Monday, September 24, 2012

myTwitter Roundup - Part Two: The Presidential Debates

BACKGROUND: Our goal is to prepare students for responsible citizenship and life-long engagement in the political process. More specifically, we aim to create Twitter feeds as personalized, annotated miniblogs that connect students to searchable current affairs and political analysis.

See @ParishGOV for more details.

TODAY'S ASSIGNMENT (daily work grade):
  1. Google "Presidential Debates" and do a little background research first. You'll want to be able to answer the following essential question: According to political scientists and political analysts, why are the Presidential Debates important?
  2. Use your academic Twitter feed to find a story that relates to the Presidential Debates (which begin soon... as you've no-doubt discovered).
  3. Re-tweet the link to the story.
  4. Write 3-4 sentences of reflection: start with a brief summary, then maybe share your opinion about the story, perhaps explain the story's connection(s) to our study of government.
  5. Post an excerpt from your writing as a comment to our blog - remember to add a link to the story!
  6. Tweet a comment - of your own (!) - about the Presidential Debates. Add a hashtag: #ParishGov
 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Toward More Civil Political Discourse


1) Celebrity endorsements;
2) Analyzing the way things are said (hand over heart, invoking God, etc.) vs. what is said; and/or
3) Making hyperbolic claims about candidates (terrorist, anti-American, waging a war on women).

Which of these three do you consider to be actually helpful for the average American in deciding whom to support (like a political cartoon uses irony/exaggeration to make a point), which do you consider “white noise”(irrelevant but of no real harm), and which do you consider potentially harmful to the electorate making informed, good choices? If possible, find a specific example (discussed in class or on your own) from this presidential election to analyze.