New Civics Certificate Program!

Posted on November 30, 2015 by stevemasy

Well, we here at the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship got some great news recently. Last year, I told you about our effort to create a civics certificate program for pre-service social studies teachers. Well, it gives me great pleasure to announce that the program here at UCF has been approved! While the program is, for budgetary, personnel, and university reasons, currently limited to University of Central Florida students, we hope in the future to create a graduate version of the program that we can offer to practicing teachers. We also hope to establish this certificate in other academic institutions across the state!
So what will this program involve? Well, the idea behind the certificate is that it will
provide the content, skills, and pedagogies needed to deliver instruction for 7th grade Civics in Florida. This would, we hope, improve the teacher’s ability to prepare their kids for the Civics EOCA at the end of the course (NOT the naturalization test, mind you!). It will also, we believe, support US Government instruction in high school, especially as there is some overlap across the benchmarks. It is open to UCF students who meet the following requirements:

3.0 GPA in major
Completion of POS 2041 (American National Government) with at least a C.
One page letter of intent: ‘Why does civics teaching matter?’
Admission (or pending admission) to Social Science Education BS program

The program sequence is focused on best preparing students for the course that they will hopefully teach, and it includes an internship component that focuses on local government. After all, what better practice can you get to teach civics than to actually see civics in action at the local level! The course sequence is provided below:

12 Credit Hours:

POS 4932: Teaching American Politics and Government
POS 3272: Civic Engagement
POS 4941: Internship in Florida Local Government
SSE 4932: Teaching Civics in Florida

We will be hosting an open house here at the Lou Frey Institute on Tuesday, 01 December at 5pm to talk more about this exciting new program! We hope to see you here. :)

Social Studies and the Young Learner Interest Survey

Posted on November 24, 2015 by stevemasy

Our good friend Dr. Scott Waring, Program Coordinator and Associate Professor for the Social Science Education Program at the University of Central Florida, is the new editor for the National Council for the Social Studies’ journal focusing on the teaching of social studies in the Pre-K-6 classroom, Social Studies and the Young Learner. The goal of Social Studies and the Young Learner (http://www.socialstudies.org/publications/ssyl) is to capture and enthuse Pre-K-6 teachers across the country by providing relevant and useful information about the teaching of social studies. The teaching techniques presented are designed to stimulate the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills vital to classroom success. SSYL is published quarterly: September/October; November/December; January/February; and March/April.

Dr. Waring has asked for help as he assumes editorship of the journal. If you have a few minutes, please complete this short survey that will allow him to plan future issues and give practitioners what they desire in SSY L. Any guidance you can give on what you would like to see would be much appreciated!

If you wish to share with others, the link is also below!

http://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aXYqeCoqcwY3rOR

SOURCES Annual Conference

Posted on November 24, 2015 by stevemasy

Good morning, civics friends. This post is just a reminder that the SOURCES Annual Conference, put on by Dr. Scott Waring here at UCF, is coming soon, and it is worth your time and energy to attend. I went last year, and it was simply fantastic. If you are looking for excellent professional development on using primary sources in the classroom, this is what you are looking for. Information on the conference is below, and you can register here! The main conference page is here. Take a look at the overview below, and we hope to see you there!

SOURCES Annual Conference

University of Central Florida

Orlando, Florida

January 16, 2016

The Teaching with Primary Sources Program at the University of Central Florida (TPS-UCF) will be hosting the second annual SOURCES Annual Conference at the University of Central Florida on January 16, 2016. The SOURCES Annual Conference is a free opportunity available to any educators interested in the utilization and integration of primary sources into K-12 teaching. Presenters will focus on providing strategies for using primary sources to help K-12 students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and build content knowledge, specifically in one or more of the following ways:

Justifying conclusions about whether a source is primary or secondary depending upon the time or topic under study;
Describing examples of the benefits of teaching with primary sources;
Analyzing a primary source using Library of Congress tools;
Accssing teaching tools and primary sources from www.loc.gov/teachers;
Identifying key considerations for selecting primary sources for instructional use (for example, student needs and interests, teaching goals, etc.);
Accessing primary sources and teaching resources from www.loc.gov for instructional use;
Analyzing primary sources in different formats;
Analyzing a set of related primary sources in order to identify multiple perspectives;
Demonstrating how primary sources can support at least one teaching strategy (for example, literacy, inquiry-based learning, historical thinking, etc.); and
Presenting a primary source-based activity that helps students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.

