Political Analysts: The Talk Show
 By Mira Spiegel-Cohen

Overview

Presidential elections inspire controversy and heated debate. We are captivated by the ideas of political analysts and television has allowed experts from all sides to deliver their opinions.  The public is presented a variety of television talk show options such as Crossfire and Meet the Press.  In recent elections, we have even seen candidates appear on the late night talk shows.

For this assignment, students will follow the presidential primaries.  They will research background information on the candidates' lives and political positions.  Students will then analyze the candidates regarding their ability to capture the party's nomination.  The students will create a mock talk show as a culminating activity.  This activity can be modified to suit classrooms for middle to high school.

Objectives

Students will:

Research and record the personal and professional background of a presidential candidate

  • Record information on the candidate's political positions
  • Compare the candidate's political position to the party platform
  • Present and debate their analyses in front of the class

Materials

Newspapers, news magazines

  • Platforms of the Democratic and Republican Parties
  • National party websites

Time Required

The "bare bones" lesson plan includes one class period of explaining the assignment and sharing results and about two weeks of homework time. The lesson, in full, will probably take two to three class periods and the same or more homework time. Note that students should already have background knowledge of political parties and their platforms. Otherwise, an additional class period or two is necessary to have the students attain this information.

Initial Motivation

Choose one or more of the following choices:

a. Ask the students whether they have ever seen a political talk show.  Provide examples.  You may even want to bring in a tape of a show such as Crossfire. 

b. Ask the students to describe the players in the talk show, i.e., hosts and guests.

c. Ask the students to describe the format of the talk show: questions and answers and responses by the host and other guests.

d. Ask the students to describe what makes the show interesting, i.e., well-developed responses and creative questions

Procedures

1. Explain to the students that they will be working over the next few weeks to create their own talk show in class. 

2. Ask the students to define the terms "presidential primary" and "party platform."

3. Provide the students with a list, or ask the students to create a list of the candidates in the presidential election.  Match the candidate with his/her party.

4. Ask the students to pick a candidate to follow for a period of time.

5. Provide students with the candidate worksheet.  You may choose to use this worksheet even if you do not want to engage in the talk show activity.

    Instruct students:  Compare your candidate's stance on two of the worksheet issues to the party platform. Are your candidate's views aligned with the party platform? If not, what are the differences? What effects do you think these differences will produce? The answer will require about three paragraphs of response.  (20 points)

    Make a prediction about your candidate. Does your candidate have what it takes to win his/her party's nomination? Why or why not? Explain. The answer will require about three paragraphs of response.  (20 points)

    Teacher's Note:  Make sure that students discuss their candidate's personal qualities and appeal in addition to his/her stance on the issues.  Ask students if they think their candidate will appeal to the majority of the electorate?  Why or why not?

6. Each student will need to prepare a question they would like to ask a presidential candidate.  Have students turn their questions in.

7. Choose a host and students to play each presidential candidate.  You can choose the players randomly or can hand pick the players in advance; also, the teacher may want to serve as the host of the talk show.

8. You may want to ask the students to make decorations for the talk show although this is not necessary.

9. Conduct the talk show by choosing from the list of questions and asking each candidate questions.  Allow time for each candidate to respond to each question.  You may want to set a time limit for responses such as 2 minutes.  You may want to choose a format where each candidate is given the same or different questions.

Assessment

1.  The number of points each question is assigned is written in parenthesis next to the question.

2.  Talk Show: Students can be given up to five points for creating a strong question for the host.

    Players: You may want to assign extra credit if you only use a few students in the talk show or, if everyone is used, you may use the following scale:

9-10: Answered each question accurately, spoke within expected time limit, used appealing arguments or anecdotes

8:   Answered most questions accurately, spoke within expected time limit, used appealing arguments or anecdotes

7:  Answered some questions accurately, spoke within expected time limit, used some appealing arguments

6:   Answered few questions accurately, usually spoke within time limit

0-5:  Answered most or no questions accurately, had trouble staying within time limit, did not present arguments in an appealing manner

Additional Resources

The following websites may be useful in providing background or additional information to the lesson:

CNN Interactive: http://www.cnn.com
CNN/Time All politics: http://www.allpolitics.com
Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov
Rock the Vote: http://www.rockthevote.org

Interdisciplinary Connections

You may want to arrange to tape the show in the media center if the school has a media program.  You may arrange to have the show taped run on the school or local TV or radio channel.  Speech and debate classes can easily adapt this format to present issues and party platform information. 

Mira Spiegel-Cohen teaches AP American Government and World History at Beverly Hills High School in California.

Researching the Candidate You will be researching a presidential candidate.  Complete the following worksheet using information that you gather from news sources such as newspapers, television, radio, the Internet and news magazines.  You will also need to use the party platform to help you.

1. Write the name of the candidate you have chosen.

 

 

 

 

2. Discuss the candidate's personal and professional background including previous jobs held, birthplace, marital status and number of children. (10 points)

 

 

 

 

3. Describe the candidate's stance on the following, using 3-4 sentences for each issue: (20 points)

Gun control

 

Abortion

 

Education (vouchers, prayer in schools, etc.)

 

Foreign affairs

 

Health Care

 

Two other issues of your choice (list and describe)