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This article is a compilation of resources from PBS NewsHour focusing on the Jan. 6 hearings and also contains general information about the insurrection at the U.S. capitol. Originally published August 2022 .
It includes background on Jan. 6, a class activity and downloadable PDFs of a timeline, main characters and key terms . For more, there are detailed lesson plans on each day of the hearings, with articles linked to specific witnesses to learn more about them.

For the latest, see this lesson: Exploring the threats to democracy that remain two years after Jan. 6.

A man breaks a window as a mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. Picture taken January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis

On Jan. 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building in hopes of stopping the certification of President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 Election.

Fueled by conspiracy theories and false claims of the election being "stolen," pushed by Trump and his party, the rioters violently breached Capitol security and entered the building.

Lawmakers were forced to pause the certification and hide, fearing for their lives. More than 100 law enforcement members were injured; today, more than 700 individuals have been arrested for participating in the insurrection.

Following the attack, a congressional committee was created to investigate the details of Jan. 6., formally named the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, but commonly referred to as the "Jan. 6 committee."

In 8 public hearings from June to July of 2022, the committee presented testimony from key witnesses, security and police body camera footage, and further investigation into the events leading up to the attack.

PDF handouts

Timeline | List of witnesses and officials | Key terms

Video

Watch this video summarizing the first Jan. 6 hearing to get a sense of the overall investigation.

(For a shorter version, stop at 4:25.)

For more: Watch this video, 'How the Capitol attack unfolded,' summarizing what happened on the day of Jan. 6, 2021. (Warning: Some footage may contain violence unsuitable to younger audiences.)

Class activity

These are two activities that take 15-30 minutes each. Choose what best fits your class.
Small group discussion (15 min)
Break into small groups of 3-4 students and have them discuss the following questions:

1. What do you already know about the Jan. 6 attack? Create a list of what you have already heard or seen in the news.

2. Based on the video, what do you think was the main goal of the committee? What were they trying to reveal to the public? Brainstorm ideas and have each group decide on and share one goal.

3. Do you think it was important to investigate the Jan. 6 attack? Why or why not? What impact will this investigation have on the American public and our future?

Have each group share their answers to the class.

Role-play activity: Imagine yourself as a Jan. 6 Committee investigator (30 min)

You have been assigned to be a Jan. 6 Committee investigator to find more information on what occurred on the day of the attack. You have three main tasks:

1. Find one key witness to interview. View this list of Jan. 6 witnesses and select one, or think of someone not included to interview. Who would have the best first-hand information about the attack? Who would have the best information about the plans to change the results of the 2020 presidential election?

2. Come up with a list of questions for the interviewee. What would you like to learn more about? What do they specifically know that you can't ask anyone else about?

3. Make a list of other evidence that would help answer your questions. For instance, the committee utilized police body camera footage to help understand the physical danger that members of Congress were put into on Jan. 6. What other physical or documentary evidence would help the committee and the public understand Jan. 6 and the plan to overturn election results?

4. Now the that committee's work is over, what questions do you think are still unanswered?

Learn more: Jan. 6 committee hearings lessons and videos
Below is a compilation of lesson plans and videos summarizing each day of the hearings and where things stand now. Some witnesses have articles hyperlinked to learn more.

Day 1 - June 9, 2022

Lesson plan : What we learned on Day 1 of the Jan 6. investigation

Summary : The Jan. 6 congressional committee is set to lay out its evidence in detail starting Monday after a dramatic opening night. In primetime Thursday, the panel accused then-President Trump of an attempted coup. In turn, the former president went online today to deny he urged supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol.
People featured:

Liz Cheney: Jan. 6 committee chair, representative of Wyoming

Bennie Thompson: Jan 6. committee chair, representative of Mississippi

Caroline Edwards: Capitol police officer injured on Jan. 6

Nick Quested: filmmaker documenting far-right extremist group the Proud Boys

Ivanka Trump: daughter of Donald Trump

Day 2 - June 13, 2022

Lesson plan: What stands out from Day 2 of Jan. 6 committee hearings

Summary : With the second day of Jan. 6 committee hearings complete, we get two perspectives on the day's events. Ben Ginsberg, one of Monday's witnesses and a longtime Republican elections attorney who has worked with the RNC and multiple presidential campaigns, and Cynthia Miller-Idriss, who runs American University's Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab, join Judy Woodruff to discuss.
People featured:

Ben Ginsberg : Republican elections attorney

Cynthia Miller-Idriss: director of Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University

Day 3 - June 16, 2022

Lesson plan : Day 3 of Jan. 6 committee hearing examines how Trump pressured Pence to overturn 2020 election

Summary : The Jan. 6 committee held its third public hearing on Jun. 16. The focus was on the role of former Vice President Mike Pence during the counting of the Electoral College votes, and public and private efforts led by former President Trump and his allies to pressure Pence to throw out the results.
People featured:

Michael Luttig : former judge for 4th circuit court of appeals

Bennie Thompson: Jan 6. committee chair, representative of Mississippi

Mike Pence: former Vice President to Donald Trump

Greg Jacob : former Pence counsel

John Eastman : former Trump attorney

Day 4 - June 21, 2022

Lesson plan : Updates from Day 4 of Jan. 6 committee hearings

Summary : The Jan. 6 committee held its fourth public hearing Tuesday on the U.S. Capitol insurrection, focusing on the pressure former President Trump exerted on state legislators and state and local election officials to throw out the 2020 election results.
People featured:
Day 5 - June 23, 2022

Lesson plan : Day 5 of Jan. 6 hearings details how Trump tried to use the Justice Department to stay in office

Summary : On the fifth day of the Jan. 6 hearings, three top Justice Department officials recounted how former President Trump wanted the department to undermine the 2020 election.
People featured:
Jefferey Clark : former Justice Department official

Day 6 - June 28, 2022

Lesson plan : What we learned on Day 6 of the Jan. 6 committee hearings

Summary : The Jan. 6 panel met Tuesday for a quickly scheduled hearing, its sixth this month, to present new and "urgent" evidence about what former President Donald Trump knew before, during and after the Capitol insurrection. The hearing included the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
People featured:
Cassidy Hutchinson : former aide to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows

Day 7 - July 12, 2022

Lesson plan : What we learned on Day 7 of the Jan. 6 committee hearings

Summary : The Jan. 6 committee held its seventh public hearing Tuesday afternoon with a focus on connections between extremist groups and the Trump White House. The hearing ended with a dramatic revelation that former President Trump recently called a witness the panel was talking to, an action referred to the Justice Department.
People featured:

Jason van Tatenhove : former spokesperson for Oath Keepers (right-wing extremist group)

Pat Cipollone : former White House Counsel

Derek Lyons: former white house staff secretary

Sidney Powell: former Trump campaign attorney

Steve Bannon: former white house strategist

Stephen Ayres : Jan. 6 capitol rioter

Day 8 - July 21, 2022

Lesson plan : What we learned on Day 8 of the Jan. 6 hearings

Summary : House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol concluded its first round of public hearings Thursday night, with a nearly three-hour presentation centered on a crucial 187 minutes on that day featuring first-hand accounts inside the White House. This as new information showed that some law enforcement feared for their lives.
People featured: October 13, 2022
Summary: Though not a full session of hearings, on this day the Jan. 6 committee voted to subpoena former President Trump for his testimony. The committee also summarized events as they understood them to this point.
December 19, 2022
Lesson plan: Jan. 6 committee recommends criminal charges against Trump for Capitol attack

Summary: In the final meeting of the Jan. 6 committee, members voted to recommend criminal charges for former president Trump. These charges include aiding an insurrection. The recommendation carries no legal weight, however, and any final determination about charges will be made by the Justice Department. The committee also prepared to release its final summary report, which can be read below.
Final committee report summary
The committee's final summary report can be read here .

