Lesson Plan: I’m 18, and I Ran for Office

Essential Questions

• How do we decide which dreams are worth pursuing?
• What is success? What is failure?
• What does it take to reach a big goal?

Literature Connection

• Novel: The Campaign by Leila Sales
• Novel: Running by Natalia Sylvester

Build Background Knowledge (5 minutes)

Have students take our fun, interactive prereading quiz “Test Your Election Knowledge.”  The quiz will prepare students to read the article by activating their prior knowledge about elections and providing information about political campaigns.

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions:

• Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). What does it mean to “run for office”? What is unusual about running for office at age 18? To run for office means to try to get elected into a public position. Running for office at age 18 is unusual because it’s a very young age. Usually, people who run for office are older and have more experience.
• Look at the photos of Sam that are included in the article and read their captions. What do they tell you about him? The photos and captions tell you that Sam ran for state office in Ohio. They also tell you that he went door-to-door to meet voters while campaigning.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (primary election, general election, campaign, legislator, candidate, politics) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow. 

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Set a purpose for reading: Tell students that after reading, they’ll analyze cause-and-effect relationships in the story. Point out the activity at the end of the story. 
• Encourage students to pause at the end of each section so they can monitor their comprehension. Prompt them to take note of sentences they think tell them important ideas in each section, as well as any words or sentences they don’t understand.

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Question (15 minutes)

• The article begins by describing an interaction Sam had with a woman whose house he visited. Why do you think the woman was surprised by Sam’s question, Will you vote for me? (inference) The woman was probably surprised by Sam’s age, as he was only 17 at the time. When he handed her a pamphlet, she might have thought that he was campaigning for someone else, rather than that he was the candidate himself.
• What are some things Sam did during his campaign to get people to vote for him? Who helped Sam run his campaign? (key details) Sam knocked on more than 2,500 doors and talked about his ideas for making Ohio better. He gave interviews and speeches, he was active on Twitter, and he raised more than $20,000. He even gave voters yard signs and pamphlets. His friends and family helped him run his campaign. A friend from high school became his campaign manager, his mom responded to emails and booked events, and his dad took care of the money.
• Why does Sam consider his campaign a success despite losing the election?  (point of view) Sam considers his campaign a success because he helped show that young people have good ideas and care about the world. He also proved that it’s possible to run a positive campaign. In addition, he might have inspired other teens to follow in his footsteps.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

• Based on Sam’s story, why do you think more young people don’t run for office? (critical thinking) The reason more young people don’t run for office might be that it requires quite a bit of time, money, and effort to run a campaign. Sam had the support of his family and friends, but other teens might not have such support. They might also be busy with schoolwork, sports, and other activities. Plus, young people might have to work extra hard compared with older candidates to prove they are qualified for the job.
• Do you think you would want to run for office in your state? Why or why not? (making connections) Answers will vary. Encourage students to use details from the article and their own personal experiences to support their answers.

• Assign students to work in small groups to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Cause and Effect activity.
• Go further: Use our Sequence of Events Skill Builder, available in higher and lower level versions.  (Click here to view all your Skill Builders.)
• Writing prompt: Imagine that you’re running for a seat on your state’s legislature, and you need to create a pamphlet to tell voters who you are and why they should vote for you. Start by writing a paragraph that answers the following questions: What three problems in your state would you tackle first? How would your special skills and point of view help you in the job? What groups of people (such as students, artists, or homeless people) would you stand up for?