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Citizenship is an integral aspect of society. It's also important in the classroom: Students who learn about citizenship early in life develop a stronger commitment to doing good in the world. So how exactly should we be teaching citizenship, and why is it so important for students to learn?

As we've discussed in our series on why learning matters, students who understand why they're learning something are much more likely to engage with the material. Here's why citizenship is important, and how to teach citizenship to students in a way that inspires and motivates positive action.

What is Citizenship and Why Does it Matter?

Citizenship is important for developing a strong moral code in individuals, but it's also important for creating a safe, supportive society while protecting democracy, according to Young Citizens.

"Citizenship education involves developing the knowledge, skills and confidence to enable people to make their own decisions and to take responsibility for their own lives and communities. And in many countries - where democratic society and its institutions are facing threats - citizenship education is becoming increasingly important."

Citizenship can also be approached from a global perspective. In addition to being citizens of a specific country, all students are citizens of the world. Global citizenship is "the idea that we are one global community, and therefore our choices and actions may affect people and communities locally, nationally or even internationally," says Ann Marie Borders at NEA Today.

She explains that global citizenship is important for nurturing respect and tolerance while building awareness and empathy for different cultures. This is equally important for schools with diverse populations and those without. If you do have diverse cultures and backgrounds in your school, this provides an opportunity for students to teach one another about their backgrounds and to foster mutual understanding and respect for one another's differences.

Teaching citizenship also allows students to understand the difference between being a citizen and practicing citizenship. Teaching children different themes of citizenship, including honesty, compassion, respect, responsibility and courage empowers children to positively contribute to their community, according to Kaplan Early Learning.

Likewise, citizenship is important for fostering healthy discourse among people of differing viewpoints. It also helps students learn how to find common ground with people who are different from themselves, especially when it comes to upholding basic human rights. AFS Intercultural Programs explains that learning about citizenship fosters mutual respect and understanding, which in turn connects and builds a strong network of people working toward the same goal.

AFS also points out that global citizenship education promotes student advocacy by promoting active participation in economic, social, political and natural issues. This can inspire students to "look in a wider perspective, think deeper about social injustices and oppression and combat extremism through constructive discourses."

What Does Citizenship Learning Look Like?

Citizenship is interpreted and learned differently by students of different age groups. For example, young students aren't going to learn details about the branches of government, and will likely be confused by the constitution. This doesn't mean that teachers should skip over teaching about citizenship, however.

Teacher Alyssa Messier points out that elementary students can still learn the basic principles of citizenship, what it means to belong to their country, and why this is important. "They can learn that they have a voice and that it matters, they can learn how critical each individual's role in society is, and they can learn the importance of being informed," she writes.

Citizenship learning can also mean modeling good examples of citizenship for students. Stacy D. Cooper at The Classroom explains that books showing examples of good citizenship offer points of discussion for students. They can explore how each person showed good citizenship and how that act made a difference. People like Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Woodrow Wilson, Oprah Winfrey and Audrey Hepburn are all examples of people whose life stories demonstrate good citizenship.

Since citizenship can be displayed in many different ways, it can also be learned in many different ways. Kids Academy explains that to be a good citizen, people must attain a particular set of values and skills. In particular, students need to gain knowledge about their local, state and national governments while also learning about cultures and global issues. In addition to learning about citizenship as a governmental construct, children should also learn about citizenship as a tool for working with one another and improving humanity.

"Kids must develop deep values that make them want to be good citizens in the future. These values include responsibility, compassion, honesty, integrity, and tolerance." While teaching these values explicitly is important, they should also become part of everyday learning. As those values become second nature, students grow into good citizens.

In today's technology-focused classrooms, digital citizenship is also important. Specifically, students need to learn how to represent themselves and behave online in a way that is safe for everyone, especially when at school.

Paul Barnwell at TeachThought explains that digital citizenship lessons can start by asking students to consider their online personas. For high school students, this is especially important because a college admissions officer may be looking at their profile. As a teacher of citizenship, you can remind students of the responsibility they have to act appropriately online.

Tips for Teaching Citizenship

As discussed, showing students how to be empathetic and tolerant is an important part of teaching citizenship. The Bill of Rights Institute offers a lesson plan idea that helps students learn how to be a good citizen in their classroom while also setting expectations for respect in the coming year.

This lesson gives students an opportunity to define citizenship in their own terms and discuss what it means to them, which fosters healthy debate and discussion about important issues. Ultimately, this lesson can be used to create a shared bill of rights for the classroom. This moral code can be used to set expectations around how students should act and treat one another on a daily basis.

Another way to teach citizenship - while also helping students realize its importance - is to give students a voice. Ask them what things could be better in their lives if they pursued that issue and tried to make a change, suggests intermediate school counselor and character coach Barbara Gruener.

Then, have students take action towards embodying that change. For example, you might have students host a betterment campaign, deliver speeches, collect can openers for the homeless or raise money for the cause. These are all small, but tangible ways that students can learn how to make a difference in their society. You might also host a mock election to show students how they can put their opinion to work by voting and influencing positive change in society.

