Has the American election campaign been difficult to watch? Imagine if you had to explain it to a class of middle school students. Every four years, teachers in the United States explain how the government works by talking with students about the presidential campaign. But this year, some civics teachers report having difficulty when discussing the campaign. They had to explain concerns about candidates’ behavior and a lack of substance in the political debate. Javaughn Perkins is a teacher at George Washington Middle School in Alexandria, Virginia. He likes to have students watch campaign advertisements to look for their tools of persuasion. Perkins thinks that by the age of 12 or 13 years, students are at a good age to start learning about government. However, the ups and downs of the election campaign has made this year more difficult. There used to be a time when I could literally come in, we'd pop on the Washington Post or CNN or any of the other websites, and I could just go right to the front page and say, 'Let's have a conversation.' Perkins says that this year, newspaper stories are not always a good subject for 8th grade students.
Title: 2016 US Election is Hard for Civics Teachers
Content: <div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/civics_teachers.m4a' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='2016 US Election is Hard for Civics Teachers' data-article-id='2026'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='4833'>Has the American election campaign been difficult to watch?</span> <span data-start-time='4833' data-end-time='11188'>Imagine if you had to explain it to a class of middle school students.</span> <span data-start-time='11188' data-end-time='24271'>Every four years, teachers in the United States explain how the government works by talking with students about the presidential campaign.</span> <span data-start-time='24271' data-end-time='33292'>But this year, some civics teachers report having difficulty when discussing the campaign.</span> <span data-start-time='33292' data-end-time='44188'>They had to explain concerns about candidates’ behavior and a lack of substance in the political debate.</span> <span data-start-time='44188' data-end-time='52792'>Javaughn Perkins is a teacher at George Washington Middle School in Alexandria, Virginia.</span> <span data-start-time='52792' data-end-time='61542'>He likes to have students watch campaign advertisements to look for their tools of persuasion.</span> <span data-start-time='61542' data-end-time='72521'>Perkins thinks that by the age of 12 or 13 years, students are at a good age to start learning about government.</span> <span data-start-time='72521' data-end-time='80896'>However, the ups and downs of the election campaign has made this year more difficult.</span> <span data-start-time='80896' data-end-time='95313'>There used to be a time when I could literally come in, we'd pop on the Washington Post or CNN or any of the other websites, and I could just go right to the front page and say, 'Let's have a conversation.'</span> <span data-start-time='95313' data-end-time='104250'>Perkins says that this year, newspaper stories are not always a good subject for 8th grade students.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/civics_teachers.png'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=7588 data-hint-location='24271' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/what_does_civics_mean.m4a'>What does civics mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='the study of the rights and duties of citizens and of how government works'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/the_study_of_people.m4a'><span>the study of people</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/the_study_of_the_universe.m4a'><span>the study of the universe</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/the_study_of_the_rights_and_duties_of_citizens_and_of_how_government_works.m4a'><span>the study of the rights and duties of citizens and of how government works</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/the_study_of_how_things_work.m4a'><span>the study of how things work</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=7589 data-hint-location='24271' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/what_are_civics_teachers_having_a_hard_time_explaining_to_students.m4a'>What are civics teachers having a hard time explaining to students?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='the presidential campaign '><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/the_presidential_campaign_.m4a'><span>the presidential campaign </span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/sports.m4a'><span>sports</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/science.m4a'><span>science</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/math.m4a'><span>math</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=7590 data-hint-location='52792' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/he_likes_to_have_students_watch_campaign__blank__to_look_for_their_tools_of_persuasion.m4a'>He likes to have students watch campaign <span class='blank'>advertisements</span> to look for their tools of persuasion.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='advertisements'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/slogans.m4a'><span>slogans</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/radio.m4a'><span>radio</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/books.m4a'><span>books</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1518/advertisements.m4a'><span>advertisements</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
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