Even when the stakes are low, you still need to know how to handle defeat. It was this driving principle that motivated Laura Pasek, a third and fourth grade general studies teacher, to conclude her simulation of a presidential election at the Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor with drafting acceptance speeches--and concession speeches.  Since the early days of September, her students had enthusiastically thrown themselves into a simulated election of 1800, incumbent John Adams vs. Vice President Thomas Jefferson. The students had hosted party conventions, plastered school walls with campaign ads, organized a presidential debate, and canvassed all the grades of the elementary school.     Read more...