C-SPAN Offers 'Classroom-Ready' Coverage of 2008 Presidential Campaign

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Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 3/7/2007

It's not too early to start thinking about the 2008 presidential campaign. C-SPAN, the cable network that airs nonstop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming, is offering educators and students free resources, including downloadable video clips so they can closely track the candidates and their issues.

All teachers and librarians need to do is sign up for C-SPAN Classroom, a free service for middle and high school educators that's designed to enhance the teaching of civics and government through the use of C-SPAN programming.

Each week, C-SPAN Classroom posts free, downloadable video clips of candidate speeches and announcements, political rallies, and other events from the campaign trail that are "classroom-ready" and culled from C-SPAN's political coverage, including its "Road to the White House" program.

C-SPAN's new Campaign 2008 Bus, launched in January from Des Moines, IA, will travel to classrooms and campuses, in partnership with local cable affiliates. The bus will be used as a mobile classroom to demonstrate how the network's political coverage may be incorporated into the classroom. To request a visit by the bus, go to www.Campaign2008Bus.org.

"We want to meet the early demand from teachers for timely, primary resources on the next presidential election," says Joanne Wheeler, vice president of education relations at C-SPAN. "Our goal is to help students and teachers better understand the issues and all of the candidates—not just the front-runners—that are impacting this election."