Dr. Joel Breakstone, of Stanford University, will provide the Keynote Presentation, Beyond the Bubble: A New Generation of History Assessments. In this session, he will discuss about and present ways in which educators can use assessments designed by the Stanford History Education Group to incorporate Library of Congress documents. Participants will examine assessments and sample student responses. Additional session titles include the following:

Designating for Assignment: Using Baseball to Tell the Story of Race in America Socratic Circles and Primary Sources: Students Generate Essential Questions
Galaxy of Wonder
Education Resources from the Library of Congress focused on the Social Sciences & Literacy
How do I know If It’s Primary? Research Questions and Primary Sources
ESRI Story Maps and Integrating LOC Resources
Mapping the American Revolution
Primary Sources: Find Them, Choose Them, and Use Them Well
Sites of African-American Memory
Who Is Bias: the Media or Us?
A Professional Development and Curriculum Model for the Use of Historical Literacy
Magnifying How We See, Think, and Wonder: Fostering Critical Literacy Among Young Learners Using Library of Congress Primary Sources
Sourcing in a Flash!
Primary Sources: A Lens to View History
Bringing Fiction to Life Using Primary Sources
Playing with Primary Sources: Game-Based Learning with Resources from The Library of Congress
Engage English Learners and Other Diverse Learners with Primary Sources
Creating a Sound Argument Using Primary Sources
Teaching with Primary Sources: African American Sacred Music
Veterans History Project: Learning About US Conflicts Through the Eyes of a Veteran
Is North Up? : Exploring the Nature of Maps
Differentiation Using Primary Sources from the Library
Using Primary Sources for Digital DBQs and other Assessments to meet Literacy Standards.
Vetting or Developing Text Sets to Teach Rich Content

Registration is free and is now open for the SOURCES Annual Conference. Please visit the conference web site to register: http://www.sourcesconference.com/registration.html

Making a Difference: Friday’s Close Up Broward Youth Policy Summit Expo

Posted on November 23, 2015 by stevemasy

As you will recall from my last post, I was headed down to Broward County to see the great work being done there by the ESOL department within the district and by the Close Up Foundation. I am happy to say that it was a wonderful experience to see so many young immigrants dedicated to improving their communities and learning what it means to be a citizen. These 200 young people, almost all of whom have been in this country for three years or less, presented their civic-oriented proposals for feedback and discussion with local citizens, community leaders, and other interested parties. An overview of the expo can be seen below.

What do I like about this? Where to start! It gives young people, new to this country a chance to engage in the process of civic life and civic work. It gets them thinking not only about problems, but about solutions. It develops their communication skills and their ability to talk with leaders and community members, such as district superintendent Robert Runcie, who can make a difference in their lives. No, let me revise that. It allows these kids to have a sense that THEY are making a difference THEMSELVES. Isn’t that what we want for our young people? That sense of belonging, of advocacy, and of efficacy as citizens?

Over 200 fresh young immigrants share policy proposals with the state and Broward community

I had the great pleasure of talking with many of these kids about their proposals, and it was incredibly refreshing to hear them articulate a passion for change and a desire to make a difference as residents and, yes, as citizens. They addressed issues of concern to both them and their community, were open to feedback and suggestions to strengthen their proposals, and demonstrated an understanding of the difference they could make, and why this effort mattered. It was wonderful to see. In the rest of this post, you can take a look at just a few of the dozens of proposals that these young immigrants shared.

How can we reduce testing in schools and still ensure kids are learning?

Let’s make sure that everyone has access to quality health services!

How can we make sure that schools have equitable access to resources?

Let’s make sure that all able-bodied people can both work and support their families!

It doesn’t have to be 15 dollars an hour to make a difference and help both business and the community!

We need to address issues with teen violence in schools, especially in low SES areas!

These are just a few of the many different policy proposals that these wonderful kids came up with. Others involved protection of the environment, changing the role of the school counselor away from a testing coordinator to actual counselling, medical marijuana, school bullying, teen pregnancy, and so many more areas of relevance and concern in the immigrant community, in Broward, in Florida, and in the nation. Kudos to both Broward ESOL and the Close Up Foundation in this work. You can find additional images on the Expo at the Broward ESOL Facebook page, as well as through the Close Up Foundation’s Twitter feed (and they worth a follow!). I am excited to see what comes next, and I hope that we here at the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship might find ways to help in this effort down the road. So much promise!

Just Read, Florida! Civics Literacy Project

Posted on November 6, 2015 by stevemasy

Just Read, Florida! has decided to focus on civics this year, and are sponsoring a wonderful opportunity for schools and districts. In addition to a contest and in partnership with the Florida Lottery, Just Read, Florida! is taking the show on the road with the TOSS-UP Quiz Show tour. Just Read, Florida! will conduct a fun and exciting quiz show contest at schools around the state targeting middle school students and testing their mastery of the civics standards. Be sure to check out the Just Read, Florida! website for more information on the TOSS UP Quiz Show. The Florida Joint Center for Citizenship was involved in the crafting of the questions for the quiz show.

