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Background and Context
These Government & Elections resources will help students develop a thorough understanding and make connections between historical events, current conversations, and current policy proposals surrounding the issue. This section includes all of the context and content previously included in Close Up’s public policy chapters.
Current Issue Debates
Current Issue Debates are framed by a central question and followed by historical context, an overview of both sides of the topic, and discussion questions to facilitate deliberation in the classroom.
Available for Middle & High School
Available for Middle & High School
Available for Middle & High School
Available for Middle & High School
Available for Middle & High School
Videos from Policymakers
Brought to you by ASP HOMEROOM, through a collaboration between Close Up Foundation and A Starting Point, these supplemental videos are an introduction to policy areas that provide an opportunity for students to hear different perspectives directly from lawmakers.
State Representatives Jasmine Clark (D-GA) & Robert Dickey (R-GA) April 16, 2021
Congressman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) January 6, 2021
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) October 26, 2020
These ready-to-use Government & Elections lesson plans can be utilized in conjunction with any of our resources to enhance the quality of student discourse in the classroom. Our supplemental Civic Readiness Guide provides a recommended lesson plan sequence for using our Current Issues resources.
Videos | October 28, 2020
During this Close Up Conversations webinar, available on-demand, Close Up’s, Mia Charity, discusses ‘LGBTQ Equality’ with Bob Witeck, President of Witeck Communications, Inc. Communications and strategy expert Bob Witeck will discuss LGBTQ rights, focusing on his decade in the Senate, and on the role of corporations in advocating change and acceptance based on his 27 years working […]
Post | October 15, 2020
What is the Electoral College? In 2016, more than 138 million people voted in the general election, but only 538 of them directly voted for president and vice president.1 The reason that both of these statements can be true is the existence of the Electoral College. The Constitution says that rather than voting directly for […]
Videos | October 15, 2020
During this Close Up Conversations webinar, available on-demand, Close Up’s, Eric Adydan, discusses ‘The Art of Political Storytelling’ with Kenny Cunningham, COO of Article III Project.
Post | October 13, 2020
Journaling Task: Reflecting On Political Violence On October 8, the FBI announced that it had thwarted a plot led by a right-wing militia to kidnap and potentially assassinate Governor Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich.1 Whitmer, in an op-ed published in the Washington Post, laid some of the blame at the feet of President Donald Trump, writing: I’m […]
Podcast | October 8, 2020
This episode of Building Bridges looks at the history of televised Presidential Debates going back to the Nixon-Kennedy debates of 1960. We will drill down on the role of the moderator, the 16-year gap in the debates, and we will also look at some of the most fascinating moments in the last 60 years of televised presidential debates.
Podcast | October 5, 2020
This episode of Building Bridges looks at the history of the national political parties’ conventions going back to the first Democratic Convention in Baltimore in 1832 and the first Republican Convention in Philadelphia in 1856. This podcast highlights some of the most famous and infamous moments over that long and often politically turbulent history.
Videos | October 1, 2020
During this seminar, available on-demand, Close Up’s, Joe Geraghty, discusses ‘Voting Rights: From the Civil War to the Present’ with Dr. Frank Smith and Dawn Chitty from the African American Civic War Museum.
Post | September 23, 2020
There are three presidential debates scheduled for September 29, October 15, and October 22, as well as a vice presidential debate taking place on October 7. For many voters, the debates are the best chance to see the differences between the candidates as they decide how to cast their vote in November. Campaigns put a […]