Sherrie H. is a High School World History and Government teacher in Tennessee. Over the years she’s taken many groups of students to Presidential Inaugurations and is excited to share a moment in history with them. Below is one of her favorite lesson plans geared towards helping students understand the importance of being an educated voter.
For Sherrie H., teaching Government isn’t just her job—it’s her passion. In addition to being a high school- and college-level teacher, Sherrie also hosts a political talk show and even ran for local office. As the first teacher in her school to take students to Inauguration, it didn’t take too much to convince her students and the community that this is an opportunity of a lifetime. “It is important that students have the opportunity to see the end result of democracy in action. This is what we celebrate—the fact that we as a country can choose our leaders,” Sherrie explains.
“The students are most excited about witnessing this moment in history, or as I explain to them, the chance to experience what will one day be in their own kids’ textbooks.”
However, Sherrie doesn’t want her students to just be there for this historical moment. She wants to make sure each and every one of her travelers truly learns from the opportunity and that it helps them to become educated voters once they’re old enough. Which is why she has her class participate in a lesson she has affectionately called No Name Resume.
Sherrie believes the lesson will help shape the way they approach voting in the future and get the most out of the trip to D.C. “I want students to look past parties and what information is presented to them and encourage them to really do their own research,” she explains.
So how does No Name Resume work?
- Carefully select 10 political figures, past and present.
- Create sample resumes for each one. “I add all real information and try to make each one look as glamorous as possible,” Sherrie says.
- Dedicate a class period to looking through each resume. Encourage students to look over each person’s qualifications, getting a sense for how capable they are.
- Have your students choose their top three and bottom three resumes and talk through how they came to that conclusion.
- After wrapping up the debate about the most qualified resumes, shift the conversation to the lesson behind the activity: Why it’s so important to come to these conclusions on your own, instead of relying on what other people are saying about political candidates.
“The hardest part is to try and keep them from guessing the ‘owner’ of each resume before the lesson is over,” she laughs. “But ultimately I want them to decide for themselves which resume seems like the strongest candidate, rather than relying on the information they hear from those around them.”
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