The upcoming presidential election provides an excellent opportunity to weave news, civics and public affairs directly into your curriculum. This election, in particular, is chock full of relevant themes and issues pretty much guaranteed to tie into the core concepts and standards you teach, and to provoke the attention and interest of your students. From broad national issues pertaining to wealth inequality, social justice, health and social welfare, to California-specific propositions addressing criminal justice, the death penalty, taxation and even food production, election season is an excellent opportunity to engage students in civic affairs and integrate the news into your classroom.
With that in mind, KQED Education is hosting a free elections event just for teachers on October 3 at 5 p.m. at KQED. In addition to introducing our recently-launched news education project, we’ll also present a whole bunch of free election-related teaching resources.
Reporter Scott Shafer will be on hand to answer questions about election issues and connections to youth. And students from the Bay Area Urban Debate League will perform and debate a number of pertinent election-related issues.
And yes, there will be food and drink aplenty.