A few weeks ago I wrote a post about bringing the U.S. Presidential election to life in your classroom with Adomatic, a very cool interactive brought to you by the National Constitution Center—one that allows users to create their own campaign commercial.

More good news… Teachers can give their students the opportunity to write a six word stump speech via Address America, a civic engagement project also sponsored by the National Constitution Center in collaboration with SMITH Magazine, home of the Six-Word Memoir project, that coincides with the upcoming election.

So, what is a six word stump anyway? This standard political speech dates back to the 1800s, when candidates stood on sawed-off tree stumps to deliver their message to a crowd. Today, because they are always speaking to different audiences, candidates use the stump speech to keep their ideas focused and consistent.

Believe it or not, candidates can say a lot in six words.  For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt used the following stump in the 1932 Presidential Election: “Restore America to its own people.”

So, what are you waiting for? Get your students involved in the election process by having them create their own stump speech to share their vision for America!

The Address America web site even provides teachers with a Classroom Ready Resource that contains a variety of suggestions regarding how to implement this activity into the classroom: Background info, objectives, National Common Core Standards, lesson plans, examples and assessment options. It doesn’t get much more comprehensive than that!

Classroom Connection:

Utilize the Address America activity to help students become more informed and engaged in the U.S. Presidential election—and most importantly, to allow their voices to be heard. Even if you choose not to use the actual web site to submit students speeches to the online site, teachers can complete this thought-provoking activity in the classroom.

Assignments such as a six word stump speech or a six word memoir requrie students to analyze information and summarize thoughts—both of which are very important critical thinking/21st Century skills.

This tech blog rocks the web! OK—so my line is not exactly ready for the presidential campaign, but hopefully it gave you a laugh for the day!