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Building an Ideal President Overview Historically, the president has played an important role in defining the time in which he served. Some have fulfilled the Founding Fathers' concept of
the executive as merely a check on legislative policy. Others, like those examined in "An Independent Cast of Mind," have exerted their own character and agenda on a political system that was designed to work by building
consensus, rather than from central authority. Flexible in design, this lesson has many applications. It may be used to follow-up units or lessons that have examined both more and less successful presidents. Furthermore,
it may also be employed as a critical thinking component of a lesson that uses only the video. Students may use this lesson to identify undesirable leadership qualities and propose alternative positive characteristics. The overall
goal of the exercise is to engage students in the process of defining an effective president while at the same time, addressing character issues such as independent thinking and personal accountability. Objectives
Students will:
Time Required This lesson will require one or two days for viewing the videos and organizing information, in addition to another one or two days to design the posters and develop the campaign strategies. Materials
Initial Motivation Assign students to spend about ten minutes writing on the virtues of thinking independently and not succumbing to peer pressure. As a class, the students should discuss their points of view. You
should direct students to relate their perspectives to politics and political figures. Procedures
1. Introduce the video by describing the overall theme of the episode. 2. Distribute the graphic organizer and show the video. Instruct students to complete the chart while viewing "An Independent Cast of Mind."
3. Review the graphic organizer in a full-class discussion. 4. Have students write down some of the closing remarks from the video such as: "[too much individualism is] not a good formula for doing what a
president has to do ... I hope we don't have too many of them. The country would be better off if we took that element out of the grab bag." Hold a short discussion about how these statements relate to the graphic
organizer notes. The purpose is to redirect what students have learned about the possible characteristics of a president (from the remarks) to how those characteristics actually impacted the effectiveness of the four
presidents portrayed in the video. Now that students have identified and organized the characteristics that they feel to be essential to being an effective executive, assign them the task of acting as campaign managers
for fictitious political candidates. In this capacity, have them present their ideal candidates to the class in attractive posters. The posters should reflect the personal characteristics deemed important by the
students and communicate why they feel that these characteristics qualify their candidates to be effective executives. 5. Break the class into groups. Distribute and review the assignment parameters and rubric. 6. Have the groups design campaign strategies and posters to highlight their candidates' strong characteristics. 7. Instruct the groups to present their strategies and posters to the class.
Students should communicate why these characteristics would make their candidates effective presidents.
Assessment Grade the assignment according to the rubric that was distributed to students. Assessment criteria should include the graphic organizer, characteristics that were chosen by the groups, the
campaign poster/strategy, their group work ethic, and grammar. The class may even cast a secret vote at the end of the presentations to select the most effective poster/candidate. Related Works
The character speech given by Michael Douglas at the end of the film, The American President, can give some ideas about how character relates to the office of president.
Russell H. Brock teaches at Greene-Taliaferro High School in Georgia. Building an Ideal President
Graphic Organizer
Building an Ideal President Assignment Parameters and Rubric Content (30%) 20-30 pts - Applies relevant factual information from the video
- Reflects deep understanding of role and responsibility of president - Synthesizes facts, characteristics, and understanding into a persuasive argument for his/her candidate
10-20 pts - Includes some facts from the video
- Reflects some understanding of the executive - Offers some explanation for the characteristics of his/her candidate
0-10 pts - Has not met criteria
Organization (20%)
14-20 pts - Has logical and smooth organization 7-14 pts - Mentions main idea but does not emphasize it - Is loosely organized 0-7 pts - Displays unclear main idea - Demonstrates no organization Creativity (30%)
20-30 pts - Has attractive color design 10-20 pts - Is an unbalanced poster relying too heavily on words or pictures - Has adequate design 0-10 pts - Displays no sign of thought or creativity - Has an apparent lack of concern for appearance Presentation (20%)
14-20 pts - Makes frequent eye contact - Includes information not on the poster in the presentation 7-14 pts - Is inconsistent with some reading and some speaking - Puts whole presentation on the poster 0-7 pts - Is unprepared and reads only what is on the poster
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