The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities, and the world.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Welcome to Critical Media Literacy and Civic Learning - an interactive, multimodal, multicultural, open access eBook for teaching and learning key topics in United States Government and Civic Life. Open access means these materials are online, digital, and free of charge (Billings, 2019). This book is available online to anyone with an internet connection. The eBook can also be viewed and printed as a PDF file for offline viewing.
Material Type: Textbook
With contributions from scholars across North America and Europe, this edited volume explores contemporary political problems through various texts from antiquity through the present. Divided into two parts and a total of 15 chapters, the first five chapters explore “the classical heritage” and the last ten chapters turn to European Enlightenment ideas.
Material Type: Textbook
Civics is the study of our national government, constitution, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Topics include democracy and other forms of government; legislative, executive, and judicial functions; the political process; and foreign and domestic policies. It also includes a summary of Washington State History and local native sovereignty.
Material Type: Full Course
In Washington, a stand-alone high school civics course is required by a new state law. A statewide sub-committee of OSPI's Social Studies Cadre and Walter Parker, Professor of Social Studies Education, University of Washington, drafted this list of resources in hopes that it will be useful to schools needing to create such a course or update an existing course. It is a work-in-progress.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
Module 13 of the 16 modules of the ESL course is all about Places to visit in America. Verbal and written discussions, and group activities provide opportunities for students to share their experiences travelling in America. Prepositions are infused into the discussions and worksheets on propositions give further practice for students. Students also get an opportunity to do presentations of their travels in America. Reading and comprehension skills are offered through “The Story of the First Thanksgiving”.
Material Type: Lesson, Module
The online training programme for activities and specialized educators aimed at introducing how to use the methodology and tools developed under the project : It targets youth activists and specialized educators who want to involve youth people in civic participation projects, with the goal of training more youth activists and educators. You will find a Guide for the promotion of youth civic participation at the local level: this guide has different objectives, first of all to involve youth at risk and keep them involved, then to diagnose the needs of local communities, and finally to understand and cooperate with the local institutional context. And a training programme for YOUNG PEOPLE involved in civic participation projects: the program targets youth-at-risk and contains lesson plans and related materials that youth activists and educators can use to train and guide youth-at-risk involved in local change projects. This training is doable online with quiz to assess the progress of each students. It is free. YOUC project for Promoting Youth Participation in Local Communities is aimed at young activists, youth workers, educators and organizations who want to promote the empowerment, initiative and civic participation of young people at risk of marginalization. The project is based on a methodology and a set of tools to promote youth participation and active citizenship at the local level of young people in difficulty supported by groups of young activists and volunteers, as well as educators from associations in each partner country. YOUC project supports the capacity building of youth leaders and educators by providing them with an effective methodology and tools to reach marginalized youth and involve them in local civic participation. For the same reason, the project focuses on the horizontal management of the professional development of youth workers. YOUC aims to: • Promote the activation of NEETs • Improve the level of key competences and skills of young people, in particular the European key competence social and civic responsibility • Promote the participation of young people in civil society • Promote inclusion and solidarity The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Material Type: Full Course
Global Citizens in Action is a civic engagement curriculum that focuses on cultural exchange, media literacy, and global citizenship. Through exploring the driving question, “How do we, as youth, engage our communities to create positive social change?”
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Case Study, Full Course, Interactive, Lecture, Lesson Plan, Student Guide
StoryWorks develops inclusive and transformative educational theater experiences that provide students with the opportunity to examine our country’s civil rights history. Through content consistent with school curriculum standards, the program engages students in experiential learning and inspires them to ask deeper questions about the historical underpinnings behind contemporary issues. The process creates pathways to civic engagement, creates lasting memories and instills a tangible sense of social belonging. This StoryWorks educational project is built around Beautiful Agitators, a theatrical play about Vera Mae Pigee, a hair stylist and business owner in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights era. Using her beauty parlor as a hub for Delta-based organizing and resistance, Pigee operated her salon by day and then transformed it into a clandestine center for civil rights organization and education in the evenings. Known for her big hats and larger than life personality, Mrs. Pigee led the direct action that registered nearly 6,000 African Americans to vote in the region. Although Pigee was largely left out of the history books, along with many women of the movement, our play Beautiful Agitators and accompanying curriculum revives her legacy, highlighting her methods and tactics. Inspired by the innovative K-12 civil rights education standards developed by the Mississippi Civil Rights Commission. Our commitment is to expand upon the standards by further developing content related to social justice, power relations, environmental justice, diversity, equity, mutual respect, and civic engagement. Beautiful Agitators combines inquiry with higher-order thinking skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis. Set in a beauty parlor owned and operated by a Black woman in the Mississippi Delta, our curriculum is based on our investigation into primary sources and their relationship to critical moments in the national movement. This foundation of historical context allows for students and educators to find contemporary parallels which further engage learners to reflect upon the legacy of the civil rights movement and the struggles that we, as citizens, continue to grapple with today.View the complete play Beautiful Agitators on the StoryWorks Theater site.Implementation1. Beautiful Agitators Performance Classroom watches a prerecorded, staged reading of the play Beautiful Agitators, which was created and performed by artists from the Mississippi Delta, home of Vera Mae Pigee.2. Lesson Plan Activities Following the eight-lesson plan structure, students will read aloud or act out scenes from the play. This participatory interaction with the text and the historical events promotes a high level of engagement from the students and encourages experiential learning. These activities directly correspond to scenes in the play and to specific content area standards. Teacher leads guided discussions and helps to explain the historical context and theme of each scene. Students/actors have the opportunity to share their experiences having portrayed these historical figures.
