Category: Current Events

Post-Cemetery Project: Special Election Class

11/13/2016

President-elect Donald Trump met with President Barack Obama at the White House last Thursday.

Reflections on the Cemetery Project (about 5 minutes)

What went well?
What could you/your teacher/we together have done to make this a better experience?
What have you learned?

The 2016 election

The 2016 U.S. presidential election has left many people surprised – even shocked – and looking for answers. As historians (in this case historians of the present), we should avoid the temptation to grasp onto easy or monocausal explanations of this important turning point. The election of Donald Trump as the nation’s forty-fifth president was due to the convergence of several factors.
Our task today is to identify which possible explanations seem most compelling and to leave class having composed a one-sentence argument that prioritizes 2-4 of the most important factors behind his election victory.
- Step 1 Brainstorm: We began by brainstorming some of the reasons that might have led to Trump’s election last Tuesday.
- Step 2 Read: Read excerpts compiled here (Google Doc) from news and opinion articles published since last Wednesday. These are pulled from both print and online sources and reflect a variety of left, centrist, and conservative perspectives. Each excerpt is a footnoted with a link back to the full article from which it was found.
- Step 3 Investigate: With a partner, identify factors from our brainstorming and from the list below for further investigation. You might try searching for key words on https://news.google.com/.
- Step 4 Share: We will share observations drawn from our investigation around the table.
- Step 5 Write: With a partner, draft a statement that prioritizes the top 2-4 factors explaining Trump’s election victory.

Further discussion (if time remains)

Homework: