By Amy Wallot
Amy.wallot@education.ky.gov

After weeks of following the 2012 presidential race, students in Vincent Tinker’s AP Government class at Lafayette High School (Fayette County) talked about the re-election of President Barack Obama.  Every day leading up to the election, his class spent a few minutes reviewing election news.

“We’ve been learning about the election step-by-step as it happened,” Tinker said.

The day after the election they watched the President’s acceptance speech, looked at how newspapers covered the results and discussed the breakdown of votes. The class will study the election more in-depth in the spring, learning about the political parties, interest groups, media coverage and the election process.

This is the first year the AP Government class has been open to freshman. According to Tinker, the interest from students has been so great that he is teaching it for three class periods.

Vincent Tinker discusses breakdown of local votes in the presidential election with his AP Government class at Lafayette High School (Fayette County).Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012

Vincent Tinker discusses the breakdown of local votes in the presidential election with his AP Government class at Lafayette High School (Fayette County). Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012

Freshman Rai Utomo listens to Vincent Tinker's discuss the presidential election results during his AP Government class at Lafayette High School (Fayette County). Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012

Freshman Rai Utomo listens to Vincent Tinker discuss the presidential election results.
Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012

After weeks of discussing the election in class, sophomore Loretta Peterson listens to teacher Vincent Tinker talk about the results of the presidential election.Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012

After weeks of discussing the election in class, sophomore Loretta Peterson listens to teacher Vincent Tinker talk about the results of the presidential election. Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012

Freshman Alex Elias reads the USA Today's analysis of the presidential election during her AP Government class.Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012

Freshman Alex Elias reads the USA Today’s analysis of the presidential election during her AP Government class. Photo by Amy Wallot, Nov. 7, 2012