State of the Union

I had an idea the other day to try to get my students to watch the State of the Union address. I try to get them to pay some attention to the government and what's going on, but things like this can be tricky because if they watch at home, then I have to make them take notes or write summaries, and that adds to my grading. At the end of the semester I just don't have time for it.

So, I teamed up with our government teacher and we offered them extra credit in both of our classes for watching. Then I created Obama Bingo to keep them listening and paying attention. I wasn't sure how many would take us up on it since it was so late (2 and a half hours after school ended), long, and (to them) boring.

We had over 60 kids show up. There are only 90-something in the senior class, so 2/3 is pretty darn good! They played bingo, won some candy, and watched their government at work. At the end I had them write a sentence about what they found the most interesting/surprising/etc. I haven't read most of them yet, but it was clear that they really did listen. I'm totally thrilled!