Year 9 Election – Social Media (suitable for lower achievers) PLEAWA Presentation Year 9 Election – Social Media (suitable for lower achievers)

2019 Elections As the 2019 Elections happened in the same term as we were teaching Civics & Citizenship we incorporated current events into our teaching. My classes were encouraged to read the newspapers, physical and on-line, ask their parents questions, listen to the radio and also look at social media

Every session we would have a 10 minute discussion on the current issues and how each party was handling it. This led to using a gallery walk in the room with each political party listed and the students would add issues, discussions, or any relevant information related to the party as they came into class or as we were working during class time

Social Media As the students could not get onto social media at school and I wasn’t going to use my log on, they were encouraged to take photos and put them on a Connect page and we discussed them in class the next day. (Samples on the next slide)

We looked at the colours, wording, and tone used Students also bought in pamphlets and letters received in their letterboxes and we compared them We noted that they were all glossy and bright to catch the eye. And students also noted that their parents said they did not receive as many as other years.

Results The class then looked at why they didn’t receive as many in the post, but that there were many posts on social media. They determined through the use of t-charts and tables created in their groups that it was easier to get the changing messages out through social media rather than physical pamphlets.

Some groups also looked at the role social media played in some people voting. That young people are more receptive to social media than a physical piece of paper. Also that it may have been an environmental issue to not have the physical paper. The classes also did their own election vote on the Friday before the Federal election and the results did not match what actually happened.

Sum up Students were fully engaged in all aspects of the topic. They became quite competitive to see who could post the most political posts to our Connect page. They were interested in the issues not just the politicians and most gained a different perspective of political life I was also able to incorporate topics such as the HoR and the Senate and the students gained a better understanding of the concepts

This task also helped students when we did our own political party task. They had an idea of what policies were and how each party would make promises to its constituents. This helped them form their own policies and promises which were quite well researched