Presidents that have many common features and attributes. Thus, a key
to this lesson with be helping student to identify these qualifications, many
informal, as well as teaching them additional formal qualifications which they
may not be as familiar with.
The second hour period that is being observed is a class that has two types
of students. One half of the class loves to ask questions and stay actively engaged
in class, sharing their opinions whenever they have the chance. The other half of
the class struggles to pay attention, with many students trying to get work done
for other classes or putting their heads down to sleep. Thus, for this lesson I am
hoping to get students up and moving while they think, preventing many of the
poor behaviors that this class is prone to, while empowering the learning styles of
my active students. This should help make the learning experience stronger for
everyone involved.
The class does have multiple IEP students, so combining a small amount
of lecture, with lots of good discussion, and then writing will help appeal to
students who may struggle in one of these categories, but thrive in others. In
addition, for my students who are ELL learners, I will make sure to give very
clear directions and plenty of wait time in order to make sure they can participate
with the rest of the class.

Considering the content:

The majority intellectual problem of this lesson will ask student identify
traits, characteristics, and standards that are unique to qualifying someone for the
office of the Presidency. Great emphasis will be put on the fact that surely there
are more popular people within our country, but they are not chosen to lead us.
Thus, students will explore and learn what specific qualifications make someone a
viable candidate for being President in our political system by the end of the
lesson.
The major concept that will be taught in this lesson is the idea of a
“qualified Presidential candidate”. Students often know many of our past
Presidents, but they have a far harder time explaining what all these men have had
in common. In the upcoming 2012 election, many students will be becoming
first time voters. Thus, it is important for students to be able to understand why
certain people are chosen to run, and what makes them stronger or weaker
potential candidates. Understanding this key piece of civic knowledge cannot be
done without a solid understanding of what a “qualified Presidential candidate”
looks like, and what exact informal and formal qualifications exist for the office.
In order to teach this concept, I will perform a modified concept formation
lesson. Class will start with a warm up activity that seeks to assess students
preconceived understanding of Presidential qualifications by asking them the
driving question for the day. Students will perform a response quick write and
then the class will have a brief discussion so that the teacher can assess the state
of the class. Next, the teacher will lead a deductive concept formation lesson on
the formal qualifications for being President. This will be done using a mini
lecture and class discussion. Following that, informal qualifications will be
 explored. This will be done through a four corners activity where students will
react to different statements related to different informal qualifications. Students
will debate and discuss the importance of different qualifications and becomes
more aware of their impact on campaigning through student to student and teacher
to student interaction. Finally, the lesson will wrap up with a final assessment
that will revisit the driving question of the day and seek to assess whether students
have a better understanding of the necessary qualifications for becoming
President.

Assessment
 Assessment will occur through:
o In class observations of student discussion: If confusion or misconceptions
are observed that are minor, student to teacher interaction or discussion
will be used to explain and resolve the misconception. If the issue is of
large importance, the problem will be addressed to the whole class so that
no major misconception is left unaddressed.
o Monitoring misconceptions through asking extending questions to
students: The teacher will force students to think deeper about their
responses in class by asking follow up questions that forces students to
support their ideas with content evidence. This will allow the teacher to
check for understanding while helping students think more critically.
o Analyzing student writing, comparing their understanding of qualifications
at the beginning of the lesson and then again at the end. Growth in
understanding should be observed. Misconceptions or confusion would be
addressed at the beginning of the next class period so that misconceptions
do not go unaddressed for long periods of time.

Materials
 PowerPoint Presentation Slides
 Four Corner Labels
 Projector/Computer
 Whiteboard
 Guided Notes Handout

Instructional Sequence
1. The teacher should have students pick up the appropriate handout for the day as
students are coming into class.

2. The teacher should start class by making any announcements for the day. In the
context of this classroom, the teacher should remind students that the final exam
is next Wednesday, and that their letter to the mayor is due Tuesday. A final
important that should be announced is that extra credit study guides will be due on
the 16th of March. (2-3 minutes)

3. The teacher should then transition into the lesson for the day. Get students into
government mode by taking 2-3 minutes to ask students what they discussed the
 day before in class. Students should respond with information about the Electoral
College. The teacher should use this discussion to explain that our focus will be
shifting from the process of how the President is elected to the qualifications of
those people that run in the elections the class learned about yesterday. (5
minutes)

4. The teacher should then introduce the objective of the day by introducing the
warm up question for the day. The teacher should emphasize the focus on the
concept of a “qualified Presidential candidate”. The teacher should read the
question to the class, and emphasize that today the class will be exploring what
makes a person qualified to be president. Point out the interesting fact that there
are clearly more popular people in the U.S., but that doesn’t mean they are fit for
the position of President. Thus there must be a specific criterion that is important
to understand in order to realize what type of people are viewed as fitting for the
position. The teacher should then instruct students to write a response to the warm
up question on the allotted space on their handout. (5 minutes)

5. While students are writing the teacher should move around the room to keep
students on task. When time is done, the teacher should listen to the raw
responses of students in order to assess the current understanding of the class. If
misconceptions exist, make sure to point out the idea and to identify that the class
will come back to that point later in the classes’ discussion. The teacher should
also monitor for topics students seem interested in and use them as examples to
engage students later in the lesson. (5 minutes)

6. The teacher should then transition into the mini lecture about formal
qualifications for the Presidency. The teacher should use the provided power
point slides, and make sure to involve students in the lecture by using the follow
question on the slides to engage the class. Students should be taking notes on
these formal qualifications on their handout. (15 minutes)

7. The teacher should then point out to the class that there are more than
constitutional requirements that dictate who becomes president. The teacher
should then point out the need to consider informal qualifications also. The
teacher should then introduce the four corners activity. Explain that the teacher
will introduce potential criteria and that students should move to the corner of the
room that corresponds with their opinion regarding the importance of each factor.

8. For each informal qualification, the teacher should introduce the idea and explain
each idea so that all learners understand what is meant and included in the
statement. The teacher should then allow students a minute or so to think about
the idea and move to the appropriate corner of the room. The teacher should then
use these locations to facilitate a student dialogue where students discuss the
importance of each topic. The teacher should force students to support their
opinion with fact. The teacher should then offer the historical perspective on the
informal qualification to cue students to the historical importance of each
 qualification. The teacher should emphasize that these qualifications are always
changing however, using Barack Obama as a key example. At the end of the
discussion, the teacher should reemphasize the important qualifications discussed
and again remind students of the debatable nature of their importance, reminding
them again of the historical model…but also that that tradition is rapidly
changing. (25 minutes)

9. The class should end with a wrap up writing assessment. The teacher should
introduce the question and cue students to write an appropriate response on the
allotted spot on the student handout. Students should turn in their handout at the
end of the class period. (10 minutes)

10. The teacher should dismiss class when appropriate.