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Implementation Project Reflection: Presidential Roles
Introduction:
In this unit twelfth grade government students are learning about the Executive Branch, in
this lesson in particular they are learning about the roles a president can fulfill. The president, like
a teacher wears many different hats, in fact, there are seven different roles he (or she) can take
on – Chief of State, Commander in Chief, Chief Executive, Chief Diplomat, Party Leader, Economic
Planner, and Chief Legislator. While wearing each of these hats the president has certain duties
and responsibilities he must perform. This lesson is meant to teach about these roles and then
have the students apply their newly acquired knowledge.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
 Academic:
o Understand the different roles of the president.
o Apply knowledge to example situations and identify the presidential role.
o Understand the Government SOL standard as follows: GOVT.7 The student will
demonstrate knowledge of the organization and powers of the national government by:
– examining the executive branch;
– analyzing the relationship between the three branches in a system of checks and
balances.
 Intellectual:
o Exhibit good discussion skills.
o Cooperate with partners while applying knowledge.
o Use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
o Exhibit that they understand how to use technology in an appropriate manner by staying
on task.
o Exhibit good behavior skills in a new setting.
Materials:
 Presidential Roles Power Point – This a UDL power point wherein students can go through the
power point at their own pace. It includes videos and sound bites that will enhance their
learning.
 Presidential Roles Game – This a simulation-type game from pbs.org for kids. Students get to
be president for a day; they get to decide at different points throughout the day what they
want to do as president. Choices include meeting the Queen of England, hosting a dinner for
ambassadors from Italy, meeting with the National Security Advisor, signing a bill, calling the
military to action, and discussing reelection ideas with a member of the House of
Representatives.
 Presidential Roles Worksheet – This worksheet is set up very similar to the game that the
students played on pbs.org. Students are required to apply the information from the power
point to this worksheet; for each choice they have identify which role the president is fulfilling.
 Ch. 9 Worksheet – Students can fill this worksheet out while going through the power point; it
follows the power point and is meant to help students comprehend the material.
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 Ch. 9 Notes – These notes are online; they are a condensed version of notes based in the
book.
 Computers and headphones – Obviously these are important because this is how the students
will access the power point and hear the audio portions of it.
Description:
Prep
 Have the power point already loaded onto the computers in lab 207
 Make sure the students have the notes worksheet
 Explain the rules of the computer lab
 Explain what we will be doing in the lab:
 They will be going a power point while filling out the back page of their Chapter 9 Worksheet.
Then they will play a game where they pretend to be the president for a day. Afterwards,
they will fill out a worksheet wherein they will look at an example of a presidential role and
then identify the role that corresponds to that activity.
Day 1
 Enter the computer lab and pick a computer.
 Students will go through the UDL Power point at their own speed, take notes, etc.
 At a certain point stop and ask if anyone has any questions, clarify any confusions.
 Have the students go through the game at their own pace.
 Print out the article at the end of the game.
 After they have finished with the game, complete the roles worksheet.
 Attach the article to the roles worksheet when it is complete.
Day 2
 Go over and grade the Presidential Roles Worksheet. Discuss what the students put down and
why.
Evaluation:
The assessment is the Presidential Roles Worksheet; students are required to apply the
information they were given in the power point to this worksheet. For each choice that they can
make (they are president and they have to decide what they want to do each hour), the students
must identify the role that they would be fulfilling. For example, if the president was to meet with
his National Security Advisor he would be fulfilling his Chief Diplomat role. Or, if the president
signed a bill he would be performing a Chief Legislator’s duty. I have included a couple of other
examples that appeared on the worksheet:
 To the dedication ceremony for a new national memorial
 Put the United States military on alert.
 Giving the State of the Union address to the country
____Chief of State ______
__Commander in Chief___
____Chief Executive______
Results:
This lesson depended on a lot of application of knowledge and it was interesting to see
how the students responded to that. A lot of them asked where in the power point or the game
that they could find the answers. When I told them that they would have to think for themselves
and apply their knowledge they were appalled. Since it was application of knowledge, many
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students did not do as well as they normally do, but overall the outcome was good. By the end of
the lesson the students really seemed to understand the presidential roles and corresponding
examples.
I think that my cooperating teacher really liked this lesson; he mentioned that he wanted
to use it again next year. He was not present for the time in the lab, but he did observe the class
when we went over the worksheet. It was at this time that I realized a couple of flaws with the
worksheet, but for the most part it was a great learning experience, for both me and my
students.
Lessons Learned:
I learned a lot when implementing this lesson.
 The students needed headphones so that they could hear the audio bits of the power point,
but they were very confused when nothing happened right away. So I think in the future I
will put some music in the power point at the beginning, maybe “Hail to the Chief”.
 I think either the directions on the worksheet or the oral directions that I give need to be
clarified. Students seemed to be very confused. I had to explain it to students individually or
in small groups before they understood. One way to fix this may be to work through a couple
of examples as a group.
 When the students finished the power point and game I think that we should have gone back
to the room. They would get distracted with the computer and not complete the Presidential
Roles Worksheet. Maybe an even better solution would have been to have a lap top cart. That
way students could use the computer as long as they needed it and then they could put it
away and finish the worksheet.
 There are quite a few flaws with the Presidential Roles Worksheet as well. I did not realize it
until I went over it with my students but the choices are rather vague so the answers are
debatable. In some instances a choice can fall under two or more different presidential roles,
but in other cases the choice’s role is very ambiguous. For example, the choice “To greet a
group of Japanese leaders and discuss trade” is ambiguous because the presidential role
could be either a Chief Diplomat or an Economic Planner. Or, in the instance of “Meeting with
executives from The New York Times” the presidential role could be either Chief Executive or
Party Leader. So I clearly need to work on making the choices less vague or even slightly
easier to figure out so that they are daunted by the task.