Every week, I like to take a moment to highlight stories about civics education from around the country (and sometimes the world). So here’s a quick round up from the first week in September. There’s a great article from the National Education Association in their magazine, NEA Today, highlighting the efforts of three civics educators. […]
All the President’s Men is a classic movie about the role of the free press in a democratic society. It follows Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post as they painstakingly investigate the Watergate break-in and the subsequent cover up. This is also a film I remember watching when I was in high […]
Controversial issues can be a great way to get your students engaged, and they also make perfect persuasive essay topics. Whether your goal is to explore the controversial issue itself or to teach the mechanics of persuasive writing, controversial issues and persuasive essays go hand in hand. In order to write a good persuasive essay, […]
iCivics is a collection of civics related games to use with your class. Some are great, while some are not so great. They recently released a new game, and we’ll take a look at it today in this Race to Ratify review. Race to Ratify (click here to see the game on iCivics) is a […]
If you’re a political junky like me, then there’s probably nothing you enjoy more than good movies about government and American politics. It doesn’t matter if it’s based on a true story or fictional. The machinations of government, the thrill of a campaign, and the personalities of politics just make for great movies. Some of […]
CNN10 is a great resource for teaching current events. If you watch one of the videos in your class, you’re probably going to want to have a quick discussion afterwards – so here’s a list of CNN10 discussion questions that you can use to get that going. Which story did you find the most interesting? […]
If you’re a civics or social studies teacher, then I don’t need to tell you how important it us to teach government and civics. But, unfortunately, kids can sometimes find it dry and boring. And so, as with all things teaching, you might find yourself thinking about how to teach government in a fun way. […]
Every week, I like to take a minute to look back on what’s happening around the country in civics education. So here’s a quick round up of news articles from this last week of February. The biggest news is a debate raging in the Nebraska legislature. There are also legislative proposals in the Minnesota legislature […]
Paulo Freire was a Brazilian educator with some pretty radical ideas about education and its role in creating better societies. To Freire, education was a revolutionary act. His most famous work is the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. He discussed his practice of literacy education in Brazil. Through his service as the director of adult […]
This Civic Spotlight was submitted by Sunshine. Do you have a story to share? Head over to the submission guidelines page and let me know. I want to put the spotlight on you! If there’s one thing we learn pretty quickly as educators, it’s that there is never enough time. The bell rings while we’re […]