It’s Saturday, and I’ve finally had a chance to sleep and recover from a busy few days at the NJEA Convention in Atlantic City. I presented two civics education workshops while I was there, and I made a stop at the meeting of the New Jersey State Board of Education. Here’s a quick rundown of […]
Last night was election night in New Jersey. In case you missed it, Phil Murphy won. Last night was also episode six of ABC’s new sitcom, The Mayor. I watched the latest episode on demand this morning to get caught up. So without further ado, here are some thoughts on how the show can help […]
One way to place an emphasis on civics education is to mandate it. For example, you can modify a state’s high school graduation requirements to include a civics course. But if you don’t want to increase the number of requirements, an alternative solution is to incentivize it. California is headed down this road with a […]
Ben Franklin, I’m a God, son All these rappers pray to me, even Nas one I transcend my race, I represent green faces And I’ma make this classroom like Tigga made Tha Basement – Young Ben, “White Boy Dope” And with that I begin the final song of Young Ben Franklin’s inaugural hip-hop mixtape, “Franklin […]
Here’s a quick round-up of civics-related news from around the country this week. There’s a new online text from Scholastic, stuff related to free speech on college campuses, an op-ed about funding ESSA, and a new civics education law in California. A New Online Civics Text from Scholastic First up, we have a new online […]
The Mayor is a new sitcom on ABC. It tells the story of an undiscovered rapper who runs for mayor as a publicity stunt. He doesn’t just end up promoting his music career – he ends up being elected Mayor. As it turns out, the show is a great choice for discussing civics with your students. […]
Last week, I came across a letter to the editor in a New Hampshire paper arguing in favor of lowering the voting age to sixteen. I find it intriguing how divisive this topic is. When I posed the question to a group of educators, it sparked a pretty heated debate. Some argued that students are […]
Good civics education gives students an opportunity to apply what they learn and practice being engaged citizens. This often involves some form of project based learning. Solutions Civics is another option that you can use to help structure and facilitate this process. It’s a series of lessons and resources developed by the Citizens Campaign. The […]
What age should people be allowed to vote – 21? 18? 16? That’s one of the issues in the news this week. Here’s a round-up of civics related items that have cropped up throughout the country. Besides youth voting, other topics include civics classes in New Hampshire, Libby Liberty in Alabama, a new research institute […]
I saw an article the other day that really piqued my interest: How Hawaii Schools are Rethinking Social Studies. One of the great things about working at C-SPAN was meeting social studies teachers from around the country. It turns there are a lot of different ways to organize the social studies curriculum. Otherwise, it’s easy […]