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news

Action Civics - Democracy in the Classroom

by Generation Citizen
November 30, 2018

Generation Citizen's curriculum is offered at public schools across the country from the Bay Area to Oklahoma and New York City. Below is an overview of why Action Civics needs to return to the classroom, and how to get there. 

Generation Citizen’s published and award-winning civics curriculum is at the heart of our work. It is action-based, standards aligned, and academically rigorous. Over the course of the twice-weekly, semester-long, in-class program, students choose an issue, develop a focused, strategic plan to address the issue, take real action, and then reflect on their successes and challenges.

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 Each semester culminates with Civics Day, at which student representatives present their classes’ action projects to other students, community members, and public officials, including governors, mayors, and members of Congress, celebrating their work and gaining feedback to further their advocacy efforts. Civics Day is a chance for students to explore ways to continue their civic engagement after the end of the program.

GENERATION CITIZEN’S ADVOCACY HOURGLASS

Advocacy Hourglass

Students begin by thinking about broad issues in their community, narrow their focus to a local issue, and then specify the root cause that contributes to the issue. They identify their main goal for the action project, as well as the strategies and tactics that will enhance their advocacy in furtherance of the goal.

 We teach our students to effect systemic change by engaging with government institutions. For example, instead of thinking about solving hunger through soup kitchens, they think about it through structural issues that enable hunger, such as lack of funding for adequate school breakfast programs.

 WHAT IS ACTION CIVICS?

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