Presidential Geography: A Journey Across America
By John Bartke

Overview

This lesson is designed to acquaint the student with a number of presidents and their homes using a variety of interdisciplinary methods. Students will make use of research tools, technology, map reading, math, art, and writing, depending on the parameters the teacher chooses to set. It is designed to go beyond basic presidential biographies into a geographical lesson of America and where and how the presidents lived. It is an extremely flexible lesson and can be easily tailored to meet the needs of any grades from 5th through 11th.

Objectives

Students will:

  • Plan a vacation route visiting eight presidential home sites.
  • Determine the logistics and cost of making a trip to visit the homes of these eight presidents.
  • Learn the states and their capitals as well as other geographical features of the United States.
  • Learn to cooperate in groups to accomplish a difficult project with many facets.

Time Required

This lesson is extremely flexible and can take 5-20 hours of class time, depending on the choices the teachers makes.

Materials

Initial Motivation

Explain to your students that every year when school begins in September, teachers all across America ask their students: "What did you do over Summer Vacation?" Tell the students to imagine the following scenario:

Your family has decided that this summer they will insure that you are going to have something to talk about when school starts. They have decided to make a trip across the country to visit the homes of eight presidents who lived in eight different states (at least one each in the West, South, Midwest, and Northeast), the capitols of those states, Mt. Rushmore, and Washington, D.C. They have also decided that you are the one to plan out this trip. The family only has limited money and time so it is important that you plan the trip well.

Procedures

  1. Divide students into groups of 2-4 (choose a number divisible by the number of presidential homes to be visited). Teachers may decide on how many homes students are to visit. At least four and no more than eight is recommended.
  2. Make sure students know that this is a major project that involves a number of components, all of which will need to be done well. Students will be graded both as individuals and as part of a team. Give them each one/two/three presidents to research rather than having one do biographies, another do maps, etc. It will require greater learning and greater cooperation.
  3. Students will need to draw a poster-size free-hand map of the United States including all of the following:
    1. All 50 states' borders and each state labeled
    2. The capitols of all 50 states, labeled and properly located
    3. Washington, D.C., and Mt. Rushmore labeled and properly located
    4. The Interstate Highway System
    5. Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, and Appalachian Mountains drawn in, labeled, and properly located.
    6. Mississippi, Ohio, Arkansas, Hudson, Colorado, and Missouri Rivers drawn in, labeled and properly located
    7. The locations of the presidential homes to be visited: labeled and properly located.
  4. Teacher's Note: Older students learn a great deal more from drawing a free-hand map than they do from just filling in labels to states where the borders are pre-drawn. It is more frustrating to them, but they actually have to think as each line is drawn, "This is a good thing."
  5. Students will research the biographies of the presidents so that they can choose presidents who come from different states and who lived in different time periods. Students will also have to make sure that they have sufficient information on each of these presidential homes sites (some are non-existent or barely existent).
  6. Students will plan a route from their location to each of the presidential home sites they selected using the least number of miles. They will plan for places to stay (they can be asked to be specific: which hotel/motel costing how much—this information is available from the Internet, AAA, or major hotel chain's 1-800 numbers), budgeting for meals, the cost of gasoline, as well as oil changes each 3,000 miles. How much do hotels in each area cost? How much do meals cost? How much does gasoline cost in each state? Students will also have to determine the time necessary to complete such a trip. Students should be encouraged to think of ways to lower the cost of the trip but maintain the enjoyment.
  7. Put limits on the amount of travel the students may make each day; i.e. they can only be driving for eight hours each day. They must spend 48 hours in Washington, D.C., seeing the sights. While this is not enough time to do everything, students must list what they will see and what they will skip. They must spend 24 hours at Mt. Rushmore.
  8. Students will provide evidence of their work by:
    1. Including a picture, drawing, postcard of Mt. Rushmore
    2. Include eight pictures of sites in Washington, D.C.
    3. Include specific information concerning each hotel/motel, i.e. address, phone number, cost of a room for one night, etc.
  9. Students will have to research the home site of each of their presidents. They should ask themselves where did the presidents live? What types of houses did they live in? Were these homes examples of wealth or relative poverty? Which houses do the students feel would be most enjoyable to live in? In addition to these types of questions they will need to include in their report:
    1. A picture of the president (photo, postcard, drawing, printed)
    2. A picture of the home
    3. A one-page (maximum) description of the home
      1. its location
      2. its architectural style
      3. its furnishings
      4. its color and any interesting characteristics
      5. a description of when the president lived there, with whom, and any interesting events
      6. when is the home open for visitors and how much does it cost
  10. Students will find, illustrate, and describe two additional sites of historic interest that they will pass as the journey on their route.
  11. Some addition possibilities.
    1. The teacher may add of subtract to the number of presidential sites to be visited.
    2. The teacher might also ask details about the temperature each site might be during the time of year the student would be visiting. How should students dress when then visit? Is a raincoat in order or shorts?
    3. Students might be asked to design their own presidential home within a certain time period. What would a presidential home be like in 1820 if the student were to design it? What would have to be considered? What was available? What wasn't available?
    4. Students might also have to research into the president's family. How many children did he have? What about his parents? Did he come from a poor or a wealthy family? Did he leave a great deal to his children or was he poor when he died? What do we know of the president's wife? What did she look like? How did she dress? What did she think of her president being the president? What talents did she bring to the marriage that helped her husband as president?
  12. Students, in their groups, will present their travel plans and evidence to the class, both as individuals and as groups.

