Presidential "March Madness"

"Presidential Madness"

By: Mr. Banta

I am conducting a simulation on presidents/presidential hopefuls in all of my classes. The main idea is to "answer" the question of how well presidents/hopefuls from different eras would do if they competed against each other in an election.  I am using the format of the March Madness Bracket to conduct this simulation.  Students will be required to complete this project in an effort to educate them about the presidency in a non-traditional manner.

I will be using the progression of the actual tournament to update the presidential bracket.
For example: George Washington is the #1 seed in the Midwest Region.  His "success" throughout the tournament will depend on the school that is actually seeded #1 in that region.

The assignment is broken into 2 parts

• Physical Bracket

1. Students will fill out the attached bracket of presidents/hopefuls, making predictions on how well each president/hopeful will progress throughout the tournament.
2. Accurately predicting the winner is not determined in the grade.

• Written Portion

1. Students will label their Final Four picks on the “Written Portion”
2. 3 facts are to be given for each Final Four pick demonstrating why that president/hopeful is worthy of becoming the “presidential champion”
3. The students will write one paragraph explaining who they picked as the “presidential champion” and why that person is worthy of beating every other president/hopeful in the tournament.

Students will update their bracket in real time during the actual tournament.  A space on the back wall of the classroom will be used to monitor the progress.

In conclusion, the intent of the project is to have students familiarize themselves with our presidents other than a face and number.

Below are Mr. Banta's recaps of each round.

Round One Recap

Round Two Recap

Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight Recap