Evelyn Chi, a rising sophomore at Amherst College and intern with NewsHour Classroom, wrote this study guide with editing by Victoria Pasquantonio.
Fill out this form to share your thoughts on Classroom's resources. Sign up for NewsHour Classroom's ready-to-go Daily News Lessons delivered to your inbox each morning.

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Student guide to Jan. 6: Lesson plans, timeline, key terms

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View this study guide to learn more about the Jan. 6 hearings and to access a timeline, key terms and class activities

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ONLINE: Teaching for Social Change through Art: Strategies for Enhancing Media Literacy in 2020

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ONLINE: Teaching for Social Change through Art: Strategies for Enhancing Media Literacy in 2020

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ONLINE: Teaching for Social Change through Art: Strategies for Enhancing Media Literacy in 2020 | Hammer Museum

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An online program for teachers on strategies for using art to strengthen media literacy, social awareness, and social-emotional learning.

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Responding to the Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

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Responding to the Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

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Facing History Lesson

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Responding to the Insurrection at the US Capitol

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This Teaching Idea is designed to help guide an initial classroom reflection on the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

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What happened during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and why?

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What happened during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and why?

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For additional resources on our response to the events of January 6, 2021, read Responding to the Insurrection at the US Capitol.
Following events like the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, social media and 24-hour news networks can overwhelm us with information, often presented out of context and sometimes simply untrue. Simultaneously, political and media narratives quickly emerge that offer oversimplified and misleading explanations for what happened. In this environment, understanding exactly what happened and why requires careful reading, rigorous thinking, and an appreciation for the complex array of causes at work in history and current events.

Several days after the Capitol insurrection, students need support in piecing together the story, separating facts from misinformation, and considering the short and long-term causes of this historical event. This Teaching Idea guides students to resist oversimplified explanations by using an iceberg diagram to synthesize what happened and outline multiple causes. It includes excerpts from texts that explore the ways in which inflammatory language, disinformation, and white supremacy were contributing causes of the insurrection. We encourage teachers and students to ground their discussions in verified, corroborated information and to consider the role played by factors beyond those documented here. As information continues to emerge, we encourage you to continue to add to and amend the iceberg diagrams you create with your class.

If your students have not had the opportunity for initial processing and reflection on the insurrection, we recommend you start with our Teaching Idea Responding to the Insurrection at the US Capitol. In future Teaching Ideas, we will help students consider how to assess responsibility for the attack on the Capitol, as well as how to hold those responsible accountable in a manner that best allows the country to move forward.

Note: While the activities below are described for in-person learning, we have included suggestions for adapting these activities for remote learning.

1. What Happened at the Capitol on January 6, 2021?

Introduce the concept behind the Iceberg Diagrams teaching strategy to your students. Explain that politicians and the media can have a tendency to oversimplify historic events like the insurrection that took place at the US Capitol. Iceberg diagrams help students uncover the multiple causes of a complex event like this.
Assign your students to small groups. Ask each group to draw an iceberg diagram on a blank sheet of paper (or distribute a copy of the Iceberg Diagram handout to each group). Next to the tip of the iceberg, students should write the question:
What happened at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021?

Then, ask your students to brainstorm answers to the question and write them next to the tip of the iceberg. Explain that they should make a note of the source of each piece of information and avoid writing anything that comes from an unreliable source.

Note: Depending on students' background knowledge about the insurrection, you may wish to share one or more of the following resources with them:

Next, draw an iceberg diagram on the board or a large piece of paper. After students have finished brainstorming in their small groups, ask each group to share one piece of information that they wrote next to the tip of their iceberg diagram. Record the information students share on the large iceberg diagram. Answer any questions students have about what happened during the insurrection.

Remote Learning Note: Before teaching this activity, make a copy of the Iceberg Diagram handout to share with your class. During a synchronous session with your students, explain the concept behind the Iceberg Diagrams teaching strategy. Ask each student to draw their own iceberg diagram (or share a copy of the Iceberg Diagram handout with them, which is available in Google Doc and PDF format). Then, assign your students to work in small groups in virtual breakout rooms to brainstorm ideas to write down next to the tip of their icebergs. Bring students back to the main session and ask one member of each group to write one piece of information next to the tip of the iceberg diagram you shared with the class.

2. What Were the Causes of the Insurrection at the US Capitol?

In this activity, students brainstorm ideas for the lower portion of their iceberg diagrams and use the Big Paper teaching strategy to read, annotate, and reflect on a selection of sources that explore various causes underlying the insurrection. You can use the sources listed at the end of this activity or others of your choice.

Remote Learning Note: See our teaching strategy Big Paper (Remote Learning) for guidance on how to organize a Big Paper activity while teaching remotely.

Ask your students to write the following question "below the surface" of their iceberg diagrams:

What were the causes of the insurrection that took place at the US Capitol?

Then, ask your students to return to their small groups, brainstorm answers to the question, and write them next on the lower portion of their iceberg diagrams.

Once students have finished, explain to them that they will now complete a Big Paper activity that will help them learn more about the causes of the January 6 insurrection. Assign each group one source to begin the Big Paper activity. Students can use the following questions to help them reflect on their source:

How do the ideas and information in this source connect to what you already know about the insurrection? What new ideas does this source raise?

Is there anything in this source you find surprising or troubling?

What questions does this source raise for you?

Once students have finished with their first source, ask them to read and comment on other groups' sources. Once students have read and annotated every source, ask them to return to their iceberg diagrams and write down additional causes they learned about as well as their remaining questions.

Ask each group to share one of the causes they wrote down and record their responses on your shared class iceberg diagram. You can also record any remaining questions students have on a separate section of the board or paper and continue to revisit these questions over the coming days or weeks as new information about the insurrection emerges.

Sources for Big Paper Activity

Source 1: Excerpt from Adam Serwer's article in The Atlantic, The Capitol Riot Was an Attack on Multiracial Democracy, January 7, 2021

The Washington Post described the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol as "would-be saboteurs of a 244-year-old democracy." But true democracy in America is only 55 years old, dating to 1965, the year the Voting Rights Act guaranteed suffrage-at least on paper-to all American citizens, regardless of race. Four decades later, a multiracial coalition elected a Black president. As in the past, the rise of Black men to political power made some white Americans question the wisdom of democracy.

