Lesson 3 – Civic Engagement – Theodore Roosevelt
Audience: 5 grade
Lesson Preparer: Jenna Katuzienski
Standards: VA USII.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical
analysis and responsible citizenship, including the ability to a) analyze and interpret primary and
secondary source documents to increase understanding of events and life in United States history
from 1865 to the present; NSS – C.K-4.5 Roles of a Citizen - What dispositions or traits of
character are important to the preservation and improvement of American democracy?
Objective and Purpose: 1. Given a class discussion of Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy and class
listening session of one of his 1912 campaign speeches, the students will identify Theodore
Roosevelt’s leadership qualities in groups. 2. Given a class discussion of Theodore Roosevelt’s
leadership qualities and class analysis of one of his 1912 campaign speeches, students will write
Theodore Roosevelt a 2 paragraph campaign speech emphasizing his leadership qualities.
Materials/Space/Time: political campaign posters (printed out), computer, projector, speech
handout, highlighters, pencils, notebook paper, construction paper, multiple choice question,
colored pencils, iPads, internet access/typical 5th grade classroom (whole group – 28 students,
small group – 5-6 students)/1hour
Lesson Description:
Introduction:
As motivation, show campaign posters for Theodore Roosevelt from his 1912 election. Discuss
why you might vote for him based off the posters. Allow for students to share with the class why
they might choose one candidate over the other based solely off the posters provided. Lead into a
discussion about the background information about Roosevelt. See background content for
information. Discuss how Roosevelt was a good leader (see background information for specific
leadership strands, civic dispositions, and civic skills to discuss). 10 minutes
Content Focus:
Discuss with the class about how Roosevelt ran for president again in 1912, but lost. Explain that
as a class, everyone will be listening to a speech he gave during his campaign and that a
discussion will be held afterwards about how his speech informs the citizens of the United States
he is a good leader. Tell the students to highlight parts of the speech on their sheet that they think
informs the listener he is a good leader as they listen to the speech. Provide the printed version of
Roosevelt’s 1912 campaign speech to the students with the interpretation on the back. Tell the
class the brief summary of the speech so that the students have a basic understanding of the
content of the speech before listening. Listen to speech from the Authentic History link as a
class. 9-10 minutes. After the speech is listened to, ask the class what in the speech informs
listeners that Roosevelt is a strong leader. Have the students discuss in their small table groups
(5-6 students) and tell the class that one student will be called on to give their table’s best
answer. Remind students that the interpretation of the speech is provided on the back of the
handout, in case the students are having difficulty interpreting the speech. Write a short phrase
on the board that encompasses the table’s answer after the table’s answer is given. After each
group has shared their answer, encourage the students to think of other things Theodore
Roosevelt could have added to his speech to help him win the election. Emphasize that even if
the students thought his speech was well delivered, he still lost the campaign. Allow several
students to share their ideas with the class. 9-10 minutes. Inform the students that their task is to
write two paragraphs as a new speech for Theodore Roosevelt that informs the United States
citizens of his strong leadership qualities and why he should be reelected. Tell the students that
when they are finished, they are to create new campaign poster for Theodore Roosevelt that
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supports the leadership qualities identified in the created speech. Tell the students that their
speech and campaign poster should focus on at least 2 leadership qualities of Theodore
Roosevelt. Explain that students will work individually on their speech and poster. Remind the
students that the leadership qualities identified from the original speech are displayed on the
board to help the students think of new ideas for their speeches. Inform the students that they
must first write their speech before starting their campaign poster. Allow students to work
individually at their desks. When students believe that they are finished with their speech,
provide them with a piece of construction paper and tell them to use their own colored pencils to
create their campaign poster. Provide the students with who need extra help with one-on-one
attention after directing the class. 25 minutes.
Closure:
Ask the students to share a sentence or two from their speech with the class that highlights a
leadership quality of Theodore Roosevelt. Allow each student to share with the class, although
students who do not wish to share should not be forced. Distribute the multiple choice question
as an exit ticket of class and collect the speeches and questions in the basket at the front of the
classroom as the students leave. 5-8 minutes.
