Buffalo Public school teacher is teaming up with some out-of-town colleagues to present a unique lesson for this year's historic Presidential election. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley tells us about Tuesday night's "The History Teacher Presidential Debate".
Keith Hughes is an instructional technology coach in the city school district. He also runs a YouTube channel called "Hip Hughes History". For several years he has used on-line and social media to enhance student learning. This time he wants to help teachers and students in what he describes as an 'extraordinarily challenging for teachers to bring policy into the classroom as it relates to Presidential race.
“But nothing like this has ever happened before, so I think for the 18-year old, first time voter, it’s a very confusing time with maybe not as much guidance that they would have found in their classrooms in previous elections,” said Hughes.
Hughes will appear in the role of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“That’s the game plan. I’m not going to wear a pantsuit. I think we are pretty much going to act as surrogates.
Tom Richey, who also runs a history YouTube, will appear as Republican candidate Donald Trump. “He’s from the great state of South Carolina,” explained Hughes “We definitely have different ideologies. He’s a very smart guy, very intellectual Trump supporter
Hughes isn't giving away too many details about Tuesday night’s debate, but you can expert spontaneous response regarding campaign issues.
“Nicholas Ferroni, who is a social studies teacher, he’s going to moderate the festivities, so he’s taking questions, on-line from Twitter and he’s putting those together. We have some very broad topics that we’re planning on touching, but we’re not getting the questions in advance. We really want to strictly stick to positions, to policies, to ideas and kind of strip away that other stuff, so kids can get the skinny on what the issues are and where people stand on them,” Hughes stated.
City school seniors are all required to take Participation in Government, a civics class, that includes lessons on how to register to vote and for those students who already turned 18, they now have a chance to be decision makers in one of the most talked about races in our nation's history.