That president's successor, and many of his supporters, now insists that he must be allowed to remain in power despite having lost his reelection campaign, arguing that his opponent's victory is illegitimate regardless of the results, and demanding that votes from predominantly Black constituencies in swing states be thrown out. As Trumpput it, "Detroit and Philadelphia-known as two of the most corrupt political places anywhere in our country, easily-cannot be responsible for engineering the outcome of a presidential race." Presenting the disenfranchisement of Black Americans as an exercise in good government is one of the most recognizable constants of American history.

Although these arguments by definition involve rejecting the results of a democratic contest, those who insist that Trump remain in office see themselves as defending democracy by disregarding votes that were never meant to count. Like most of the political ills that Trump has brought to the fore, this one predates him by many years, and has found a home in both political parties at one point or another.
Source 2: Excerpt from the RAND report Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life, 2018
In many areas of American society, facts and data are essential to survival or necessary for success. Complex decisions, even when they require subjective judgments and intuition, can be made with more confidence when anchored by agreed-upon facts and reliable data. Yet in national political and civil discourse, disagreement over facts appears to be greater than ever. Opinions are crowding out and overwhelming facts in the media, and Americans are placing less faith in institutions that were once trusted sources of information. This shift away from facts and data in political debate and policy decisions has far-reaching implications: It erodes civil discourse; weakens key institutions; and imposes economic, diplomatic, and cultural costs.
Source 3: Excerpt from Rebecca Heilweil and Shirin Ghaffary's article in Vox, How Trump's internet built and broadcast the Capitol insurrection, January 8, 2021
For years, members of movements like QAnon, the Proud Boys, and the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group-not to mention hordes of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists-have been allowed to accumulate and grow on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. While the mainstream social networks have taken action to restrict and even ban the groups, many had already achieved a significant level of organization, leaving critics to say that the crackdown came too late.

"Social media platforms, for years, have allowed their algorithms to boost disinformation and far-right organizing," said Fadi Quran, campaign director at the human rights group Avaaz. "In DC, we saw QAnon conspiracists and other militias that would never have grown to this size without being turbo-charged by Facebook and Twitter.". . .

Violent events likethe "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, the attack at the Christchurch mosque, and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting often have their roots in anger and bigotry that festers online. It's also undeniable that Trump and his high-profile followers have become instigators. By spreading misinformation and false claims that the election was stolen - and by giving tacit approval to groups like QAnon and the Proud Boys - Trump's online rhetoric excited his base and encouraged the storming of the Capitol.
Source 4: Excerpts from President Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, and analysis from Charlie Savage's article in the New York Times Incitement to Riot? What Trump Told Supporters Before Mob Stormed Capitol

Excerpts from Trump's speech:

We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved.

Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about.

And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal.

. . . and we fight, we fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore . . .

So we are going to--we are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we are going to the Capitol, and we are going to try and give--the Democrats are hopeless, they are never voting for anything, not even one vote but we are going to try--give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any of our help, we're try--going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Analysis from the New York Times:
The president's speech was riddled with violent imagery and calls to fight harder than before . . .

Two months after he lost the election, Mr. Trump repeatedly told his followers that they could still stop Mr. Biden from becoming president if they "fight like hell," a formulation that suggested they act and change things, not merely raise their voices in protest.
Source 5: Excerpt from Taymullah Abdur-Rahman's op-ed in the Boston Globe, Protected by an invisible bullet-proof vest called white skin, January 7, 2021
I'm relieved that large numbers of American civilians weren't gunned down by law enforcement under the guise of protecting the symbols of freedom and democracy. However, I'd be remiss not to mention that those Trump supporters who barged their way into the Capitol and took an armed stance were being protected by an invisible bullet-proof vest called white skin.

Although indiscriminate violence did not win the day, those who would have their country burn to the ground rather than acquiesce to the democratic process did retain the small, albeit significant, victory of expressing their rage and angst to an extreme degree and toward the highest level of government without much punitive outcome. In an America where, just two weeks ago, a Black man,Andre Hill, was shot down in a driveway by police, in Columbus, Ohio, while dropping off Christmas money to a friend, this is a huge problem.

3. Reflect on What You Learned

Ask your students to reflect in their journals or on an exit card on what they learned about the insurrection using the following prompts:

Before these activities I was thinking/feeling . . .

Now I'm thinking/feeling . . .

Remote Learning Note: You can create exit cards for remote learning using Google Forms, Google Docs, Padlet, or Flipgrid. Use your students' responses to inform future activities on the insurrection.

Extension: Revisit Iceberg Diagrams as Needed

As new information emerges, ask your students to return to the causes they wrote "below the surface" of their iceberg diagrams and consider whether the new information supports or challenges the causes they wrote down. You can also continue to revisit the questions students raised at the end of the Big Paper activity.

Additional Resources:

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What Happened During the Insurrection at the US Capitol and Why?

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For additional resources on our response to the events of January 6, 2021, read Responding to the Insurrection at the US Capitol. Following events like the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, social media and 24-hour news networks can overwhelm us with information, often presented out of context and sometimes simply untrue.

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Help Students Fight Misinformation Around the Capitol Insurrection

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Help Students Fight Misinformation Around the Capitol Insurrection

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The deadly insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 left no doubt about the destructive impact of misinformation and disinformation on democracy. Repeated lies questioning Joe Biden's election defeat of President Donald Trump, including from the president himself and a group of GOP senators and representatives, served as a rallying cry for the Capitol mob. These baseless claims leading to "incitement to insurrection" are the central pillar of the articles of impeachment against Trump and prompted calls for his immediate removal from office.

How can educators equip students with the tools to fight misinformation and disinformation, and evaluate what they hear from politicians, news outlets, public officials and social media influencers?

KQED's Above the Noise helps students make sense of these vital media literacy topics. Episodes can be found on the Above the Noise YouTube channel. Or invite your students to view the videos and discuss the issues with peers around the country with KQED Learn Discussions, where you'll find classroom resources to support in-person, hybrid or remote learning.

Conspiracy theories can be dangerous, as recent events show. But they're nothing new. This video, Are Conspiracy Theories Harmless Fun, a Serious Problem or Something in Between? doesn't address specific political conspiracy theories. Instead, it helps students analyze how a conspiracy theory takes root and suggests ways to combat its spread.

Help students understand and challenge confirmation bias with What Would It Take to Change Your Mind About Something You Really Believed?

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Help Students Fight Misinformation Around the Capitol Insurrection

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The deadly insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 left no doubt about the destructive impact of misinformation and disinformation on democracy. Repeated lies questioning Joe Biden's election defeat of President Donald Trump, including from the president himself and a group of GOP senators and representatives, served as a rallying cry for the Capitol mob.