Extension:
As a follow-up lesson, have students perform their written speeches for the teacher in the alcove
outside the classroom while the other students. Allow the rest of the students to practice
performing their speeches to themselves in the classroom and to make final touches to their
campaign posters, if needed. Record the student’s voice with the teacher iPad. Present the
students’ speeches and campaign posters to the class and have the students identify the
leadership qualities presented in each speech.
Evaluation
Formative: Observations of student participation during discussions in small groups and with
their partners while creating their speech and campaign posters.
Summative: Students will work individually to write a speech for Theodore Roosevelt and to
create a campaign poster in conjunction with the speech. Above expectations for the speech
would consist of including background content about Theodore Roosevelt and highlighting at
least 3 leadership qualities of his in the created speech. Above expectations of the poster would
include 3 leadership qualities in conjunction with the created speech. Meeting expectations
would consist of little background information about Theodore Roosevelt and highlighting only
1 to 2 leadership qualities in the created speech. Meeting expectations for the poster would
include 2 leadership qualities identified in the speech. Below expectations would consist of no
background information and 1 to no leadership qualities highlighted in the speech created and no
completion of a campaign poster. The final multiple choice question also serves as a summative
evaluation for each individual student.
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Background Content:
Theodore Roosevelt, often referred to as Teddy, was born on October 21, 1858. He spent
his childhood in New York and as a child he liked to read and draw. He also had a strong interest
in animals which lead to him having many household pets. He went to Harvard University in
1876 where he met his wife, Alice. His wife died 4 years later after giving birth to his daughter.
He was very sad and moved out west, leaving his daughter with his sister. He bought a ranch out
west and enjoyed riding horses and looking at the landscape.
In 1895, Teddy returned to New York he we led a corrupt police commission to become
more honest and trustworthy. In 1897, President William McKinley selected Teddy to be
assistant secretary of the navy. Teddy quit this job when war was declared in 1898 and gathered
1,000 volunteers to form the Rough Riders. The Rough Riders fought in the Spanish-American
War in Cuba, making Teddy Roosevelt a hero. After returning from Cuba, he was elected
governor of New York. As governor, he helped fixed many unfair and corrupt businesses in the
state. He also passed laws to improve housing and working conditions of the people. in 1900, he
was elected as vice president for McKinley. However, one year later McKinley was shot, leaving
Teddy as president. He was reelected in 1904. In both of his presidential terms, Teddy was able
to help set up the national parks and forests in the country, helped rid corrupt businesses, helped
build the United States as a global power, built the Panama Canal, and acted as a peacemaker
between Russia and Japan in 1904. He earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. Teddy was also a
strong advocate for immigrants’ equality in the United States. He believed that immigrants come
to the United States for a good reason and believed that immigrants should adjust to American
cultures. He is quoted saying that “[immigrants] should be treated on an exact equality with
everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or
birthplace, or origin.”
Teddy supported William Howard Taft in the 1908 election, but disagreed with how he
ran things in office. Teddy ran for election again in 1912. Unfortunately, he lost to Woodrow
Wilson. Teddy Roosevelt was still happy with the fact that he stated his position to the American
people. He soon became very ill and died on January 6, 1919, leaving Americans very sad.
Teddy was known for his energetic look on life and big smile. He is also thought to be
the United States first environmentalist president. He had a significant impact on the global view
of the United States as a global power.
Roosevelt exhibits civic dispositions by respecting individual worth and human dignity
by advocating for immigrants and fighting for better working and living conditions for the people
of New York as governor.
Leadership strands addressed by Roosevelt include defining knowledge of self and
others. Roosevelt demonstrates that he has knowledge of himself and others in the country and
world and proceeds to use this to establish the United States as a global power. He also practices
leadership through service, as demonstrated in his 1912 campaign speech. He explicitly states
that he will carry out the will of the people and do exactly as they want, offering is services to
the people completely. He also volunteered to fight in the Spanish-American War, bringing
1,000 other volunteers with him.
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References:
Civics K-4. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from
http://www.educationworld.com/standards/national/soc_sci/civics/k_4.shtml
Election of 1912. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from
http://americanpoliticalbuttons.com/election-of-1912.html
Elish, Dan. Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008. Print.
Hollihan, Kerrie Logan. Theodore Roosevelt for Kids: His Life and Times, 21 Activities.
Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2010. Print
Ithaca College. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from
http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/programs/cmd/blogs/posters_and_election_propaganda/the_u.s._electi
on_of_1912:_a_watershed_for_the_cam/#.VFmhWmOrSSo
Potts, Steve. Theodore Roosevelt: A Photo-illustrated Biography. Mankato, MN: Bridgestone,
1996. Print.
Progressive covenant with the people | Library of Congress. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014,
from http://www.loc.gov/item/99391565/
Rappaport, Doreen, and C. Payne F. To Dare Mighty Things: The Life of Theodore Roosevelt.
Print.
The Progressive Covenant With The People, by Theodore Roosevelt (1912). (n.d.). Retrieved
November 5, 2014, from http://www.authentichistory.com/1898-1913/2-progressivism/5wilson/19120800_Progressive_Covenant_With_The_People-Theodore_Roosevelt.html
Theodore Roosevelt On Immigrants. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from
http://politicalvelcraft.org/2012/09/14/theodore-roosevelt-on-immigrants/
Theodore Roosevelt. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from
http://www.biography.com/people/theodore-roosevelt-9463424#death-and-legacy
Link to be used to listen to the 1912 campaign speech:
http://www.authentichistory.com/1898-1913/2-progressivism/5wilson/19120800_Progressive_Covenant_With_The_People-Theodore_Roosevelt.html
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The Progressive Covenant With The People
Performed by Theodore Roosevelt
Recorded August 1912
Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the
people. From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to
promote the general welfare they have become the tools of corrupt interests, which use them
impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an
invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To
destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and
corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. Unhampered by tradition,
uncorrupted by power, undismayed by the magnitude of the task, the new party offers itself as
the instrument of the people, to sweep away old abuses, to build a new and nobler government.
This declaration is our convenant with the people and we hereby bind the party and its
candidates, in state and nation, to the pledges made herein. With all my heart and soul, with
every particle of high purpose that is within me, I pledge you my word to do everything I can to
put every particle of courage, of common sense, and of strength that I have at your disposal, and
to endeavor so far as strength has given me to live up to the obligations you have put upon me,
and to endeavor to carry out in the interest of our whole people the policies to which you have
today solemnly dedicated yourselves in the name of the millions of men and women for whom
you speak.
Surely there never was a fight better worth making than the one in which we are engaged.
It little matters what befalls any one of us who for the time being stand in the forefront of the
battle. I hope we shall win, and I believe that if we can wake the people to what the fight really
means, we shall win. But win or lose, we shall not falter. Whatever fate may at the moment
overtake any of us, the movement itself will not stop. Our cause is based on the eternal principles
of righteousness; even though we who now lead may for the time fail, in the end the cause itself
shall triumph. Six weeks ago, here in Chicago, I spoke to the honest representatives of a
convention which was not dominated by honest men. A convention wherein sat, alas, a majority
of men who, with sneering indifference to every principle of right, so acted as to bring to a
shameful end a party which had been founded over half a century ago by men in whose souls
burned the fire of lofty endeavor. Now to you men, who, in your turn, have come together to
spend and be spent in the endless crusade against wrong, to you who face the future resolute and
confident, to you who strive in a spirit of brotherhood for the betterment of our nation, to you
who gird yourselves for this great new fight in the never-ending warfare for the good of humankind, I say in closing what in that speech I said in closing: we stand at Armageddon, and we
battle for the Lord.
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Interpretation of The Progressive Covenant With The People
Performed by Theodore Roosevelt
Recorded August 1912
There are political parties to protect the people and do what the people want them to. This
is not what the political parties have been doing. Instead of helping and protecting people by
doing what the people want them to, they have been corrupt and only care about what they want
to do. Everyone thinks the government is honest to the people, but it is really not. The person
who will be elected will try to get rid of this bad government that has a corrupt relationship with
business and politics. The new political party is not corrupt like the old political party and wants
to help the USA by getting rid of all the bad things that have happened and make a better new
government. This is our promise to the people of the United States as the new party to be elected
to office. I will do everything I possibly can to live up to the expectations the people have of me
and to do exactly as the people want me to in office.