The Florida Department of Education’s Just Read, Florida! Office along with various educational partners are seeking project submissions created by elementary (grades K‐5), middle (grades 6‐8) and high schools (grades 9‐12) designed to promote good citizenship and enhance literacy in the state of Florida. The contest is being held in conjunction with “Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! 2016” which will be January 25‐29, 2016.
The theme for the Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! 2016 Literacy‐Civics School Service Project Contest is “Literacy Changes Our World”.

WHAT A COMMUNITY LITERACY‐CIVICS SERVICE PROJECT MAY CONTAIN:
-An organized literacy‐based service project involving students, teachers and
surrounding community partners.
-A goal of enhancing citizenship in students, reaching others and expanding their
literacy skills.
-Evidence of the project’s successful impact on the targeted audience which may
include those in the school, neighborhood, community and beyond.
-Evidence of creativity and/or innovation in the selection and implementation of
the project.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
-Documentation and written summary of the focus, goals, challenges and
successes of the project. This may be done through, but is not limited to,
narratives, photos, video, recordings and data collection.
-Project Mission Statement (500 words or less)
-Release forms should be included for any participant involved in video, photos,
recordings and data collection.
-By submitting your works, you are releasing publication and talent presentation
rights to the Florida Department of Education and are certifying that the work is
free of copyright violations.
-Only one submission per school per level served (elementary, middle, high
school levels) is permitted.
-Student participation is required.
-Submissions should be faithful to the topic, “Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!
2016 – Literacy Changes Our World.”
Be sure to review the rubric for this project!

Submissions may be emailed to CLW2015@fldoe.org or mailed to
Florida Department of Education
Just Read, Florida!
325 West Gaines Street, Suite 1432
Tallahassee, Fl. 32399
Submissions must include the following and be submitted by December 11,
2015.
o Documentation and written summary
o Project mission statement
o Release forms (Required for each student involved in video, photos,
recordings and data collection
o Completed application form
PRIZES:
-The first place winning school from the elementary, middle and high school
levels will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize or gift card.
-The second place winning school from the elementary, middle and high school
levels will be awarded a $500 cash prize or gift card.
-The third place winning school from the elementary, middle and high school
levels will be awarded a $250 cash prize or gift card.
The Just Read, Florida! Office reserves the right to limit awards when the total number of submissions received for one category is below ten or if the quality of submissions does not meet the standard of excellence as stated in the requirements.
Please visit http://www.justreadflorida.com/ and select Celebrate Literacy Week,
Florida! for more information on this contest and the exciting events and activities
scheduled for the week. For questions or additional information, email CLW@fldoe.org or follow us on Twitter @EducationFL or by using #CLW2016.

Advocacy in Action Student Video Contest!

Posted on October 28, 2015 by stevemasy

Our colleague in Escambia, Cherie Arnette, sent this my way, and it fits so perfectly with the civic mission of schools and the work we do as a community in helping students grow into an engaged citizenship. The Center for Effective Government is sponsoring an ‘Advocacy in Action’ video contest for high school students.

From the CEG website:

The Advocacy in Action video contest and lesson plan help students make real-world Social Studies connections. Students will:

Use our interactive map to locate their school and identify nearby facilities that may be putting them at risk

Learn how our government regulates these facilities and how they can be made safer

Explore essential communications strategies

Become active, engaged citizens

Together, we can advocate for companies to use safer chemicals, and make our communities healthier. Our student video contest is one way to do this. And you could win $1,000!

Here’s how it works: Create a short video that explores the safety of your community from harmful chemicals. Your video could raise awareness on this issue, pressure facilities to do better, and encourage the government to require the use of safer chemicals.

You can choose to submit your video in one of two categories: a 60 second “Public Service Announcement” video category or a 5-7 minute mini-documentary category that explores the risks your community or state faces from chemical facilities.

The contest is open to high school students in the United States. Videos, along with all required forms, must be completed by 11:59pm on March 18, 2016. We will announce winners in May. Please carefully read our guidelines and contest rules before submitting a video.

I encourage you to consider engaging your students in this project! What is also exciting, to me at least, as that we can connect this to dimensions of the C3 framework. It lends itself well to developing key questions, using a particular disciplinary lens, researching a problem and solution, and communicating findings and taking action! We would LOVE to share it if anyone take a C3 approach to this advocacy contest!

You can find all information about the contest here, including the guidelines, rubric, and FAQ. Good luck!

Advocacy in Action Student Video Contest!

Posted on October 28, 2015 by stevemasy

From the CEG website:

The Advocacy in Action video contest and lesson plan help students make real-world Social Studies connections. Students will:

Use our interactive map to locate their school and identify nearby facilities that may be putting them at risk

Learn how our government regulates these facilities and how they can be made safer

Explore essential communications strategies

Become active, engaged citizens

Together, we can advocate for companies to use safer chemicals, and make our communities healthier. Our student video contest is one way to do this. And you could win $1,000!

