C3 Teachers

What are Teacher Needs for Civic Education?

Talk of civics education seems to be everywhere these days. From concerns about students not knowing enough civics to blaming election results on civics education to arguments that more rigorous civics classes won’t solve much. A recent article from NPR, asked what civics education needs to “stick” with students. The

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Beyond Understanding: Doing Something with Content

When my nephew was first beginning to talk, one of the adults in the room said a curse word. The group winced. Picking up on this reaction, my nephew proceeded to repeat the word over and over and over. The fact that I couldn’t stop laughing didn’t help. My sister

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Focusing On Our Problems

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”― Albert Einstein Whether or not I consider my day as productive often is directly related to how much I produced. I’ve been writing some exams for my doctoral

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Trust, But Verify: Student Responsibility in Inquiry

As much as I love all my students, when I became a teacher, I quickly learned some of the necessary boundaries of that trust. It’s a “trust, but verify” approach. I want to see evidence that they mean what they say. Once a dog ate a student’s assignment and she

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Talking and Listening with “Strangers”

Lately, I’ve been grappling with how scholars, teachers, and policymakers define “citizenship” and, consequently, “citizenship education.” One thing I found was the prevalence of individualized notions of citizenship in curriculum – meaning when students think about acting as a democratic citizen, it is often in terms of the individual’s rights,

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Eliminating Classroom Activities

One of the joys of teaching is interacting with students who have not quite mastered particular social graces, such as politeness or tact. Early in my teaching career, I had a student tell me individually what she really thought of our class. She did not mean to be insulting –

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Social Studies and Statues

Unless you have isolated yourself from all forms of media (or human interaction), you have seen the topic of historical memory being discussed, specifically within the context of Confederate monuments. Though I don’t generally shy away from political discussions, I usually keep mum on social media. I would much rather

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Bridled Learning: Grabbing the Reins Through Inquiry

For my fourth summer, I spent the last six weeks teaching with Kentucky’s Governor’s Scholars Program. I’ve written about my past summers in previous posts. (“Practicing Citizenship,” “Acting Like a Citizen,” “Being C3Minded…”). What makes this program special for a teacher is that it is a highly competitive academic program,

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Letting Students Wrestle with Inquiry Writing

“Only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem at first hand, seeking and finding his own way out, does he think.” John Dewey (1914)   I’ve often heard Kathy Swan use this quote when she has talked to teachers or students about the inquiry process.   If you peruse the

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