Another idea is to have students see real citizenship in action, writes Gail Innis at Michigan State University Extension. For example, they might go to the voting booth and watch people cast their votes while putting their own votes in a classroom ballot box. Or, they could attend a community meeting either in person or through Skype.

Teachers play a role in fostering good citizenship on a daily basis. Rebekah Gienapp at The Barefoot Mommy says teachers can model democratic dialogue by asking students to respectfully question adults and speak their opinion. If a student questions you or another student in the classroom, you can use this as an example for the entire classroom to talk about how the students can engage in varying viewpoints while remaining empathetic. "When a child questions your views or a decision you've made, encourage them to talk it through with you instead of shushing them," she writes.
Images by: rawpixel/©123RF.com, Fabio Formaggio/©123RF.com, Ian Allenden/©123RF.com

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Why Are We Learning This? Teaching Citizenship and its Value

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Citizenship is an integral aspect of society. It's also important in the classroom: Students who learn about citizenship early in life develop a stronger commitment to doing good in the world. So how exactly should we be teaching citizenship, and why is it so important for students to learn?

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You’re a Global Citizen, You Just Don’t Know it Yet | Teo Nenes | TEDxYouth@SWA

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Developing a Culture of Citizenship in Elementary School Classrooms: How Democratic Schools Teach Children About Rules, Rights and Responsibilities

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/372/

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Keywords

Children's rights education, Citizenship education, Democratic classroom, Democratic practice, Democratic schools, Sense of community

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore development of civic participation in children in primary grade (K-2) classrooms. Young children are accorded neither the rights nor responsibilities of adolescents or adults, nor given many opportunities to participate meaningfully in the decisions that directly impact their lives. The public school classroom is, in a sense, the first opportunity for children to develop a sense of how to participate in a diverse community organized to address the needs of many. As such, it is a microcosm of the larger society within which children are learning to engage as active participants. The research had two interrelated goals: (1) to examine how teachers and administrators create a culture of democratic participation in primary grade classrooms that nurtures and sustains young children's developing civic competence and embodiment of the rules, rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship; and (2) to document how young children come to understand and embody these rules, rights and responsibilities embedded within the daily functioning of the classroom. This study also explored the obstacles and challenges faced by each of these schools in their attempts to achieve these goals within the current political and socioeconomic environment that frames education in the U.S.

Participants were the students, teachers and administrators of five classrooms in two New York City public schools that serve socioeconomically and ethnically diverse urban populations in two different communities: one an alternative progressive elementary (preK-6) school and the other a traditional early childhood (preK-2) school. Each school was dedicated to a democratic educational philosophy that emphasizes respect for the open flow of information and ideas, social justice and equal opportunity for all children, and committed to engaging students in inquiry-based experiential learning through the arts.

The methodological approach was drawn from the field of educational ethnography; that is, each of these schools--and each classroom within the schools--was viewed as a community of practice. The unit of analysis was the enactment of democratic principles in the classroom. Data included detailed observations of the daily activities in which teachers and children engaged over the course of the school year in primary grade (K-2) classrooms in these two schools, as well as informal interviews and conversations with students, teachers, administrators and parents within the school community. Observations and interviews were conducted over five months during the 2004-2005 school year at the progressive elementary school and over five months during the 2012-2013 school year at the traditional early childhood school.

Data were analyzed using an array of questions regarding the ideology and practices of democratic learning communities, as well as how these principles and practices are embodied within the activities of teachers and children. The analysis revealed multiple ways in which the children, teachers and administrators in these classrooms act together to create a classroom community that nurtures and sustains young children's developing civic competence. Classroom practices that reinforce inequities and undermine the development of children's civic awareness and participation were also identified.

Analysis of the data was used to generate a conceptual model of democratic practice that can be implemented in primary grade public school classrooms to create a culture of citizenship. This model would encompass nine broad themes: (1) a sense of community in which children learn to balance individual rights with community needs; (2) mutual respect among all participants in the learning community; (3) freedom of movement within the classroom; (4) collaboration among participants at all levels; (5) authentic choices for children within the classroom; (6) transparency into the hierarchy of power and authority; (7) authentic responsibility for children within the classroom community; (8) teacher expectations support children's independence and participation; and (9) the home/school connection supports participation of parents and guardians.

Recommended Citation

Reich-Shapiro, Mindi, "Developing a Culture of Citizenship in Elementary School Classrooms: How Democratic Schools Teach Children About Rules, Rights and Responsibilities" (2014). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/372

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Developing a Culture of Citizenship in Elementary School Classrooms: How Democratic Schools Teach Children About Rules, Rights and Responsibilities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The purpose of this study was to explore development of civic participation in children in primary grade (K-2) classrooms. Young children are accorded neither the rights nor responsibilities of adolescents or adults, nor given many opportunities to participate meaningfully in the decisions that directly impact their lives.