Enduring

Understanding #4: Social Studies teaching is Interdisciplinary and Connects Students to the
World around Them

Artifact # 4: Why Presidents Opinions Change - Warm Up
Abstract:

The lesson topic was the Louisiana Purchase. Thomas Jefferson is the president of the United
States during the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson believed in strict construction of the Constitution
meaning that he believe you only have the powers specifically given in the Constitution. This would
mean that the Louisiana Purchase by Jefferson is illegal according to his interpretation. Jefferson moves
forward with the Louisiana Purchase despite these reservations. I wanted students to explore why
presidents change their opinions. In order to do this, I decided to look at President Obama as an
example.

For a warm up activity, I put up several quotes stated by Senator Obama prior to becoming the
president. I also had the actions that President Obama had taken that contradicted these quotes on the
projector. I then had the students work in pairs and turn and talk with their partner to come up with
several reasons why President Obama contradicted himself once he became president. Students then
shared out the reasons why presidents changed their opinions and we had a class discussion. I then
used this warm up as a lead in to our lesson on the Louisiana Purchase on that day.

This lesson demonstrates my mastery of the enduring understanding mentioned above because
I connected this idea of presidents changing their opinions to todays world. We were able to look at
several of the things Senator Obama was interested in doing and the realities of being the president.
Going through this discussion, students understood how difficult the job of the presidency is and how
opinions often change once given the power of the presidency. This helped students understand why
Jefferson went through with the Louisiana Purchase even though it contradicted his constitutional
principles.