Here’s how it works: Create a short video that explores the safety of your community from harmful chemicals. Your video could raise awareness on this issue, pressure facilities to do better, and encourage the government to require the use of safer chemicals.

You can choose to submit your video in one of two categories: a 60 second “Public Service Announcement” video category or a 5-7 minute mini-documentary category that explores the risks your community or state faces from chemical facilities.

The contest is open to high school students in the United States. Videos, along with all required forms, must be completed by 11:59pm on March 18, 2016. We will announce winners in May. Please carefully read our guidelines and contest rules before submitting a video.

You can find all information about the contest here, including the guidelines, rubric, and FAQ. Good luck!

A bellringer for teaching about campaigns, elections and the media

Posted on October 22, 2015 by stevemasy

It’s always exciting when we can share ideas for teaching about important stuff, and today’s suggestion was inspired by Cherie Arnette, the social studies supervisor for Escambia County (check out their civics review site!). She emailed us asking if we could come up with a bellringer activity to help teacher Florida Civics benchmarks SS.7.C.2.9, 2.10, or 2.11. For those unfamiliar with these benchmarks, 2.9 asks students ti evaluate a candidate for political office. 2.10 asks students to examine the impact of media, individuals, and interests on monitoring and influencing government. 2.11 has students analyzing media and political communications. You can get a good overview of each benchmark and their associated clarifications by visiting the Test Item Specifications book.
Cherie also asked us to start with this wonderfully evocative ‘Draft Biden’ ad below that aired during the Democratic debate (obviously before his announcement that he wouldn’t run).

For me, tears for sure. In any case, our own Valerie McVey suggested that the following might be perfect benchmark-aligned bellringer options for this ad. Note that ‘BC’ refers to ‘Benchmark Clarifications’. Review the test item specifications to explore those more.

C.2.9: Evaluate candidates for political office by analyzing their qualifications, experience, issue-based platforms, debates, and political ads.
BC 3 – Students will be able to analyze and/or evaluate the qualifications of candidates for public office based on their experience, platforms, debates, and political advertisements.

– What does this advertisement tell you about Joe Biden’s experience? Personal and professional? What evidence from the video helped you determine your answer?
– What does “Run, Joe” at the end of the advertisement mean?
– Is he a candidate for president?

C.2.10: Examine the impact of media, individuals, and interest groups on monitoring and influencing government.
BC 1 – Students will identify the methods used by the media to monitor and/or influence the government.

– The Draft Biden SuperPAC created this advertisement. (You might include a point about the difference between PACs and SuperPACs, but encourage teachers not to get caught up in this and forget the other questions. :)
– What is a political action committee? (content focus term)
– What is Draft Biden’s goal in creating this advertisement? How do you know?

C.2.11: Analyze media and political communications (bias, symbolism, propaganda).
BC 1 – Students will use scenarios to identify bias, symbolism, and propaganda.

– Remind students of the definition of bias.
– What is the bias of this advertisement? What evidence from the video helped you determine your answer?

BC 2 – Students will evaluate how bias, symbolism, and propaganda can impact public opinion.

– Remind students of the definition of public opinion.
– How might this advertisement impact or influence the public opinion of Joe Biden? What evidence from the video helped you determine your answer?

My own suggestion was to compare this ad to the language and elements of ‘The Man from Abilene’ (1952 Eisenhower) or ‘The Man from Libertyville’ (1956 Stevenson), which take a completely different tone concerning the qualifications of a presidential candidate and what matters. Both of those ads are available on the fantastic ‘Living Room Candidate’ website!

We are always looking for new ideas and ways to approach content. If you have anything, please share!

A bellringer for teaching about campaigns, elections and the media

Posted on October 22, 2015 by stevemasy

C.2.11: Analyze media and political communications (bias, symbolism, propaganda).
BC 1 – Students will use scenarios to identify bias, symbolism, and propaganda.

– Remind students of the definition of bias.
– What is the bias of this advertisement? What evidence from the video helped you determine your answer?

BC 2 – Students will evaluate how bias, symbolism, and propaganda can impact public opinion.

We are always looking for new ideas and ways to approach content. If you have anything, please share!

Civic Studies

An intellectual community of researchers and practitioners dedicated to building the emerging field of civic studies

Category Archives: General Civic Education

Just Read, Florida! Civics Literacy Project

Advocacy in Action Student Video Contest!

Advocacy in Action Student Video Contest!

A bellringer for teaching about campaigns, elections and the media

A bellringer for teaching about campaigns, elections and the media