The Presidency

The Presidency is a biographical reference for America’s past and current presidents. From the app’s main screen, users tap a president that interests them. A short biography of the president will then appear, and users are able to scroll its content. When ready, users can tap the “Prev.” or “Next” button to access the biography of the president who came before or after the president they selected. Users can tap the “Back to Index” button to return to the app’s main screen.

Instructional Ideas

1. Teachers can ask students, “If we were going to re-elect a past president to regain the presidency in today’s modern age, which president do you think we should re-elect and why?” Students can then use this app and others to research past presidents and make a choice. Students will have to record reasons that support their selection. Teachers can then transition to a class discussion by prompting students to state the president they selected and their reasons for doing so. Afterwards, the teacher can allow other students to make a rebuttal regarding the selection.
2. Teachers can let students choose a president and read the accompanying biography in this app. Next, teachers can have students identify what they think are the three most important facts about the president. Students can then compose a justification that explains why those three facts are the most important. Students can use an Office app to compose their justification and then email it to their teacher or post it to a class website.
3. After reading a biography, students can analyze the text for author bias. For example, students can research the president’s accomplishments and identify which accomplishments were or were not included in the biography. Students can then compose a response that speculates why or why not the accomplishments were included. Students can write their speculation using an Office app or teachers can parlay that research into a class conversation.
4. Teachers can have students read a biography and then create a quiz about the biography. Students can write multiple choice and true/false questions about the biography using an Office app. Students can then email the questions to their teacher, and their teacher can post them to a class website as a reading quiz.
5. After becoming familiar with the biographies included in this app, teachers can assign students other significant, historical individuals and have them compose a biography for that person so it models the biographies in this app. Students can use a search engine app to research the individual and an Office app to write their biographies.

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