For Educators
The Quiz,
in your classroom.
A free teacher kit for the World's Smallest Political Quiz: four lesson plans, six student handouts, a slide deck, a rubric and letters home. Run it on paper, or live on students' own devices.
Free·ZIP, 3.4 MB·PDF plus editable Word and PowerPoint·US Letter·No sign-up
What's in the kit
Several lesson plans. Pick the one that fits your class.
The kit has lesson plans for one class period, a three-day unit, a film day, and a term-long comparison. Teach one as written, combine them, or take a single worksheet. Every file is written for a high school civics or government class, prints cleanly in black and white, and comes in an editable version.
Lesson plans
L1 · L2 · L3 · L4Four ways to teach the Quiz, from a single period to a whole term. Each lists its timing, the handouts it uses, and discussion prompts.
Student handouts
H1 – H6The two-sided Quiz sheet, Predict and Reflect, a family take-home, a steelman worksheet, the film viewing sheet, and the pre/post survey.
Slides
23 slides · Sections A–DA deck that follows the lesson plans, with speaker notes in the PowerPoint version.
Teacher reference
T1 · T2 · T3 · T4 · T5An educator guide, a study guide and answer key for the film, a rubric that scores reasoning rather than positions, letters to families and administrators, and a standards alignment that quotes each indicator.
Editable files
Word and PowerPointThe lesson plans, worksheets, rubric, letters and slides, ready to edit. The Quiz sheet and survey are PDF only, so the scoring stays as written.
Extras
X1 · X2A one-page color Quiz, and the earlier printed edition for teachers who have used it for years.
Four ground rules, in every lesson
- No names on Quiz results. Students answer honestly when a result can’t be traced to them.
- The class sees totals only. Each student’s result stays private.
- No position is ever graded. The rubric grades the reasoning.
- Every region is a respectable answer, and each gets equal time.
"The two big points I keep emphasizing during this lesson are that labels are important to help us to understand the world around us, but that labels also have limits in describing the world around us. We need to use them, but be aware of their limitations."
Live
Or run the Quiz live, on students' own devices.
Same ten statements, scored the same way, so paper and live results can share one class chart. Every lesson in the kit works either way.
Request an educator account
Use the form below. We open your account on quiz.theadvocates.org and email you when it's ready.
Start a session
Put the join code on the board. Students open quiz.theadvocates.org on a phone, tablet or laptop and enter it. Nothing to install.
Reveal the class chart
The chart fills in as students finish. Reveal it when you're ready, and the discussion starts from what the class actually looks like.
Three ways to run it. Sessions for a class, facilitated booths for a school event, and an embed for a school or course website.
Before class. What students see, and what a session keeps, are settings in the portal. Check them against your school's policy, and test a session on the classroom network.
Supports
T5 in the kit quotes each standard and names the lesson activity that meets it.
Film day
An 18-minute film that breaks the left–right line.
Beyond Labels, from the Free to Choose Network, starts with how political labels get used as weapons, separates economic systems from political ones, and ends with the two-axis map the Quiz uses. It's free on YouTube, and the kit builds a class period around it.
- L3 A viewing plan for the period, with pause points
- H5 Cold definitions before the film and twelve viewing questions
- T2 Segment summaries, key terms, essay prompts and an answer key
From classrooms
What teachers tell us.
Quoted with permission. Names and schools withheld.
I teach American Government to seniors in high school. Most come into my class with the idea that you're either liberal or conservative. Your quiz is amazing and I love using it in my classroom. Before ever discussing political parties, this quiz gives a great introduction to the unit. Thank you for providing such a great tool.High school American Government teacher, Georgia
What [my students] have discovered is that the World's Smallest Political Quiz is pretty darn good at accurately predicting their ideology — [its] results compare favorably to 100 question tests.12th-grade AP U.S. Government teacher, Michigan public school
Used the Quiz with a class?
Tell us what worked and what didn't. Two sentences is plenty, and it shapes the next edition of the kit.
classroom@theadvocates.org →Educator account
Request educator materials.
The kit downloads free, with no form. Fill this in to run the Quiz live, to get printed copies, or to let us know your class is using it.
What the account gives you
- Live sessions with a join code and a class chart you reveal when ready
- Facilitated booths for a school event
- An embed for a school or course website
Just want the paper kit?
- No form needed. Download the kit and start with the START HERE sheet.
- Questions: classroom@theadvocates.org
Educator FAQ
Is it really free? What's the catch?
How much class time does it take?
Which grades is it written for?
Can I change the materials?
What do students need for a live session?
Do students' names go on their results?
Where do I get the film?
A question that's not here, or a story from your classroom? Email classroom@theadvocates.org.