There has never been a fight that was more important than this. It doesn’t really matter
what happens to any of us that are important in this fight against the corrupt government. I hope
we win and I think that if we help people understand the problems, we will. It doesn’t matter if
we win or lose, we will always keep trying. We stand for something that is very important to
everyone and even if my political party that is in power now is not reelected, we will still win
because our cause will continue. I talked to people in politics here in Chicago 6 weeks ago and
they were a part of the corrupt government. The way the party is now is not the way that the
party was meant to be by the men who founded it. To everyone here who has come together to
fight everything that is wrong, who has the power to change the future, who wants to fix our
nation, who will always fight for the best for all people, we are all here fighting for the right
reasons.
Summary: The political parties that are currently in power are not doing a very good job. They
are being run by dishonest people and this needs to be changed. The party that I am a part of is
faithful, trustworthy, and committed to helping the people of the United States. We are very glad
that people are hearing our argument and hope that we will be elected into office.
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SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Highlighted leadership examples
The Progressive Covenant With The People
Performed by Theodore Roosevelt
Recorded August 1912
Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the
people. From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to
promote the general welfare they have become the tools of corrupt interests, which use them
impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an
invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To
destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and
corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. Unhampered by tradition,
uncorrupted by power, undismayed by the magnitude of the task, the new party offers itself as
the instrument of the people, to sweep away old abuses, to build a new and nobler government.
This declaration is our convenant with the people and we hereby bind the party and its
candidates, in state and nation, to the pledges made herein. With all my heart and soul, with
every particle of high purpose that is within me, I pledge you my word to do everything I can to
put every particle of courage, of common sense, and of strength that I have at your disposal, and
to endeavor so far as strength has given me to live up to the obligations you have put upon me,
and to endeavor to carry out in the interest of our whole people the policies to which you have
today solemnly dedicated yourselves in the name of the millions of men and women for whom
you speak.
Surely there never was a fight better worth making than the one in which we are engaged.
It little matters what befalls any one of us who for the time being stand in the forefront of the
battle. I hope we shall win, and I believe that if we can wake the people to what the fight really
means, we shall win. But win or lose, we shall not falter. Whatever fate may at the moment
overtake any of us, the movement itself will not stop. Our cause is based on the eternal principles
of righteousness; even though we who now lead may for the time fail, in the end the cause itself
shall triumph. Six weeks ago, here in Chicago, I spoke to the honest representatives of a
convention which was not dominated by honest men. A convention wherein sat, alas, a majority
of men who, with sneering indifference to every principle of right, so acted as to bring to a
shameful end a party which had been founded over half a century ago by men in whose souls
burned the fire of lofty endeavor. Now to you men, who, in your turn, have come together to
spend and be spent in the endless crusade against wrong, to you who face the future resolute and
confident, to you who strive in a spirit of brotherhood for the betterment of our nation, to you
who gird yourselves for this great new fight in the never-ending warfare for the good of humankind, I say in closing what in that speech I said in closing: we stand at Armageddon, and we
battle for the Lord.
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SAMPLE STUDENT CREATED TWO PARAGRAPH SPEECH
I am here running for president because the people that are in office now are not doing a
good job. The people that are currently in office are not listening to what you, the people, have to
say. They are also not carrying out the will of the American people. The job of an elected official
is to provide a service to the American people. If I am elected, I will do exactly as you, the
people, want me to do and volunteer all my time and being to the welfare of the country. I
volunteered and fought in the Spanish-American War. I will continue to volunteer my time for
the country.
I also helped to establish the United States as a global power. I am a American citizen
and I know what you, the people of the United States, want and need as citizens. I helped other
countries realize this country’s strength and built our reputation throughout the world. I will
continue to do this if I am elected president.
Summative Multiple Choice Question:
Exit Ticket
Identify on way in which Theodore Roosevelt was a leader.
a. He helped build the Nation’s Capital
b. He volunteered his time with the Rough Riders during the Spanish American War.
c. He gave weekly speeches to the American people about how they can be good citizens.
d. He helped President Taft to create new laws that the American people wanted.
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Sample Student Campaign Poster
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Images to be shown in the introduction:
http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/programs/cmd/blogs/posters_and_election_propaganda/the_u.s._electi
on_of_1912:_a_watershed_for_the_cam/#.VFmhWmOrSSo
http://americanpoliticalbuttons.com/election-of-1912.html
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http://americanpoliticalbuttons.com/election-of-1912.html
http://americanpoliticalbuttons.com/election-of-1912.html
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