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These full 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 lessons each provide a unique and grade-appropriate exploration of impeachment in the United States as well as other resources and infographics. The formatting of the lesson plans is consistent with the Civics for All lesson plans and is distinguishable by the purple color-coding.

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Civics for All: The Impeachment process | WeTeachNYC

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These full 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 lessons each provide a unique and grade-appropriate exploration of impeachment in the United States as well as other resources and infographics. The formatting of the lesson plans is consistent with the Civics for All lesson plans and is distinguishable by the purple color-coding.

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#sschat Resource Sharing for January 6 :

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#sschat Resource Sharing for January 6 :

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#sschat Resource Sharing for January 6 - Google Drive

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The 2020 Election and Beyond: Resources for ELs

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The 2020 Election and Beyond: Resources for ELs

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In the coming weeks and months, your students may continue to have many questions about why the election unfolded as it did and what comes next. They may also have questions about what a new presidential administration means for them. These resources include educational resources you can use in the classroom and tips for discussion.

Special thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for maintaining great resource lists and archives on these topics.

Addressing ELL Students' Questions and Concerns

If you teach English language learners (ELLs) or immigrant students, there are a few helpful things to know about as we head into the coming weeks. You may wish to share this information with administrators or colleagues who also work with ELLs.

1. Explain that the long process of counting votes after the election proceeded as normal and was expected, especially with the high number of mail-in ballots this year due to the pandemic. There are some helpful explanations about this process in our resources below.

2. Students may have deep personal feelings about the outcomes of this election for a number of reasons. ELL and immigrant students may have felt the impacts of changing immigration policies in recent years, directly or indirectly. They may also have experienced bullying or harassment due to a number of factors, including their ethnicity, language, or religion. In addition, many immigrant families have also been particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic and students may be shouldering heavy levels of responsibility at home. Students may also be concerned about retribution against themselves based on the outcome of the election.

3. It is also important not to make assumptions about any student's experience or political leanings. No voting block is monolithic and we are seeing a complex picture emerge for how and why a diverse range of communities voted as they did.

4. While some students may wish to engage in group discussion, others may feel uncomfortable drawing any attention to themselves or their family's situation. Proceed with utmost care and sensitivity and continue to look for ways to embed social-emotional support and learning across the curriculum.

5. You can get a better picture of the questions and concerns families may have by speaking with families directly. Students and families may have questions about what the results might mean for them. While you won't be able to answer their questions right away, you can acknowledge the difficulty of the uncertainty families have been experiencing and assure them that you will work to help connect them with others who will be working on these issues.

6. You may wish to reach out to administrators and mental health colleagues or partners to establish some more robust support for students who are under tremendous strain due to the pandemic and perhaps feeling high levels of anxiety.

7. Find out which local organizations have ties to your community and look for ways to partner in families' home languages to provide ongoing updates of information. Building school-community partnerships have proven to be critical in addressing families' questions and concerns about the pandemic, immigration issues, and other key topics.

8. Don't lose sight of the strengths that ELL/immigrant students and families bring to their schools and our communities every day. The better you know your families, the more deeply you can tap into those strengths.

9. Let ELL/immigrant students and their families know that they are valued members of your class, school, and community. Continue efforts to make them feel welcome. If you aren't sure what that looks like, especially in virtual settings, ask them what would make them feel more welcome, perhaps in private conversations or small focus groups. Share those ideas with staff and administrators as you hear them. At the same time, communicate to your class that all students are valued members of the classroom and bullying or disrespectful speech against ELLs and immigrant students will not be tolerated. Share the importance of these message with other colleagues.

10. Continue learning from other educators to find out how they are managing this moment through your local networks or online networks.

For more resources and ideas you can use in instruction, see the list below.

Media Literacy
Upcoming events Articles & blog posts
Classroom Resources: Election 2020

After the Election
Immigration stories and topics
Election Week: Waiting for Results

Preparing for the 2020 Election

Multimedia: 2020 Election & Civics Resources for Students

Resources for ELLs

Spanish-Language Election Information

Useful Resources from Prior Elections

Books & Authors

My America: Many Voices, Many Stories

These books celebrate a diverse range of American voices and experiences, including voting in an election, immigrating to this country, and the journey to becoming a U.S. citizen.

Featured Video: Janet Wong reads "Liberty"

Poet Janet Wong reads and discusses her poem "Liberty", which is featured in Poems to Learn by Heart.

Book and Activity Guides

More booklists

Reading Rockets offers the following great booklists about elections, government, and U.S. presidents:

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The 2020 Election and Beyond: Resources for ELLs

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In the coming weeks and months, your students may continue to have many questions about why the election unfolded as it did and what comes next. They may also have questions about what a new presidential administration means for them. These resources include educational resources you can use in the classroom and tips for discussion.

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Resources for teachers on the days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol

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Resources for teachers on the days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol

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Two people wave Blue Trump 2020 flags in front of the U.S. Capitol as night falls on 1/6/2021. Photo Credit: CNN

We welcome this guest post from Dr. Alyssa Hadley-Dunn, Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State University and founder of Teaching on the Days After: Dialogue & Resources for Educating Toward Justice

For educators, I am going to share some resources/ideas for use in your classrooms tomorrow. A reminder about everything that I share here: There is no one easy answer. Not everything works for every student or every teacher or in every classroom. I am not an expert in your classroom or your students (or an expert in anything, actually!). This is not a conversation that needs to or should be relegated to only Social Studies and English Language Arts classrooms.

Black teachers: I hope that you have time and space to care for yourselves, as you support your students. I hope that you have white colleagues who are talking about this, too, so you do not have to be the only one. I hope that you can find co-conspirators in your schools (or here).

White teachers of white students: You HAVE to talk about what is happening. This is on us, every time and all the time. We cannot pretend to be surprised anymore. We have to do what we said we were going to do all summer when we were reading those anti-racist books and completing those anti-racism checklists. Our white students are not 'too young' to learn about this.

White teachers of students of color, especially Black students: Please make sure you know what you are doing before you do it. Please make sure you know how to support your Black students and other students of color if you try to have these conversations. Make sure you to do not do more harm by entering into these conversations without careful thought and planning. Ideas/resources/links in comments on Facebook will be updated throughout the evening on our educator's group: Teaching on Days After: Dialogue & Resources for Educating Toward Justice..

USING ZOOM: Breakout rooms can work to your advantage here. Especially if you are teaching students of color, create multiple breakout rooms for students based on what they want to and feel capable of talking about: (1) For students who do not want to discuss it right now and want to work independently on 'regular' class content; (2) For students who want to process with a partner; (3) For students who have many questions and want to process with you.

NAMING THE TRUTH: Think about the language that the media is using, especially when this first started happening. What does this language mean? What does it reveal and what does it obscure? (Hint: Racism.) For example: "protestors" versus "terrorists," "protest" versus "attack" or "coup."

ANALYZING IMAGES: There are many images being shared, including some of the Confederate flag in the Capitol building, of someone stealing a Podium, people hanging from the Capitol walls. What do these images tell us? What do they (attempt to) obscure? (Hint: Racism.)

