Good afternoon, friends! We are excited to share this extension of our Civics in Real Life series, ‘Female Firsts’. Every week through the month of March, we will be sharing one page resources that discuss a significant figure, event, or location important to the role of women in civic life. Our first one is now available, and looks at Justice Sandra Day O’Connor!
Of course our regular CRL’s will continue every week (including this week’s on NATO, Russia, and Ukraine!)
Friends, on Thursday, March 3rd at 4pm, we will be hosting a webinar in collaboration with the Clinton Library. It is very much ‘of the moment’, as Kathleen Pate, Education Specialist at the Clinton Library, will be discussing the nomination and confirmation process of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This is a free webinar open to everyone, and we would love to have you join us!
You can access the flyer below, or simply click here to register! Feel free to email us if you have any questions.
Good afternoon, friends. You are likely already familiar with our Civics in Real Life series over on Florida Citizen. We are quite please to share with you a new addition to the series (already expanded with our look at Supreme Court Cases, The Docket.
Introducing Civics Connection Spotlight! This new addition will focus on individuals or organizations that have made a significant civics connection through their efforts to create a better nation and live up to our Founding Principles. While these will have a Florida focus initially, we encourage you to take a look as we believe these folks are more than just important to civic life in Florida. Our first one is on the incredible Harry T. Moore.
We have some additional ones already sketched out and these will be released (tenatively) every Tuesday and Thursday this month. Be sure to check them out!
We recently relaunched the site, to better align with University of Central Florida style guides. Most of the material is the same but the look is different!
So as you can see here, we do need you to re-register on the site to access the materials, which of course remain free! Click the embedded video at the top of this post to learn about the registration process and some of the changes.
One of the new features we are excited about is in our Civics in Real Life section. It is now searchable by tag and subject! Just type in the civics content you are looking for and it will populate a list of one page Civics in Real Life resources, and you can preview without downloading.
The site will continue to be updated over the next few weeks, and of course it all is free.
Looking for the lesson plans? Click resources, then Middle School Applied Civics Resources!
Hey friends, are you teaching K-12 social studies in Florida? Do you have experience with lessons and other curricular materials development (especially including videos)? Do you want to make some extra money? While we WILL be posting for multiple full time positions soon (watch this space!), we are ALSO offering stipends to those that may choose not to leave the classroom but still want to contribute to the development of K-12 civics and government resources relating to the 2023-2024 civics and government benchmarks!
If you are interested in getting on our outreach list for this, please complete this form by 14 February 22. Please note that we will need to get approval from the Florida Department of Education before providing the stipend opportunity, as this is a grant funded position. We are ESPECIALLY looking for folks with experience K-5! Hope to hear from you!
As school districts across the country continue to deal with the effects of Covid-19, the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship at the Lou Frey Institute is here to help! Below are some suggested uses of our resources that can assist districts/schools with teacher shortages and/or students who may need to learn from home. As a reminder, ALL of our resources are free to use and adapt for home or classroom use, in Florida and beyond.
Please share! Questions? Contact us at any time!
In January of 2020, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, backed by a significant grant from the Marcus Foundation and in collaboration with the Florida Education Foundation, announced the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative as part of his civic literacy efforts.
This past weekend, your bloghost had the great pleasure to attend the inaugural National Civics and Debate Tournament in Orlando. This was an interesting and exciting event that featured about 150 middle and high school students from more than 25 schools spanning the breadth of Florida.
The effort itself is an expansion of Florida Debate Initiative, led by Beth Eskin and Tara Tedrow in central Florida. As they say,
So who was at the debate, and what did they have to do? Take a look at the competing schools!
The event featured students competing in four categories: Congressional Debate, Extemporaneous Debate, Impromptu Speaking, and Extemporaneous Sports Analysis. That latter category, Extemporaneous Sports Analysis, is an interesting one. This was the first debate tournament of any significance to feature this sort of activity as a competitive event. Students were given five minutes to do a ‘commentary’ or analysis of a particular sports related topic. For example, ‘will Messi ever win another championship’ or ‘will the influx of European players change the NBA’. Keep in mind that many of these students had very little knowledge of the sports involved, though they had some time to research and develop their arguments. And oh my goodness it was fun to watch! It was as if the students channeled the best of Stephen A. Smith.
Students competed in all of these categories throughout the weekend, and were able to relax and let off some of the stress and pressure with an ice cream social on Friday evening and civics trivia (which was quite fun!) on Saturday. And as you can see below, they did a great deal of work in this competition!
The top 15 middle school students and the top 5 high school students in each event were recognized (with the exception of Extemporaneous Sports Analysis, which was only open to high school students and the top 3 winners were recognized).
Ultimately, however, there can only be one overall winner at each grade span, and look at the size of the trophies featured below! Congrats to Simon Denahan of Kanapaha Middle School and Alex Vilhan of Lake Mary Prep for their wins.
The opportunity for students to engage in civics and debate is an important one. We here at the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship at the Lou Frey Institute are so glad for the opportunity to support the entire civic literacy effort, including the debates.
Are you a Florida teacher or district leader interested in getting civics and debate into your school? This is a supported effort; the state will help you get it going! We encourage you to reach out to the wonderful Elizabeth Eskin, Director of the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative.
Good morning friends. This Holocaust Education Week here in Florida, we are please to share with you a new set of stand alone lessons that connect civics concepts and ideas to aspects of the Holocaust. These lessons are for middle and high school students and cover a wide spectrum. Please note that a free Florida Citizen log in may be required.
In this lesson, students will understand the key concepts about how and why the Holocaust happened. Students will view a detailed timeline through a series of short video clips and analyze how the Nazis persecuted and murdered Jews as well as other people targeted during the Holocaust (1933 -1945).
Civil Disobedience
In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of civil disobedience through direct instruction and methods of classification regarding types of resistance. The students will then examine multiple primary sources of Jewish and non-Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Students will then classify the type of resistance presented in the primary source scenarios.
Comparing Preambles
This lesson focuses on how leaders shape the goals and purposes of government as established by the preambles to their constitutions. In this lesson students will compare the Wimar Republic and the United States preambles to important foundational documents. They will complete this by using primary text excerpts and other visual resources. Through analysis and application students are able to see the goals and intentions of these governments.
Declaring Independence
In this lesson, students will shape arguments about Israel and its connection to independence on the international stage using the seven reasons outlined in the Israel Declaration of Establishment. Students will outline the relationship between Israel and the United States. This lesson will support student understanding as to why newly independent nations seek such recognition including trade opportunities, diplomatic relations, and military protection.
Due Process
This lesson will consider what it means to apply due process to a scenario based on a true event. They will be given multiple scenarios from former Nazi guards and their role in the Holocaust. Students will then apply the requirements of due process to each scenario.
Loss of Natural Rights
In this lesson, students will learn about how the Nazi regime used various social, political and legal tools to exclude Jews from society. Students will view seven scenarios in Nazi Germany that depict a loss of rights. Each scenario will include several artifacts such as images, data, or text, that the students will use to determine which rights are being denied.
Nazi Propaganda
In this lesson, students will define propaganda and how propaganda is used to support a government’s agenda. Students will apply critical reading and thinking skills to various media presentations through analysis of the techniques commonly used in Nazi propaganda. Students will analyze how Nazis used propaganda to indoctrinate and manipulate the German people.
Preventing Genocide
In this lesson students will apply their knowledge of the rule of law and forms of government by comparing two forms of government (autocracy and representative democracy) and their impact of the rule of law comparing Nazi Germany to the United States government. This will be completed by using a student friendly reading and then constructing a two column comparison chart.
Rule of Law & Forms of Government
In this lesson students will apply their knowledge of the rule of law and forms of government by comparing two forms of government (autocracy and representative democracy) and their impact of the rule of law comparing Nazi Germany to the United States government. This will be completed by using a student friendly reading and then construct a two column comparison chart.
Wagner-Rogers Bill
In this lesson students will apply their knowledge of the legislative process by examining a proposed bill from Congress regarding refugee quotas at the start of World War II. Students will complete a close read activity using a primary source document (Wagner-Rogers Bill) to determine the author’s purpose. Through this lesson they will be able to connect how the United States attempted to respond to the Jewish refugee crisis.
Good afternoon, friends! Did you miss yesterday’s webinar with the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum? It’s now available online! Click here to view it.
Join Elizabeth Dinschel, Archivist and Education Specialist from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum for her session: The Bonus March: How to Teach History with a Civics Lesson
In 1932, World War I veterans boarded freight trains from Portland, Oregon, to Washington, DC, to lobby Congress for early payment of a bonus that was scheduled to be paid in 1945. On July 28th, 1932, the police, and later the military, put down a riot made up of nearly 60,000 Bonus Marchers. This webinar will show how to blend primary sources, historic narrative, and civics into an inquiry arc using the Bonus March.
Don’t forget to sign up for our next webinar with the Truman Library to discuss Truman and the Steel Crisis!
Well, friends, it’s almost time for the FCSS Conference! While it’s too late to register online, there is certainly room for you when you show up on Friday for our opening reception, sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute! And be sure to wear your Red, White, and Blue this weekend as we come together to discuss this More Perfect Union of ours, and how we teach it.
