Major and Minor Political Parties in U.S. History and Modern Times

Your students might have questions about our 2-party system, the differences between the Democratic and Republican parties, and what it means to be an Independent or a member of a third party. Major and Minor Political Parties in U.S. History and Modern Times-- Text and Questions is a 27-page interactive lesson plan which will answer your 7th through 9th grade students questions. (This lesson could also be used for 10th to 12th graders.) After doing a class K-W-L chart on our political party system, teachers can choose to give their students a two-column formatted text for annotation or "talking to the text" (to practice reading strategies, such as clarifying, questioning, connecting, and inferring), or as a single column copy of the text. This is then followed by critical thinking discussion questions. Finally, students revisit the K-W-L by identifying what they learned from this. Generally, I have introduced this lesson after students have explored what it means to have political viewpoints and what their political beliefs are.

The Resource includes the following:

• a hyperlinked Table of Contents

• About this Resource which orients teachers to everything the resource contains

• link to Forced Copy of Google Doc

• Standards, Objectives, and Learning Targets (including goals related to the reading strategies--clarifying, questions, connecting, and inferring

• Essential Question: How do the dynamics between major and minor political parties shape the American political landscape?

• 3 Guiding Questions:

  • What are the fundamental ideological differences between the Democratic and Republican parties, and how do these differences influence political decision-making and policy formation in the United States?

  • What factors might lead an individual to choose independence or align with a third party instead of the Democratic or Republican parties? How do these choices impact the political system?

  • What are the implications of a divided government in the United States? How does the balance of power between branches of government affect governance, policymaking, and the functioning of the political system.

• KWL Chart

• Tips for Talking to the Text Bookmark

• 2 versions of the text: single column and double column for annotating

• Discussion Questions and Key