WRITING: If you have students who might better process their thoughts through writing and/or you want to use writing as an intro activity, here are some potential prompts: What do you think happened yesterday? What do you know? What questions do you have? How would you like to process this as a community? If you are doing this virtually, you could have students work in individual or shared Google docs or other apps.

COMPARING A POLICE RESPONSE: There are many Tweets and stories that are being shared that compare images of response to BLM protests and today's terrorist action. You could use these images to ask students to compare what they think is happening and why it is happening. (Hint: Racism, white supremacy, white rage)

PUSH BACK AGAINST NEUTRALITY: Remember that it will do more harm to teach "both sides." This is not about both sides. This is about justice. This is a quotation from Tayari Jones that I like to use as a way to think about the "two sides" debate: "The middle is a point equidistant from two poles. That's it. There is nothing inherently virtuous about being neither here nor there. Buried in this is a false equivalency of ideas, what you might call the "good people on both sides" phenomenon. When we revisit our shameful past, ask yourself, Where was the middle? Rather than chattel slavery, perhaps we could agree on a nice program of indentured servitude? Instead of subjecting Japanese-American citizens to indefinite detention during WWII, what if we had agreed to give them actual sentences and perhaps provided a receipt for them to reclaim their things when they were released? What is halfway between moral and immoral?" -Tayari Jones, from " There's nothing virtuous about finding common ground ", Time Magazine, 2018

ESTABLISH DIALOGUE NORMS: Check out slides 26-28 in this presentation I do about "teaching on days after." These are some examples of dialogue norms you could discuss and use with your students: https://docs.google.com/.../1hQ.../edit

LEARN AND PRACTICE INTERRUPTOR PHRASES: I don't actually think the classroom SHOULD be safe for all viewpoints. I am not going to debate another person's right to exist. I am not going to debate another person's humanity. These phrases can support strategies for harm reduction even if the absence of a completely "safe" space. Check out slide 31 here for some interruptor phrases to use if you need them:

ENGAGE IN A PEDAGOGY OF POLITICAL TRAUMA: If you are teaching Black students or other students of color, it will be especially important to find multiple ways to support them in this moment. Check out slides 18-23 in this presentation for descriptions of what teachers have done in moments of political trauma. Some of this was in response to the 2016 election, research done with colleagues Hannah Carson Baggett and Beth Sondel and some is research done for the book that I'm writing right now on all types of days after.

NOTICE AND WONDER: Two great questions to get students thinking/talking (at any age, any grade level, any content) is to start with: What do you notice? What do you wonder? For example, using two paired texts of photos, one of police on the Capitol steps during the summer's BLM protests compared to a photo of terrorist in Nancy Pelosi's office, unguarded... What do you notice about each photo? What do you wonder?

REMEMBER THIS IS NOT A SURPRISE: White teachers, do not be the teachers/people who are "surprised" by what is happening. Do not let your students be the students/people who are surprised by what is happening. Contextualize this within a historical lens of whiteness, white supremacy, settler colonialism... A great book to think through extended plans for historically and culturally relevant critical teaching is Dr. Gholdy Muhammad's Cultivating Genius. It is not just for literacy teachers!

EXPLORE TRUE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: Despite what some are saying, what we are seeing at the Capitol is not "civil disobedience." Here are some lessons from Teaching Tolerance about ACTUAL civil disobedience.

CONSIDER/SHARE MEDIA FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S.: Think about how other countries' media are covering these events. Find headlines and translations from major newspapers and consider what it means that the coverage is so different (as it will likely be).

Dr. Alyssa Hadley Dunn's research centers on urban teacher education and support and the sociocultural and political contexts of urban schools, with a focus on issues of race, justice, and equity. A former high school English teacher, at present, Dr. Dunn is working on a book about how teachers make pedagogical decisions on "days after" major events, tragedies, or instances of injustice. (Check out the related Facebook page for educators here.)

A committed public scholar, Dr. Dunn's work has been featured on The Huffington Post, CNN, and National Public Radio, as well on education blogs and podcasts. In addition to publishing in journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Journal of Teacher Education, Urban Education, and Teaching and Teacher Education, she is the author of " Teachers Without Borders? The Hidden Consequences of International Teachers in U.S. Schools" (Teachers College Press, 2013) and " Urban Teaching in America: Theory, Research, and Practice in K-12 Schools" (Sage Publishers, 2011). She is also Senior Associate Editor of the journal Multicultural Perspectives.

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Resources for teachers on the days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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Two people wave Blue Trump 2020 flags in front of the U.S. Capitol as night falls on 1/6/2021. Photo Credit: CNN We welcome this guest post from Dr. Alyssa Hadley-Dunn, Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State University and founder of Teaching on the Days After: Dialogue & Resources for Educating Toward Justice For...

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How to Teach the U.S. Capitol Attack: Dozens of Resources to Get You Started

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How to Teach the U.S. Capitol Attack: Dozens of Resources to Get You Started

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The dramatic events of Jan. 6 and their continuing fallout demand sustained and careful classroom attention from teachers. But there is no complete roadmap available to them yet.

What makes teaching about the insurrection on Capitol Hill especially complicated is that it's not a spontaneous event, but rather the product of multiple factors and trends: political polarization, a disintegrating news infrastructure and the rise of social media, a backlash to recent discourse about criminal justice, and racism, among many things.

Nor were the day's events entirely without historical precedent. Disputed elections have occurred at several points in American history, and there has been at least one other attempted insurgency.

It's OK not to have everything all figured out immediately, said Emma Humphries, the chief education officer at iCivics, the civics curriculum provider and advocacy group. At least in the beginning, teachers should trust their instincts and take steps to make sure students feel safe. But longer term?

"You absolutely have to talk about this. We tend to treat civics education very seasonally-there's a primary season, and an election, and a Census every 10 years," she said. "This [insurrection] was years in the making, and it will be years in the making to get us to a far better place. So, one day at a time-but every day-would be my message."

Teacher-educators said K-12 teachers will need to address the topic thoughtfully by integrating multiple avenues-historical underpinnings, media literacy, and the racial subtexts of the event, among other things.

"You have to talk about it through these multiple lenses," said Amanda E. Vickery, an assistant professor of social studies education and race in education at the University of North Texas. "It's a complex issue, and I think teachers have to show that it's so complex, and not just teach it as, 'These people were angry, and when you're angry you protest, and that's what happened.' No," she said. "You have to get at power, and structural racism, and the disregard of truth, and respect for the democratic process."

To help educators as they begin to craft new teaching materials, Education Week has gathered a beginning list of resources from experts, practicing educators, and national organizations. It is not, by any means, a comprehensive list, nor a soup-to-nuts lesson plan.

Rather, we intend for it to generate dialogue and ideas as you work with your grade-level teams, administrators, student services personnel, and curriculum staff to develop comprehensive teaching units. Education Week does not endorse any of the ideas or lessons below.

