Chapter 11 started off by stating what the concept of civics is. Civics is described as the "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people." This quote states that people should be able to control the government. Teaching civics will educate students on how the government is ran and what government role citizens play.
Why teaching civics is beneficial:
Learning civics will strengthen democracy throughout America.
It will educate us on our weaknesses in our democracy.
Will educate students on civic equality.
It will decrease the amount of students dropping out of school
In order for students to be considered responsible citizens there are many standards. Students need to understand the meaning of democracy and they need to understand issues throughout the public and community. Students need to be apart of communities, participate in group problem solving and present moral and civics virtues.
Informal Civics Instruction:
Teachers should not keep all of the power to themselves, they should share with their students.
class meetings
Projects that help students throughout the school
Resources should be shared with others
You should not share ideas that are not related to civics.
In section 3, there were examples of how teachers could have shared power throughout the classroom. Some examples include; students can take care of the classroom environment, put up work created by the students throughout the classroom, and as a teacher you can put children into groups to solve problems together.
To teach civics, you can use the Jigsaw strategy!!
The Jigsaw strategy is an example of cooperative learning. Your students will be in groups which require them to work together in order to complete an assessment. Students work in heterogeneous groups and each student is given a role that requires them to look over content or do research. Students then go into the "expert" groups which allows them to go over their work, fix whatever is wrong, and then practice presenting what they will be showing their heterogeneous group. Students will then present their work and every child is assessed individually.
Formal civics instruction will allow the students to understand; civic life, politics, government, the responsibilities of citizens and the participation throughout the government.
Important topics:
Government
elections
voting
politics
current events
national symbols
To help students become better critical thinkers and problem solvers is by getting them ready for voters and citizens!
Political cartoons can be used when teaching your students civics because cartoons can contain a message. Using political cartoons can also allow the students to really use their critical thinking.
To teach upper elementary school and middle school students about students, teachers can incorporate current events into their teachings. Examples of current events include; newspapers, televisions programs, and maps.
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