Assessment

The most useful manner to evaluate students is to layout the project, let them begin work on it, and then let them decide the rubric for grading. Student-generated rubrics are immensely useful because it is they have ownership over it. This may add an additional hour to your project, but it will be well worth the time spent. If this is not possible, a check-off rubric has been included below.

(Optional) Students can write a 2-5 page paper comparing and contrasting the presidential homes. They will also need to develop a thesis as to which home says the most about the president who lived there.

Additional Resources

In addition to the sites listed in the American President website biography gateways, a variety of Internet sites are listed below that will help the students who have access to the Internet. Of course many more sites exist beyond these.

Sites of General Interest

http://www.ed.gov/free/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
http://www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/
 http://dir.yahoo.com/arts/humanities/history/u_s__history/people/presidents/
http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~cgehrm1/gpoaframes.html

Sites of Presidential Homes

http://www.kmkelly.com/quincy/
http://www.nixonfoundation.org/
http://www.nps.gov/mava/
http://www.monticello.org/
http://www.mountvernon.org/
http://www.thehermitage.com/
http://www.montpelier.org/
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/

Gasoline Prices Guides

www.opisnet.com/retail/

A Few Examples of National Hotel Chains

http://www.Motel6.com/
http://www.hilton.com/
http://www.bestwestern.com/

Interdisciplinary Connections

This is an active interdisciplinary project. Although the project contains a good many flexible options that every teacher might wish to add, they will engage in research, writing, map work, math, and art. Of course, coordinating this effort with other classes might lead to emphasis of different aspects of the project. Connections to art, geography, math, architecture, and language arts classes are all readily done.

John Bartke teaches American literature at Littlerock High School in Littlerock, California and is also an instructor in colonial American and medieval history at Chapman University in Palmdale, California.


Rubric for Presidential Geography Project

Student's Name___________________________________________ Date__________

Part 1: Map

___ All 50 states – labeled and reasonably recognizable
___ Capitals – labeled and properly located
___ Interstate Highways – labeled and properly located
___ Geographic features: ___ Mountains ___ Rivers
___ Additional

Part 2: Trip & Expenses

___ Trip traced out on map
___ All sites visited
___ Mileage determined accurately
___ Time determined accurately
___ Cost of hotels determined accurately
___ Cost of gasoline determined accurately
___ Cost of food determined accurately
___ Cost/Hours of Presidential Homes (entrance fees)
___ Additional

Part 3: Illustrations

___ Illustrations of presidents
___ Illustrations of First Ladies (optional)
___ Illustrations of eight sites in Washington, D.C.
___ Illustration of Mt. Rushmore
___ Illustration of each home
___ Illustration of additional sites

Part 4: Writing

___ Accurate reporting of facts of presidents
___ Research Papers (2-5 pages)
___ Mechanics (spelling, grammar, organization, flow)
___ Accurate Depiction of Theme
___ All presidents' opinions/actions accurately depicted
___ Both compare and contrast
___ Thesis stated and proven

Part 5: Presentation

___ Presence of the presenters
___ Conveying of facts
___ Accuracy
___ Enthusiasm for subject

Part 6: Comparison

___ Rank of mileage (lowest mileage is best)
___ Rank of least time
___ Rank of least costs