We have grouped them into several core areas or themes.

Social-emotional learning / processing difficult events

For young children, students in the District of Columbia, and students grappling with the implications of a rise in white nationalism and discussions about policing and racism, the Jan. 6 events may have been traumatic. Teachers should work with school psychologists and support staff to ensure social-emotional touchstones are considered as they develop lessons.

Media literacy

The proliferation of partisan news sources peddling deeply skewed or even inaccurate information has helped fuel conspiracy theories and other harmful perceptions of the integrity of U.S. elections. Teachers will need to help students flex their media literacy muscles as they analyze different sources' depictions of recent news.

The language teachers use while discussing these events is important, too, Vickery said. For example, she would call those who forced entry into the Capitol rioters, not protestors, because of their acts and aims. Teachers can interrogate what the different terms applied to this group mean, she said, and why different news sources might choose one over the other.

Dialogue and classroom conversations

Classroom conversations are at the very heart of the civics and government classroom, but they depend on teachers' ability to skillfully set norms for those discussions, create supportive, open, and respectful places for dialogue, and develop thoughtful prompts.

Some sample 'first day' teaching plans from teachers

Watching events unfold on Jan. 6, some teachers and organizations quickly put together plans for addressing the news in class the next day. These resources could serve as an introduction to discussing the insurrection by helping students get the facts straight, creating space for reflection and questions, and defining terms that students might be hearing in the news.

Core themes/historical touchstones

The peaceful transition of power is a longstanding norm in the United States, but it remains a fragile one, and there are historical parallels to earlier U.S. elections and events. There's also an enduring history in the United States of white backlash to elections that empower Black communities and Black politicians, said Vickery of the University of North Texas, citing the book White Rage by Carol Anderson. "If you're going to talk about the democratic process, you have to talk about who it works for and who it doesn't work for," she said. "For a lot of Black activists, and activists of color, what we saw yesterday? We weren't surprised. Because we look at history."

Congress is still debating what constitutional remedies and sanctions, if any, they may take against President Trump for his role in inciting the riots.

Other curated collections

Major school districts, professional associations for teachers, and curriculum and content providers are beginning to compile their own lists of teaching resources, some of which will evolve in the weeks to come.

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How to Teach the U.S. Capitol Attack: Dozens of Resources to Get You Started

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The dramatic events of Jan. 6 and their continuing fallout demand sustained and careful classroom attention from teachers. But there is no complete roadmap available to them yet.

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Teaching Resources for the Storming of the U.S. Capitol by Pro-Trump Extremists

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Teaching Resources for the Storming of the U.S. Capitol by Pro-Trump Extremists

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New York Times Learning Network

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Dozens of lesson plan ideas, activities and Times materials for exploring the causes and consequences of this assault on democracy in the United States.

Pro-Trump extremists overruning the Senate chamber. Hundreds of protesters roamed the halls of the Capitol on Jan.6, taking photos and breaking into offices. Related Article Credit... Win McNamee/Getty Images

Not since the War of 1812, when British forces set fire to the Capitol, have the halls of power in Washington been overtaken by violent intruders as they were on Jan. 6, writes The Times.

As the world watched this tableau of violence and mayhem live, teachers immediately realized that the ordinary curriculum would need to give way:

I am a history teacher, and tomorrow, so are you.
- Dylan Huisken, 2019 MT Teacher of the Year (@2019MTTOY) January 7, 2021

What happened and why? What does it mean for American democracy? Where does the nation go from here?

Below, some suggestions from The Learning Network for using Times materials - articles, photos, videos, Opinion pieces, graphics and more - for teaching about these and other key questions. You can also find a list of excellent additional resources from other educational organizations.

Teaching and Learning Resources

Part I: Get the facts.
Organizations like Teaching Tolerance, Facing History and Ourselves and the Anti-Defamation League have helpful, specific tips for beginning a discussion about this upsetting event, and all recommend ways to set the stage so that students can process and share emotions first - "addressing the 'heart' before the 'head'," as Facing History describes it.

When your students are ready, help them understand the facts. What do they know - or think they know? What questions do they have?

Invite them to read, view or listen to one or several of the following resources and then respond to the comprehension questions below:

Comprehension Questions:

1. Why was there a gathering of Trump loyalists in Washington on Jan. 6?

2. Why was Congress meeting that day?

3. What were lawmakers debating during the session and why? In what ways was this debate related to the rally that President Trump organized for that day?

4. Summarize in your own words what happened when the mob stormed the Capitol.

5. What role did Mr. Trump have in this event? How did he respond to the violence and vandalism of his supporters?

6. How have Democrats and Republicans responded to the attack?
Part II: Respond and react.
Next, give students an opportunity to react to what they read, viewed or heard. They might:

Head: What information do we currently know about the insurrection that happened on January 6, 2021? What additional facts or information would you like to have?

Heart: How do you feel about the insurrection and what is happening in the aftermath? Are there particular moments or images that stand out to you?

Conscience: What do you believe was at stake in the events on January 6, 2021? What questions about right and wrong, fairness or injustice, did insurrection raise for you? How should individuals or politicians act in order to protect our democratic institutions?

Write or create something in response to what the students learned: an editorial or letter to the editor, political cartoon, illustration, meme, video, poem or anything else. For instance, here is a poem that a teenager posted in our Student Opinion forum, excerpted below:

My democracy is dead. it was never alive
we pretend to care, pretend to listen, the dam has run over.
civil liberties and rights have become a thing of the past, hate and
woe has overtaken reason
Democracy has died today.
it was killed by those it swore to protect.
Thick with the blood of fallen, the river rolls deep and damp.
the stilted homes of the dammed are long gone
the trail has turned into a crevasse.
- Bailey Archuleta, San Diego

Part I: When, if at all, did President Trump cross a line?
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, stated on Wednesday: "What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president." Representative Liz Cheney, Republican from Wyoming, told Fox News: "There's no question the president formed the mob. The president incited the mob. The president addressed the mob. He lit the flame." What do students think?

In this activity, students will determine what level of responsibility President Trump has in inciting thousands of his supporters to storm the United States Capitol to disrupt the certification of the next president. They will determine at what point between the Nov. 3 election and the Jan. 6 riot, if at all, they think Mr. Trump crossed a line. And, if he did cross a line, what line did he cross? First, were any of his actions immoral or unpresidential? Second, did he act unlawfully or in violation of the Constitution he swore to defend?

Nov. 14: After the election, the president refused to concede and instead insisted over and over, without providing any evidence, that the election was stolen from him. He became the first modern president in U.S. history to refuse to concede.

"Mr. Trump has refused to concede the race to Mr. Biden, and he continues to falsely insist he would have won if not for what he has claimed were widespread voter irregularities. (In fact, top election officials across the country have said that there is no evidence that fraud or other irregularities played a role in the outcome.)" - The New York Times

Nov. 19: The president pressured local and state officials to not certify the election results in states that he lost.