Material Type: Full Course
Definition and examples of civic engagement. Created by Kimberly Kutz.
Material Type: Lesson
In this Animating Civic Action lesson, from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Washington State Governor's Office of the Education Ombuds, students listen to the story of Jared, a student experiencing homelessness. Students are asked to examine what it means to be homeless, to identify how homelessness affects people and to and to consider ways they can act to take action against homeless n their school community.
Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study
In this Animating Civic Action lesson, from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Washington State Governor's Office of the Education Ombuds, students listen to the story of Jared, a student experiencing homelessness. Students are asked to examine what it means to be homeless, to identify how homelessness affects people and to and to consider ways they can act to take action against homelessness in their school community.
Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan
In this Animating Civic Action lesson, from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, students listen to the story of Esther, a student refugee, about her experience in school. Students are asked to examine what it means to stereotype others, and to consider ways they can act to make their community more welcoming and inclusive.
Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan
Social Studies Targets:Forms of governmentNature/Purposes of governmentIdeologies of governmentComparative governmentEconomic systems and governmentLearning Targets:Understand how the world is organized politically and nations interact (civics)Identify the differences in philosophy, structure, and the nature of different types of government (civics)Understand the role of sovereignty in the development of different governments and within governments (civics)Compare and contrast democracies with other forms of government.(civics)Understand individual rights and their accompanying responsibilities including problem solving and decision making at the local, state, and international level. (civics)Understand how cultural forces and factors influenced and were influenced by changes in government (Cultural Geography)Identify ways that power can be distributed geographically within a state (Physical Geography)Identify the different types of economic systems (Economics)Understand how different government and economic systems influence one another (Economics)Students will recognize and analyze the ideologies inherent in different economic systems. (Economics)
Material Type: Unit of Study
From June 2018 to May 2019, we administered an assessment to 3,446 students, a national sample that matches the demographic profile of high school students in the United States. The six exercises in our assessment gauged students’ ability to evaluate digital sources on the open internet. The results—if they can be summarized in a word—are troubling: •Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries (the video was actually shot in Russia) constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video, even though a quick search turns up a variety of articles exposing the ruse. Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on superficial markers of credibility: the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain, or how it portrayed itself on the About page.
Material Type: Reading
This guide walks you through the Civic Online Reasoning curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group. Their extensive suite of lessons and assessments helps students acquire skills for thinking critically about the information they find online. The target audience is high school but some lessons can be adapted for younger students.
Material Type: Lesson Plan, Unit of Study
Template used by educators developing teacher guides for Civics CBA.
Material Type: Assessment
Often throughout American history former refugees rise to be community leaders dedicating their lives to helping others. Refugees often overcome key obstacles including language and culture to become important activists addressing social and political problems. Refugees offer key perspectives on the application of civic virtues and human rights. In this lesson students will hear from three refugee students about their experiences. Then, students will be asked to:Identify and describe obstacles student refugees encounter while assimilating at school.Identify reasons why refugees go on to develop a strong sense of civic duty and desire to give back to their communities. Research and identify ways they can take civic action to build a better community.
Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan
The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has teamed with the Civic Learning Council and the National Constitution Center to provide this professional development opportunity on resources and tools for helping students engage in discussions of controversial issues. Download the video file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jefvmk5tv6t0zoa/OSPI_CLC_CIVICS-BridgeTheDivide-FINAL.mp4?dl=0
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
This is a collection of essential questions about civics that you can use in your history or social studies class. These questions could form the foundation of an individual lesson (i.e. a writing assignment, a class discussion) or they could be used to re-organize your curriculum (i.e. the basis for identifying topics for inclusion and a method of summative assessment). You'll also find links to a slidedeck and to background reading on the topic.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment
