It's easy to criticize those in power until you're sitting at their desk, faced with the same decisions. A history lesson prompts secondary learners to research the Roosevelt presidencies through the lens of leadership and decision-making. They choose one event handled by either the 26th or 32nd president, create multimedia presentations about what they learned, and analyze the details of an event with an essay in which they imagine they were the president at that time.

Concepts

franklin d. roosevelt, theodore roosevelt, leadership, political leaders, multimedia presentations, united states presidents

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Assign the extension activities to older or advanced classes
• Use the essay as a final assessment for a unit on the history of the early 20th century

Classroom Considerations

• Resource includes a list of possible platforms with which to create final presentations; consider shortening or augmenting the list based on the skill level of your class
• Requires at least four class periods with some at-home work as well
• Additional clips from Ken Burns' documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate History are available here 

Pros

• Provides a presentation rubric that addresses both the content and the speaker's skills, as well as a writing rubric for the final essay
• Prompts class members to engage in thoughtful discussion and purposeful research

Cons

• None

Common Core

W.7.2.a W.8.2.a W.9-10.2.a W.11-12.2.a SL.7.1.a SL.8.1.a SL.9-10.1.a SL.11-12.1.a RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.2 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.3