"In a brazen step, the president invited Republican state leaders in Michigan to the White House as he and his allies try to prevent the state from certifying Joe Biden's clear victory there." - The New York Times

Dec. 26: Following the Nov. 3 election, the president and his Republican allies initiated dozens of lawsuits challenging the results of the presidential election. In none of these courts, including in the Supreme Court, did they succeed in proving any claim of illegal voting.

"After bringing some 60 lawsuits, and even offering financial incentive for information about fraud, Mr. Trump and his allies have failed to prove definitively any case of illegal voting on behalf of their opponent in court - not a single case of an undocumented immigrant casting a ballot, a citizen double voting, nor any credible evidence that legions of the voting dead gave Mr. Biden a victory that wasn't his." - The New York Times

Jan. 3: The president pushed state officials in Georgia "to find 11,780 votes," enough to make him the winner.

" President Trump pressured Georgia's Republican secretary of state to 'find' him enough votes to overturn the presidential election and vaguely threatened him with 'a criminal offense' during an hourlong telephone call on Saturday, according to an audio recording of the conversation." - The New York Times

Noon, Jan. 6: The president held a rally near the White House the same day that Congress was to certify the election, telling his supporters that "you will never take back our country with weakness." Hours later, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and disrupted the certification process.

"Mr. Trump was somber as he got into the presidential motorcade for the short ride over to the Ellipse, where he made clear in his roughly 70-minute speech that he was furious with Mr. Pence and that he wanted the people gathered on the National Mall to go to the Capitol immediately afterward in protest of what he falsely claimed was a stolen election." - The New York Times

4:17 p.m., Jan. 6: The president waited two hours during the riot at the Capitol before he urged his supporters in a video message on Twitter to go home. In the message he repeated false claims that the election "was stolen from us" and that it was a "fraudulent election," before telling the violent mob, "So go home, we love you, you're very special."

"President Trump on Wednesday evening openly condoned on social media the violence unfolding at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol, prompting Facebook and Twitter to remove his posts and lock his accounts." - The New York Times

Part II: Should President Trump be removed from office?

Bret Stephens writes in a Times Op-Ed essay:

"The duty of the House of Representatives and the Senate, once they certify Joe Biden's election, is to reconvene immediately to impeach the president and then remove him from office and bar him from ever holding office again.

To allow Trump to serve out his term, however brief it may be, puts the nation's safety at risk, leaves our reputation as a democracy in tatters and evades the inescapable truth that the assault on Congress was an act of violent sedition aided and abetted by a lawless, immoral and terrifying president."

Some business leaders, members of Congress and members of the president's own cabinet are wondering whether the president is unfit to hold office, even for the remaining two weeks of his term.

Based on the answers you gave to Part I above, do you think Mr. Trump is no longer fit to serve as president? Is he a danger to the country? What do you think would be the benefits of invoking the 25th Amendment, which provides procedures to replace a sitting president who is no longer capable of fulfilling his duties, or in initiating impeachment proceedings in an attempt to remove Mr. Trump from office? What might be the downsides?

Finally, what do you think will happen? Do you think Mr. Trump will face any consequences for his role in encouraging a mob attack at the Capitol?

Video

Back

transcript

Is There Something Wrong With Democracy?

For years, the number of democracies in the world had been on the rise, but recently the trend has stalled. The New York Times journalists Max Fisher and Amanda Taub explore why some democratic countries have backslid, while others never quite made it.

This is the idea that took over the world. First there was one democracy - then 10, then 20. There were some setbacks, but people really seemed to want democracy. And eventually, most of them got one. But 15 years ago, democracy stopped spreading, and it might not pick back up again. Even some places that seemed safely democratic turned out not to be. And people are even getting worried about established democracies like the U.S. So is there something wrong with democracy? I'm Max Fisher. I'm Amanda Taub. We're journalists at The New York Times. And this is the Interpreter. We can measure democracy kind of like a health score. Over here, there are full democracies like the United States. And over there are dictatorships like North Korea. So the further left a country is, the less democratic it is and the further right a country, the more democratic it is. Now let's see what happens when we add how rich the countries are. The higher on the graph, the richer the country and the lower on the graph, the poorer the country. Generally, countries have moved up and right. As they got richer, they became more democratic. You've got your Englands, your Latvias, your Indonesias. You see a pattern? Countries getting richer. Countries getting more democratic. But look at countries like China and Saudi Arabia. They got richer, but never got more democratic. Look at Russia and Venezuela. They got democratic, but then backslid, which wasn't supposed to happen. So what's going on? China looked exactly like places we thought would become democracies next. They built up the rule of law, civil society and some institutions. Normally, those are the building blocks that eventually add up to democracy. But they were really designed to make citizens just happy enough to protect the authoritarian system from the will of the people. And whenever the government feels like it could lose control, it uses the other side of its strategy: violent oppression and coercion. We're seeing this in more places where dictators are learning how to stop democracy from forming. And at the same time, some elected leaders are developing their own playbook for pulling democratic systems down from within. A handful of seemingly established democracies are sliding back towards dictatorship. These countries didn't have coups or invasions. In each case, voters elected strongman leaders who dismantled their democracies from within. Venezuela had been democratic for 40 years, then Hugo Chavez rose on a message that only he spoke for the people. People cheered as he accrued power for himself, jailed his opponents and tore down the democratic institutions that constrained him. And when the dust settled, Chavez was unchecked. Society descended into chaos that is getting worse every day. Other elected leaders are using similar tactics, but always bit by bit - in ways that aren't obvious and might even be popular at the time. One of the most powerful forces that can turn people against democracy is polarization. When people feel scared enough of their political opponents, it feels more important to protect their side than it does to protect democracy. Leaders can exploit that fear. So if you're Russian and you support Putin, you might blame society's problems on gay people or nefarious Western plots. If you're Turkish and support Erdogan, you fear the secular elites will impose military rule. And we're seeing that kind of polarization and fear start to take hold in established democracies. "You are a racist, no good American." "I was just called a racist." Could it happen in the United States? It still feels impossible. And it might be. So far, the system is resilient. But the warning signs are here. Polarization. Populism. Distrust of institutions. A desire for strongman leaders to smash the system. These things don't necessarily mean that democracy is doomed. But they show that in times of social stress, even a free people can dismantle their own democracy without realizing they're doing it. Democracy is still a pretty new system of government. That century-long trend might not have been a trend at all. Just a few one-time moments that we mistook for inevitability. We want to believe it will last forever, but we can't be sure.

For years, the number of democracies in the world had been on the rise, but recently the trend has stalled. The New York Times journalists Max Fisher and Amanda Taub explore why some democratic countries have backslid, while others never quite made it.

What happens when a president refuses to accept the results of a free and fair election? What happens when 147 members of Congress in his party repeat the president's unsubstantiated claims and object to the outcome of the election? Is democracy in danger?

Watch the five-minute video above, from 2018, which analyzes the rise and fall of democratic governments around the world, and looks at the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the United States. Then read the Nov. 11 article " Trump's Post-Election Tactics Put Him in Unsavory Company " and answer the following questions:

What tactics are leaders using to kill democracy in their countries?

