Procedures

• WARM-UP:

  Begin class by asking the following questions:

  • Who do you consider to be the best president?

  • Why do you believe this?

• INTRODUCTION:

  After reviewing and discussing the students' answers to the warm-up, view the following clip as a class. Have the students respond to the questions listed below.

  VIDEO CLIP: Characteristics of Successful Presidents (1:38)

  • Which of the ten qualities listed do you think are most important when evaluating a president?

  • Which of the ten qualities listed do you think are least important when evaluating a president?

  • What other qualities could also be included?

• EXPLORATION:

  Briefly explain the 2017 Presidential Historians Survey and how the results were compiled. Either as a class or individually, have the students view each of the following videos summarizing the Presidential Historians Survey. Students can either take notes using the Note-Taking Chart handout (Google Doc) or using the Guiding Questions Handout (Google Doc). Students should think critically about these rankings and the factors that were used to determine them.

  Handout: Note-Taking Chart (Google Doc)

  Handout: Guiding Questions (Google Doc)

• VIDEO CLIP: Historians' Rankings of the Best and Worst Presidents (5:51)

  • Who are the top five presidents according to the historians' survey?

  • What reasons does Professor Brinkley give for President Eisenhower's high ranking?

  • Why is Lincoln ranked in the top five?

  • What characteristics do these higher-ranked presidents share?

• VIDEO CLIP: The Bottom Five Ranked Presidents (4:17)

  • Who were the bottom five presidents according to the historians' survey?

  • Why was President Buchanan considered a bad president?

  • What was significant about William Henry Harrison? According to Professors Brinkley and Greene Medford, why are some presidents ranked below him?

  • What characteristics do these lower-ranked presidents share?

• VIDEO CLIP: Rankings of Modern Presidents (2:09)

  • What characteristics and events impacted how these modern presidents are ranked?

  • In your opinion, what might be obstacles in evaluating modern presidents?

  • In your opinion, which modern president do you think will improve in their rankings? Which modern president do you think will drop in their rankings? Explain your answer.

• VIDEO CLIP: Changes in the Role of the President (3:27)

  • How does Richard Norton Smith describe the role of the president?

  • Describe how the role of the president changes depending on the circumstances.

  • Why might it be difficult to compare presidents from different eras?

• VIDEO CLIP: Historical Interpretation and Presidential Rankings (3:24)

  • What event impacted how Lyndon Johnson was viewed immediately after his presidency? Why has this perspective changed?

  • How do current events and beliefs impact how we interpret past presidents?

  • How have people's views of Andrew Jackson changed recently? Why might this be?

• APPLICATION:

  Using the information from the video clips and the note-taking chart, students will write a definition of what they consider to be a "good president?"

  Students will choose or be assigned a president. Using the 2017 Presidential Historian's Survey and other resources like The White House website , they will research the president's life and ranking. For their president, students should provide a written response for each of the following.

  • A summary of their life and accomplishments

  • Current ranking on the 2017 Presidential Historians Survey

  • Change in ranking on the survey and an explanation of why this might be

  • Explanation of why certain individual characteristics were ranked high and low

  • How you would rank this president and why

• CONCLUSION:

  As an exit slip, have the students answer the following question:

  • What factors influence how we evaluate the success of past presidents?

• EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

  Predict Changes- Using the overall rankings from 2017 and the information from the video clips, make a prediction about a president you think will either increase or decrease in the next survey. Provide an explanation of why you think this might be.

  Presidential Comparison- Using the overall rankings from 2017 choose two presidents. Compare their rankings in each of the categories. After researching these presidents and examining their rankings, provide an explanation on how they are similar and different.

• ADDITIONAL PROMPTS:

  • Is it appropriate to compare presidents in different eras? Explain your answer.

  • What are the most important factors for evaluating past presidents? How do these factors change over time?

  • How do wars and crises impact how we view the success of a president?

  • Should we evaluate past presidents using our current beliefs and values or should we evaluate them using the beliefs and values of their time? Explain your answer.