The President's Roles and Responsibilities: Understanding the President's Job
Introduction In order to become informed participants in a democracy,
students must learn about the women and men who make decisions concerning their
lives, their country, and the world. The president of the United States is one
such leader. As a nation, we place no greater responsibility on any one individual
than we do on the president. Through these lessons, students learn about the roles
and responsibilities of the U.S. president and their own roles as citizens of
a democracy.
Guiding Questions
What is the job of the president
of the United States? What are the president's roles and responsibilities? How do the president and the public communicate with each other?
Learning
Objectives
After completing these lessons, students will be able to - Identify
and describe the various roles of the president of the United States
- Understand
how the president communicates with the public
- Recognize ways that young
citizens can actively participate in a democracy
- Express their views
in a letter to the president
Preparing to Teach this Lesson: For
background information about the three branches of government and how the president's
role fits in, you may want to review the following page at Ben's
Guide to U.S. Government, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource
Internet Public Library. Background
Information The major functions of the three branches of our government: Legislative—make
laws (decide on rules for people to live by in our country) Example:
The Congress passed a law stating that all American children
are entitled to a free quality education. Executive —implement
laws (plan how to carry out rules and make sure people follow them) Example:
The president and the Department of Education make a plan
to ensure that all children in this country have equal opportunities to learn
how to read, write, and do math. Judicial— interpret
laws (make decisions when people disagree about what laws mean) Example:
The Supreme Court decided in 1954 that it is illegal to keep
a student from attending a public school because of race. At the time, there were
separate schools for whites and blacks, but the Court determined that this was
not fair because having separate schools resulted in unequal opportunities for
children to learn. In preparation for Lesson 1, you may want to familiarize
yourself with roles and responsibilities associated with the American presidency.
The president's principal roles: - Approve federal laws
(bills) created by Congress (Senate and House of Representatives), which is the
legislative branch of government
- Lead the nation's people, making sure
citizens obey the laws and setting priorities for the country, including helping
the Congress decide how the budget is spent
- Manage the government, making
sure that decisions and programs are being carried out effectively, with the help
of the vice president and appointed cabinet members who head different departments
(agriculture, commerce, defense, education, energy, health and human services,
housing and urban development, interior, justice, labor, state, transportation,
treasury, veterans affairs)
- Represent the U.S. in meetings with leaders
of other countries, including signing treaties and other agreements (with approval
from Congress) on behalf of the U.S.
- Command the U.S. military, including
declaring war (with approval from Congress)
For more information,
visit the following Web sites, which are available through the EDSITEment-reviewed
resource Internet Public Library:
Drawing upon these sources, make a list of
presidential roles for the class. Prepare to discuss these roles with your students,
including examples of tasks related to each role.
In preparation
for Lesson 2, you may want to review "Communicating the Presidency": from the
American Presidency:
A Glorious Burden , available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Internet
Public Library which provides background information about how the president
has communicated with the public throughout history. You should also review
the "Children Write to the President" activity from The
American Presidency Web site, located on the Smithsonian National Museum of
American History, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource American
Memory Project at the Library of Congress. (Click on "Hands-on Activities"
and then on "Children Write to the President.") You may also want to review
the stages of the writing process with the students: Prewriting—planning
what you will write Drafting—writing the first copy without
worrying too much about how good it is Revising—making
changes in words and sentences to improve your writing so that people will understand
what you want to say Editing—fixing punctuation, capitalization,
spelling, grammar, and usage to make sure that your writing clearly and correctly
communicates your thoughts Publishing—writing a final
copy that looks finished Suggested ActivitiesLesson
1: Understanding the President's Job: The Role of the President Lesson
2: Understanding the President's Job: President for a Day
Lesson 1: Understanding the President's
Job: The Role of the President Begin by reviewing the three branches of
U.S. government: executive, legislative, and judicial. You may want to project
slides that give a good overview of this governmental structure, located on Ben's
Guide to U.S. Government, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource
Internet Public Library, to give students a context
for discussing the role of the president. Ask students what they know about
the president's job. What does the president do? They can give general descriptions
(e.g., represent our country internationally as chief diplomat) or specific examples
(e.g., meet with leaders of other countries to decide what to do about terrorism).
Write down the ideas for all to see. If possible, group related ideas into a concept
map with "The President's Job" in the center as the main idea, different roles
at the next level, and then specific tasks for each role. Alternatively, make
a two-column chart with roles and associated sample tasks. After determining what
students know, share with them your list of roles that make up the presidency,
connecting to relevant ideas from the class ideas where appropriate. Before
or after the student brainstorming, you can describe some sample presidential
tasks such as these: - Visit a school and talk about the new education
bill
- Call the Prime Minister of India to discuss trade between India and
the U.S.
- Meet with Congress about how to spend Americans' tax money
- Sign a Congressional bill that helps to protect people's civil rights and
prevent discrimination
- Meet with advisors to discuss U.S. foreign policy
- Meet with Russian President Putin to discuss how Russia
and the U.S. can work together to improve life for people in both countries
- Present the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the U.S. Air Force Academy
- Make a speech about the importance of ensuring that senior citizens can get
the medicine they need through Medicare
You can also get an overview
of the President's daily schedule at the White
House Press Briefings page, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource
Internet Public Library, for other current examples.
Engage students in conversation about these roles and tasks, drawing on current
examples from today's presidency. You may want to read a task and ask students
to figure out which role it matches. You may also want to show students images
of the President in action from White
House Photo Essays, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Internet
Public Library. Lesson 2:
Understanding the President's Job: President for a Day With
the class, work through the interactive online activity "President for a Day!"
from The PBS Kids
Democracy Project, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Great
American Speeches. This is a simulation of a typical day on the job as president,
in which students make choices about which duties to perform. You can do this
activity as a whole class using an LCD projector, in small groups around a few
computers, or individually in a computer lab, depending on students' abilities
and access to technology (computers with Internet connections). If no Internet
connection is available to use with students, you can go through the activity
and print out all of the pages for a low-tech version. You can read students the
choices about what to do next, take a class vote, and then read them the text
describing the activities they select and show them the pictures. As another
offline alternative, you can ask students to contribute pages to a book called
"If I were President." Each student can make a page in which he or she writes
and illustrates a statement beginning with "If I were President…" Then the pages
can be combined into a class book. You may want to provide students with some
ideas about current issues and potential presidential priorities in terms that
they can understand to give them some ideas about what they might do if president. Extending
the Lesson- Students who are writing can write brief biographies or
create multimedia slide shows or Web sites about selected presidents. The Selected
EDSITEment Web sites listed below provide excellent resource material. Students
can work in small groups or individually.
- Each student can make a
page for a book of presidents, with a picture, basic facts, and a completed sentence
that reads, "President ______ is remembered for…"
- Groups of students
can make simple multimedia slide shows on different presidents, including a picture,
basic facts, and major accomplishments, with each student creating one slide.
- Each student can take on the persona of a particular president and
give a speech to the class, focusing on key facts, issues, and accomplishments
from his presidency.
Other Extension Activities- In
small groups, students can dramatize "A Day in the Life of the President" based
on what they have learned in this lesson.
- Help kids understand how the
government affects their lives through The PBS Kids
Democracy Project.
- Help kids understand the voting process through
The PBS Kids Democracy
Project.
- You can take kindergarteners on a virtual tour of the White
House guided by Spotty, the White House dog.
- You can play a matching
game with young students about children who grew up in the White House at The
American Presidency: A
Glorious Burden Activities Page. (Click on "Hands-on Presidential Activities
and then "All the President's Children.")
Selected EDSITEment Websites
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