Good morning, friends. On this day, we remember those that lost their lives on 9/11 to terrorists from al-Qaeda. Florida requires instruction on 9/11, and this will be assessed on the state’s civics assessment next year. To support this instruction, we have a number of resources, linked below.

Civics360

In this module on our newly revised Civics360 platform, you will find middle school reading level student readings in English Spanish, Russian, Haitian Creole, and Portuguese for each of the 7 clarifications for the benchmark (SS.7.CG.4.4: Explain the significance of September 11, 2001).

You will also find videos for 6 of the 7 clarifications (as we are still trying to finish the 7th). Please note that some of the videos do have content warnings for difficult images and audio (especially for discussing the timeline of events, which includes audio from first responders, terrorists, and victims). Please note that we do not have viewing guides complete yet, though scripts are available.

Florida Citizen

We had planned to have the lesson plan for middle school and for high school available by the end of last week. Unfortunately, with the extent of the benchmarks and the difficult content, it took far longer than expected so is not yet ready. However, we DO have a couple of Civics in Real Life readings that you might find useful!

The Anniversary of 9/11

Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance

Of course, we would also encourage you to have your kids visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum page and the Flight 93 Memorial page. Both sites have a number of instructional resources that can be used to support instruction.

We’re a proud partner of the CivXNow Teachers Advancing Civic Learning (TACL) project, an effort to help teachers learn how to make the case for stronger civic learning policies within their schools, districts, states, and nation. By joining the TACL effort, educators can become advocates in the civic education field. Join the TACL Policy Primer and learn how to advocate for civic learning initiatives in your school, district, and beyond!

Join us on August 22 at 7 p.m. ET (REGISTER HERE) as we hear from Jessica Ellison, Executive Director at the National Council for History Education. Jessica also has experience in local educational policy: she is an elected member of the White Bear Lake School Board in Minnesota. Her session will focus on local advocacy and help you make a difference in your school district and with your school board.

Good afternoon, friends in Civics! It’s been awhile! Just wanted to let you know that we will be launching the next cohort of our Guardians of Democracy program. This program helps you engage in current and controversial issues discussions with your students, among other courses! You need only do the courses you are interested in. AND IT’S FREE!

Interested in registering? You can download the flyer

or go ahead and register at these links:
Bronze Course

Silver and Gold Course

Good afternoon, friends! This is a public service announcement of sorts to encourage you to submit a proposal for the Florida Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference, held at the Florida Hotel and Conference Center in Orlandon this October!

We are expecting a great many excellent sessions, and of course the Lou Frey Institute/Florida Joint Center for Citizenship will be exhibiting there as well. So be sure to submit your proposal in any area of the social studies, and be sure to register to attend!

Good afternoon, friends! For Civic Learning Week, we were grateful to be joined by former Florida Congressman, Dennis Ross. Congressman Ross talked with us about civil discourse and student civic engagement. It’s one of my favorite webinars that we have done, and we hope that you enjoy it as well. And thank you Congressman Ross for joining us!

But civic learning never ends, does it? We all know and recognize that civic learning is a key part of life and the work that we do, and we have shared posts on our twitter accounts (@Loufreyinst and @FL_Citizen) that highlight some interesting research, events, and resources that we saw during the week. We want to make sure too though that we share some excellent support materials from our coalition partners in the CivXNow network!

The CivXNow Coalition, a project of iCivics, is a nonpartisan, ideologically diverse coalition of over 325 organizations who believe in you and this important work you do. In the spirit of Civic Learning Week, the coalition came together to share their  classroom resources (lessons, curricula, and professional development) that embody the best of their work. 

As a proud member of the CivXNow coalition, the Lou Frey Institute/Florida Joint Center for Citizenship is happy to collaborate across the coalition to share these resources with you! We’ve partnered with organizations who, like us, want to champion civic education. Here you’ll find lessons and activities from Earth Force, Inquiring Minds, Emerging America – Reform to Equal Rights,  KQED, the Lincoln Presidential Foundation, the Lou Frey institute, New American History, and Periodic Presidents. 

Save these links, and use them! We are proud of the work our fellow members of the coalition have done, and we look forward to continue collaboration on civic learning throughout the year!

Good afternoon, friends! We are excited to invite you to join us on March 11th at 5pm for a Civic Learning Week conversation with former Florida Congressman Dennis Ross. Congressman Ross will talk with us about moving from critic to collaborator, the importance of civil discourse, and why we must ensure that the next generation engages in civic life.

You can download the flyer below to learn more information and to share, and you can register here!

Good afternoon friends! As we approach Women’s History Month, be sure to check out the many different Civics in Real Life resources and grade level lesson plans we have that cover the impact that many different women have had on our civic life and history! Download the flier below to learn more, or visit Florida Citizen to explore the resources!