Students experience American election night at school

On November 8, 2016, nearly a hundred students from the 1^time to the 5^e high school graders gathered at their school to experience American Election Night together.

Spend the evening at school. Tuesday night. Until late, in addition. To experience an activity that combines politics, learning and pleasure.

The idea came from Denis Dubé, teacher in social environment in 2^e secondary toPioneer school, in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures (CS des Découvreurs). With the support of the school, his colleague who teaches history Gilles Bouchard and other volunteer teachers, he organized an extraordinary evening. In fact, the “dinner-election” formula brought together nearly 100 students out of the 350 in the Laure-Gaudreault pavilion, which houses the secondary sector of this school.

"Given the historical nature of the event, it seemed interesting to live this moment with the young people to help them understand the operation and the scope of this election", explains Denis Dubé. The teacher, whom the students nickname "Mr. Actuality", had been simmering the matter since last spring. “Elections are concrete, they allow a lot of relevant concepts to be discussed with young people. In this case in addition, we knew that whatever the result, it would be a historic event, ”he said in an interview with L'École branchée.

In anticipation of the big night ...

Mr. Dubé insisted on the importance of preparation before the event. First of all, there is the pedagogical preparation. With his students, he is used to talking about current affairs at the start of each of his lessons. He had therefore often spoken of this election with them. In addition, he prepared and distributed beforehand to all the students a document which summarized the ideas, which each presidential candidate proposed on ten themes.

Then, for logistics, he toured local businesses to obtain sponsorships. This made it possible to offer a full meal and snacks to participants at minimal cost, to decorate the room and even to offer door prizes.

That same evening, the young people arrived around 6.30 p.m. and their parents had received the information that the whole thing could stretch out until midnight. Two projection screens were installed for the occasion. One displayed the map of the results live from CNN, the other made it possible to alternate between the coverage of the TVA network and the entertainment activities during the evening.

Indeed, it was not just a question of sitting down and looking at the screens. The teachers had prepared activities aimed at making the students better understand what was happening. “They were asked to bring an electronic device, like a tablet, a smart phone, a laptop. It allowed us to play various games and quizzes with tools like Socrative or Kahoot, for example on state capitals, ”adds Mr. Dubé. They also compared the results of the states compared to those of 2012, recalled what are the “grand voters”, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the “swing states”, etc.

Remind young people that their voice matters

If the majority of the students had left at 10 p.m., there were still about twenty left at the very end, around midnight. Denis Dubé believes that the success of the activity comes from the fact that young people can actually take an interest in politics when they take the time to popularize it, when they are made to understand that their voice counts.

The teacher, who notably made his students participate in the “student vote” during the last Canadian federal election, says that even if such an evening requires a lot of preparatory work, he would certainly do it again. “On occasions like these, I really feel like I'm being paid to have fun, and what's more, it's for the benefit of young people! », He concludes.

To have :

• Denis Dubé's Twitter feed 
• His professional blog 
• A radio interview just before the big party