Greatest President Debate

My political science class was actually called "Political Science: The American Presidency". Hence there was a bigger focus on the American Presidency than a typical political science class. Because of this we got to do some pretty cool activities and projects revolving around the American politics. One of the students favorite units was "The Greatest American President Debate" unit. Our class set out with a goal of determining who America's greatest president of all time was. 

Before we began to determine which president was the greatest of all time, we had to determine what exactly the criteria is for a great president. We used categories from C-Span's presidential survey. The class had a discussion on each category and detrmeined it down to 5 main categories. Those categories were as follows; Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, Equal Justice, and International Relations. This meant that all of our debating was base don these five categories and these five categories only. 

To start, we had to rank the presidents and give them their seeding for the bracket. Students broke into groups to callborate and research 4-5 presidents. They then took these presidents and put the information that they found into a presentation that the whole class had access to. The class as a whole then used this presentation in order to make their judgements on American Presidents. Students would then make a tier list (pictured below) With this they could rank each president as Superior, A, B, C, D, F. We then assigned point values to each ranking, put the information into a spreadsheet, and got each presidents average grade value (pictured below). We then used this to create the seeding for the tournament. 

After the seeding was set it was time to begin the debating. We only took the top 32 presidents form the ranking to use in the tournament. Seeing as I only had 26 students, I did not want to use all 45 (I didn't count President Biden as he was still in office). Each student got to pick their president and we begun round one of the debates. We only needed one thing... an official tournament bracket! Luckily, my classroom had just the spot. 

Round one was all about promoting your president. It was set up exactly like a presidential debate that the students would see on TV. The students were in front of the class at their podiums with microphones. I was in the middle/back of the classroom as the official moderator. I would ask a question, each candidate would get to answer, then we would have a quick rebuttal period. The students were roleplaying their presidents, so they answered as if they were their president. It was one on one until we had 16 left. We then moved into round 2. The format was the exact same. Except now, they focused more on attacking the opponent instead of promoting their own. Soon we only had 8 presidents left.

Its worth mentioning that along the way, the losers joined the winners "team" and helped them research and prepare for the debates. They also played a role during the debate as well. While the presidents were debating, their team was allowed to be actively researching and passing notes to them to support their debate performance. 

Up until this point, the students had the questions 3-4 days before the debate. For round 3, the students didn't receive the questions until the beginning of the debate. This way, there was more of an emphasis on the team researching, and supporting during the actual debate. They would actively come up with answers while their candidate was debating. Round 3 we called the "chopped" round. Similar to the TV show, I selected three ingredients of their presidents administration. One positive ingredient, one negative ingredient, and one obscure ingredient. Students had to promote the positive ingredient, defend the negative ingredient, and explain the obscure ingredient. 

The round of four was our final round. It was set up closer to a presidential debate, but all four presidents were debating each other. Similar to a primary debate. The teams did not receive the questions until the day of the debates. This round lasted 2 days, as there was a lot to debate. Round 4 focused on current issues. So students had to answer for their president (who could have served 100 years ago) and determine how they would handle specific current issues. This was by far, my favorite round. Students had to utilize so many skills here, and they really impressed me with how they handled it. 

Up until this point, the students were the ones voting on who wins and advances. For the final round, I brought in 3 unbiased judges to determine the winner. These judges were well educated in politics and history. They judged based on debate performance and accuracy. They collaborated and disucseed each category. In the end, it was decided that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was our winner. 

This is a good example of what I like to utilize in my classrooms. I really enjoy these student led project based units and assignments. In the right applications, I think giving the student control can engage them, reinterest them, and push them to utilize skills they might not even know they have. Anytime, I utilize a project based unit, I try to give students choices along the way, small or large. These choices can give the student a sense of ownership, and push them to new levels.