2nd Blog Entry

I taught the U@18 Program this past April for high school seniors.  One of the things I noticed when I talked about voting rights and responsibilities is that many students don't feel that their vote makes a difference.  I think a video such as the following would inspire them to think differently.  Video: How will using this online resource make a permanent change in the way I teach? My grandmother, who died about 12 years ago, taught me the importance of voting. She was about 11 years old when women obtained the right to vote in the United States. She valued that right and never took it for granted. In fact, she was very proud of the fact that she had never missed voting in an election. I can remember driving her to the polls in the last election before her death in 2000. I had to drive the car up on the lawn to get it as close to the front door as I possibly could. It took her every bit of 30 minutes to walk 20 feet and get loaded into the car because she was so crippled with arthritis. She felt it was her responsibility as a citizen to vote, and she valued that responsibility. It was her actions that instilled in me the importance of voting. I often share her story when I speak to students about voting rights and responsibilities because hopefully it will instill in them those same values. However, it often is not conducive to share her story, and a video such as the one above is another way to get that message across to my students. Yes, it is important to teach my students about how to register to vote, how to vote absentee, etc. However, nothing is more important than teaching the students the power of their voice through the power of their vote. As an educator, it is important to always tap into the various domains of learning, and a video such as this can definitely make an impact on the students’ affective domain of learning by teaching them to value the responsibility of voting. Every vote counts. We need to teach our students to make their vote one of them.