Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – As Presque Isle Middle School seventh-graders go, so goes the nation.
On Election Day, the students capped off an interdisciplinary election unit by voting for president, and Barack Obama was the overwhelming favorite.
“The election unit covered all the subjects,” said social studies teacher Kevin Sipe. “In English class, they read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and did related projects; in social studies, we took six major issues of the campaign – the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, abortion, energy policy, health care and the environment – and had the kids debate those issues in class. We also talked about the Constitution and balance of power, how a bill becomes a law, and did current events almost daily following the candidates and their campaigns. The kids read the newspaper and watched the news.
“In math, they talked about the Electoral College and did a lot of work on numbers … how you come up with the magic number of 270. In science, they looked at environmental issues – mostly around global warming – that were talked about in the campaign, and what the candidates would do to solve those issues,” he said. “Then all the kids took part in a mock election. We set up voting booths for the kids, we had clerks who actually checked them through, we got registration cards from the Presque Isle clerk and had them fill those out, and we had mock ballots for them to look at so they knew what they were going to vote on, and then we took them down and they all voted.”
In addition to voting for president, the seventh-graders also cast their ballots for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and student council.
Sipe said the teachers talked to the students about the referendum questions that faced Maine voters, but felt they didn’t go into enough detail “for the students to make an educated decision about those votes.”
The seventh-grade teachers met as a group this summer to map out how the election unit would go.
“All seven of us met to do a scope and sequence,” said Sipe, “who was going to do what, what materials we were going to need, and setting up our lesson plans.”
The day following the election, Sipe said the student results for president were compared with Maine’s results to see how the mock election was similar or different.
“We found it was quite similar,” he said. “Our mock election actually was a pretty good predictor of how Maine went both in the presidential election, and how the state went in the Senate and House of Representatives.”
Sixty-one percent of the seventh-graders voted for Obama, while 38 percent voted for McCain. For U.S. Congress, 79 percent voted for Mike Michaud, while 21 percent opted for John Frary. For the U.S. Senate, 77 percent of the students cast their ballots for Susan Collins, while 23 percent voted for Tom Allen.
“Every time we’ve done a mock election,” said Sipe, “it is amazing how much it mirrors the adult population. I think, at this age, they’re still very much affected by what their parents think and that’s reflected in how they vote. It usually comes out very close.”
Social studies teacher Jay Blackstone said he was happy with how the unit went.
“Our goal was to educate the students about the Constitution and the election process,” he said. “They learn about this when they’re very young; I taught fourth grade, and even then you do some of the branches of government and things like that, so by having this election unit we were able to add more detail to it, and tie everything together.
“I recorded some of the debates and we would watch parts of it and discuss the issues that were going on,” Blackstone said. “The debates were a very popular part of the unit for the kids. They liked to see what the candidates looked like and how they reacted to different things. We also showed John McCain’s concession speech and Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. The kids were very attentive and asked a lot of good questions. I’m very pleased with how things went.”
Student Shea Brown said she enjoyed the election unit.
“I thought it was interesting. I really hadn’t thought about paying attention to the election before, and I liked learning new things about our candidates,” she said. “I learned the process on how a bill becomes a law and how the president has to either sign it or veto it.
“I also learned about the Constitution and how that works, and what the candidates’ opinions were on different issues,” said Brown, noting that she and her parents had talked about politics in the weeks preceding the election. “I liked actually voting and being able to vote for who we wanted. When I turn 18, I’m planning on voting for real. I think every vote counts and everyone should put their say in.”
Chris Marquis said being able to vote made him feel more “like an adult.”
“I liked being able to vote,” he said. “They had actual ballots and boxes to put them in.”
Marquis also liked getting to the heart of the issues the candidates supported.
“In science, there was a poster and on one side was McCain and three issues that he wanted, and on the other side was Obama and three issues that he wanted. In the middle was one issue that they both wanted. That was pretty fun talking about the issues that the candidates wanted,” he said. “I learned a lot. It’s really important to vote. If you don’t vote, the president can come in and he might do some things that won’t really help contribute. One vote can make a change.”
Prior to class discussion, student Kyle MacCallum “knew nothing” about the Electoral College.
“I always thought that the people elected the president, but it’s actually the people in the Electoral College,” he said. “It was fun participating in the mock election.
“I voted for McCain,” said MacCallum. “I liked his ideas; I liked some of Obama’s, but I liked most of McCain’s. I’ll probably vote when I’m an adult. This was an interesting thing to learn about; I hope our teachers do it again in four years for another class. It’s good for the kids to know how it all works.”
While the election unit has pretty much concluded, Sipe said there are a few things they will continue to talk about with the students.
“As Obama starts picking his cabinet we’ll start looking at cabinet members,” he said. “Certainly when they do the inauguration, we’ll show the students some of that or at least his inaugural speech. It’s going to be an ongoing thing.
“We’ve done this election unit for many years, and to me, this is the best it ever came off,” said Sipe. “I think that’s because the seven of us each brought something very different to it. Instead of one person coming up with the ideas and driving the agenda, it was a much more collaborative effort than it had been in the past, and I think our students got a lot out of it.”
Contributed photo
HAPPY TO HAVE CAST THEIR BALLOTS in a seventh-grade mock election at Presque Isle Middle School are, from left: Kayli Malenfant, Lisa Leggieri and Bobbie Sioux Murchison.
Contributed photo
SEVENTH-GRADERS at Presque Isle Middle School recently took part in a mock election where they voted for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and student council. Here, Sarah Gilson (clerk) hands ballots to, from left: Brittany Hanson, Melanie Biggs, Keanna Daniels and Krista Dewley.
Contributed photo
CASTING THEIR BALLOTS for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and student council are Presque Isle Middle School seventh-graders, from left: Bobbie Sioux Murchison, Blair Bailey and Jonas Kinney.
