Current U.S. Senators from Oklahoma (Biography PPT Bundle)

About this resource

What's inside this resource

This informative bundle features PowerPoint presentations detailing the biographies of both current U.S. Senators representing Oklahoma in 2023. Learn background details and career timelines for Republican Senators James Lankford, who has held office since 2015, and Markwayne Mullin, who began his first Senate term in 2023 after serving as a U.S. Congressman. The presentations give overviews of each Senator's personal life including birthdate, education, family details, political experience and offices held, accomplishments and more. Written for grades 7-12, these 90-page total PPT resources can easily be implemented for individual student research or full classroom instruction on modern Oklahoma politicians. The content covers a range of biography topics to aid in social studies lessons.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Students will trace the education, career, and political milestones of a current U.S. Senator using a slide-by-slide biography.
Students will identify the committee assignments and notable legislative votes of Oklahoma's current U.S. Senators.
Students will connect a senator's election history (primaries, runoffs, general elections, vote percentages) to their path into federal office.

Teaching tips

Use the two decks side by side to compare and contrast the two senators' backgrounds, career paths into Congress, and committee roles.
Pause on the January 6, 2021 slides in each deck for a class discussion, since both senators' specific actions that day are described in detail.
Update the closing 'current term ends' slide before use in future school years, since both biographies include specific vote counts and term-end dates tied to the time the file was created.

Skills covered

Government and civics research — students study a real senator's committee assignments, legislative votes, and election history from a structured slide biography.
Chronological biography reading — students follow a person's life and career events in sequence from birth through current office.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What background do Mullin and Lankford share before entering elected office, and how do their paths differ?

Both men are Oklahomans who worked in family or faith-based fields before politics — Mullin took over his father's plumbing business and also owned properties, farms, and a service company, while Lankford worked in Christian ministry, including years as director of a large Christian camp — before each was elected first to the U.S. House and later to the U.S. Senate.