Exploros | The Role of Active Citizens

The Role of Active Citizens

Students name the four Texans who have served as U.S. president. Then they learn about three civic organizations and people who have been active in them. Next they learn about three Texans who participated in politics. Finally they identify current officials and how to contact them.

This learning experience is designed for device-enabled classrooms. The teacher guides the lesson, and students use embedded resources, social media skills, and critical thinking skills to actively participate. To get access to a free version of the complete lesson, sign up for an exploros account.

Overview

In this experience, students name the four Texans who have served as U.S. president. Then they learn about three civic organizations and people who have been active in them. Next they learn about three Texans who participated in politics. Finally they identify current officials and how to contact them.

If you have access to leveled readers that include biographies of any major Texas civic or political leaders, assign them to the students in parallel to this experience.

Estimated duration: 50-60 minutes, unless you want to include having students actually contact one of the officials

Vocabulary words:

preserve
mission
donate
trailblazer
justice
decorated

Objectives

Identify Texans who have made civic and political contributions.
Explain how to contact public officials.

Engage

Think back to what you learned during Celebrate Freedom week. The United States is a representative democracy. The U.S. Constitution begins with the words, “We the People.” President Abraham Lincoln described the government as one “of the people, by the people, for the people.” In this lesson, you will learn about some of the ways that citizens —the people— can contribute to democracy.

Objectives

Identify Texans who have made civic and political contributions.
Explain how to contact public officials.

These two dogs, named Him and Her, belonged to a U.S. President from Texas.
The photograph was taken at the White House.

There are four U.S. presidents who were either born in Texas or made Texas their homes as adults. How many of them can you name?

Identify the four for students:

34th president: Dwight Eisenhower was born in Denison, although he was raised in Kansas and his military career took him to many other states.
36th president: Lyndon B. Johnson was born in Stonewall and retired to his Texas ranch after the presidency. He also represented Texas as a U.S. Senator.
41st president: George H.W. Bush moved to Texas after his college graduation and began his political career here.
43rd president: George W. Bush grew up in Texas and still lives here on his ranch in Crawford. He also served as Texas governor.

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