Modern PolarizationAll 5 grade bands · K-2 through APFree download
2012
Lesson plan.
Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney — Obama won re-election over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney despite high unemployment and slow economic recovery from the 2008 crash. The Obama campaign's sophisticated data analytics and ground game proved decisive, turning out supporters in key swing states. Romney's '47 percent' comment (secretly recorded at a private fundraiser) damaged his image as caring only for the wealthy. Sandy, the superstorm, struck a week before the election, giving Obama a bipartisan moment with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that reinforced his presidential image.
What is in each packet
Cover
Cycle metadata + band eyebrow
Lesson plan
Instructor — timing, materials, standards
Reading
Sized to grade band (K-2: ~250 words → AP: ~650)
Background
Curated cycles — 5-7 vocab terms + primary-source excerpt
Student worksheet
K-2: 3 questions → AP: 8, mixed format
Answer key
Instructor — rationale on every item
Discussion prompts
3 prompts tied to era
DBQ (AP only)
Long-essay + 5-point rubric + second source