My school newspaper came out earlier this week just in time for the election. I knew that my AP Gov class was the lead story about students getting involved in the political process, but I never expected to be the cover picture.
Today in class we had our final pre-election activity, a town hall meeting in which all students played a undecided voter from a swing state. I had made up phoney cover stories for each and they watched the 4 debates in character. So today we had black ranchers from Colorado, a hispanic elderly grandmother who had never voted before, and laid off autoworkers from Ohio all asking questions to my mock obama and mccain. We ended with a mock vote of the undecided and then real vote of the class and as expected we were tied down the middle on both.
I early voted today and am embarassed to admit I said a little prayer over my ballot and kissed it good bye before scanning it. Helping my kids better understand the politcial process this fall has been a highlight of my decade in teaching. Watching Obama tonight gave me so much hope for possibilities in the next four years. It was his "morning in america" moment and it made me proud to know that I cast my vote betting the house on optimism and a real change.
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