Teaching Middle School – Holly W, Maui P, and Abby G

Political action in our perspective is the execution of educating younger Americans about politics and political issues, but mostly the importance of voting. We created a political action plan in which we approach the upcoming voting generation from the ages twelve to fourteen because they can change the statistics of younger Americans participating in elections in a positive manner. We planned our political action outline to target our audience by educating them about the voting process and how voters encounter hard-making decisions when it comes to certain political issues that the voter might be for or against. An important point included in this was to emphasize that the students have a voice, so in the future when they would be eligible for voting they will do so to let their voice be heard as “younger Americans.” Therefore, we executed our political action project in order to inform the younger generation about voting, inform them about political issues they were not aware of, and the voting process by having a mock election in which they get to vote.

Our group decided that it would be much more effective to speak to the generation of students ages twelve to fourteen because they will get to vote in the 2016 election for president. We thought of a plan that entailed getting students involved, informing them about politics, and showing them what an election process would be like. By getting permission to speak at Vivian Field Middle School in Farmer’s Branch, Texas, we were able to present to four of Mrs. Taylor’s 7^th grade history classes. During all of the classes we set up a camera in the back of the room to document our presentation by recording our three major points. After an introduction by Maui Puebla announcing that he was a former student and friend of Mrs. Taylor and an explanation of why we were there, I , Holly Williams, began to ask the students a series of questions that they were able to answer yes or no to. These questions were issues that presidential candidates could debate about in an election process that each had a clear democratic and republican view. Once the question was read, if a student were to answer yes to that specific question they would then proceed to stand up while those who answered no would remain seated, then I would tell them if their choice was either democratic or republican depending on the issue. This activity raised awareness of the issues in today’s society and they were able to see which political party they leaned towards to give them an idea of where they could potentially stand in following years. After about ten questions, we moved on to Maui’s prezi discussing the percentages of young voter’s today, reasons for why we do and don’t vote, and encouraging the students to understand that their vote really does matter. This prezi was our main source of awareness among our classes because they got to see how the percentages would apply to each individual class (boy percentages versus girl percentages), they saw why we earned the rights to vote, why some people may not choose to vote, and why we believe they should take the step up to making a difference by voting. Gathering everything that we had already presented, we began to set up a mock election where I asked questions on political issues to Person A (Maui Puebla) and Person B (Abby Garcia) and I response they answered based on who they were actually representing. We did not reveal to the students that Person A was Rick Perry and Person B was Bill White until after they submitted their votes and we announced each class’s winner because we did not want any information they might have heard about either candidate to influence them in one way or another. Through this, the students were able to see how an election process works where sometimes you can even mess up your ballot so your vote wouldn’t count. Finally, I announced a document I had created that students were able to sign (but not forced) that basically said they would pledge to vote in future elections when eligible. Many students came up to sign in every class and these signatures show us how we have impacted this younger generation. Overall, our presentations ran perfect in length for each class; we had the students engaged, attentive, and eager to make their voice active in a positive way.

Raising awareness and coming back with an impact was our main goal going to Vivian Field Middle School and we feel accomplished in both categories. Raising awareness through our stand-up activity and prezi allowed the students to realize that their voice really can make a difference. Our mock-election and “Pledge” document allowed us to see just how we impacted them in a positive direction towards wanting to get out there and vote. Our documentary video shows how all of our actions in this project come together to reach our perspective of political action; informing the younger generation of politics and political issues, but mostly the importance of voting.