What forces can turn people against democracy?

What evidence is there that a retreat from democracy might be happening in the United States?

The article's author compares Mr. Trump's post-election tactics with those of dictators around the world. In what ways do Mr. Trump's actions parallel those of authoritarian leaders? In what ways are they different?

What is at stake for democracy - both in the United States and around the world - when a president refuses to comply with a peaceful transfer of power?

On Jan. 7 President Trump released a new video addressing the violence at the Capitol and saying "a new administration" will be sworn in. He stated, "My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation." Does Mr. Trump's statement a day after the attack at the U.S. Capitol make you feel any differently about the strength of American democracy?

Video

Trump loyalists pushed toward an entrance on the east side of the Capitol building after the police retreated.

But as the world watched live on television, many, including President-elect Joe Biden, noted that these Trump supporters were treated less harshly by law enforcement than other groups, especially protesters who are Black or are protesting on behalf of racial justice, have been. As the article reports:

... protesters on the left saw a stark double standard, saying they had been hit with rubber bullets, manhandled, surrounded and arrested while behaving peacefully during demonstrations against racial injustice over the summer.

Attica Scott, a state representative in Kentucky, was arrested in Louisville on felony charges that were later dropped during the many months of protest over the death of Breonna Taylor in a botched police raid. "You can be arrested for walking while Black," she said, "but you can be white and riot and basically get away with it."

The Op-Ed columnist Nicholas Kristof echoes this, pointing out:

Trump and his enablers talk a good game about patriotism. They denounced President Barack Obama for sometimes not wearing a flag lapel pin. They criticized Colin Kaepernick for protesting police brutality by taking a knee rather than standing during the national anthem - and then Trump incited a mob on Wednesday to invade the United States Capitol. The rioters encountered a minimal police response, not the kind that Black Lives Matter protesters received.

Many of those pro-Trump rioters probably dispute the idea of white privilege. But the fact that they were allowed to overrun the police and invade the Senate and House chambers was evidence of that privilege.

" Capitol Rioters Walked Away. Climate Protesters Saw a Double Standard " quotes Bill McKibben, a writer and activist who said he has been arrested four times in Washington alone, and a half-dozen times at other protests, called nonviolent civil disobedience based on the examples of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and the suffragists "one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century."

The comparatively lenient response to the overwhelmingly white protesters on Wednesday, he said, "was the epitome of white supremacy," and a dangerous precedent for the future of protest in the United States. He said he feared that in the future, young activists would tell him when he advised a nonviolent path that "all the peace stuff you talk about, Rev and Bill, that doesn't work."

"And that leads to destruction," he said.

You might discuss these articles with students, using questions like these:

Do you agree with the many who saw a "stark double standard"? Was the response by police evidence of white privilege? Was it "the epitome of white supremacy"?

What have you seen or read in the news, past or present, or experienced in your own life that bolsters your opinion?

If you believe there was a double standard, what should be done about it? Why? What should be the consequences for those who invaded the Capitol, damaged federal property, halted Congress's constitutional duties and endangered lives?

Look at how Mr. McKibben and others compare peaceful civil disobedience to what happened on Jan. 6. Do you think he is right that the storming of the Capitol was "a dangerous precedent for the future of protest in the United States"?

Many say what happened on Jan. 6 can be understood only in the context of the history of far-right extremist movements and the conspiracy theories that often fuel them. The Op-Ed columnist Charlie Wartzel writes in " The Pro-Trump Movement Was Always Headed Here ":

For close observers of the pro-Trump and far-right extremist movements, this dark moment has felt almost inevitable. You can draw a straight line from the message-board fever swamps to Mr. Trump's rallies to Charlottesville to "Stand back and stand by" to this. It is a desperate attempt to overthrow the democratic process. It is also the crash of a universe of toxic conspiracies against the rocks of human reality.

In another Opinion piece, " The Far Right Told Us What It Had Planned. We Didn't Listen," Seyward Darby writes:

This moment was a long time coming. Its origins predate President Trump encouraging his supporters to reject the election results and their planning - out in the open - to do so. It predates Mr. Trump taking office, or even considering a presidential run. As people who study right-wing extremism know well, the seeds of this attempted coup were sown decades ago.

Ms. Darby points out: "History holds important lessons, if only we are willing to hear them. This moment - men and women breaching the Capitol's barricades, entering the chambers of Congress and demanding the nullification of the presidential election based on nothing more than lies and conspiracy theories - is a culmination, but it is not an ending."

Students might read both articles, making note of what events, trends and failures each writer identifies that may have led to the storming of the Capitol. What topics might your students need to further investigate - from QAnon to the role of the news media to the history of white supremacy - to gain a fuller understanding of the roots of this event? Where might they find reliable information? And if this moment is "a culmination but it is not an ending," what do they think needs to happen to prevent future moments like this?

Reporters and journalists are tasked with covering high-stakes situations as they unfold. Because much of our news is consumed online, journalists have to make in-the-moment decisions about what they will share with readers and what language will best convey the story.

Have students read the two tweets below from journalists who work for different news organizations and then share: What do they notice? What do they wonder? What message are these reporters trying to convey about media and language?

Invite your students to think about the different words they have seen and heard used to describe the events at Capitol Hill and the people who perpetrated them.

They might start by looking at the front page or home page of at least three sources. For example, they can look at local papers or national newspapers like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times or The Chicago Tribune; or they can visit TV or radio news websites.

Have them circle, highlight or write down the words used to describe what happened on Wednesday - words like "protesters," "mob" and "insurrection" - and then reflect on what they noticed:

What do these words mean? What particular connotations do they have?

What other language choices did reporters make? For example, how do they use active versus passive voice?

Why might these publications have made these specific choices? How does the language begin to frame a narrative of the attack on the Capitol?

How do these choices compare with other protests, riots or acts of violence in the United States and abroad? What does that say about this particular event and the people involved?

Do your students think the sources they explored made the right choices in the wording they used? Why or why not? If not, what words might they use instead?

To take it a step further, you might invite them to compare and contrast the sources they explored. What similarities and differences do they notice? If they could write to the editors, what questions would they ask about the language that was used?

What role does the news media have in historical moments like this one?

If you teach students who read multiple languages or you teach internationally, you can invite them to do this same activity by looking at headlines from around the world in " America's Friends and Foes Express Horror as Capitol Attack 'Shakes the World'" and " A Shattering Blow to America's Troubled Democratic Image."

Part I: Explore how social media was deployed in organizing the attack.
What role did social media play in the assault on the Capitol? What responsibility do social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, Parler and Gab bear in facilitating it?

In a live update from Jan. 6, Sheera Frenkel wrote:

Calls for violence against members of Congress and for pro-Trump movements to retake the Capitol building have been circulating online for months. Bolstered by Mr. Trump, who has courted fringe movements like QAnon and the Proud Boys, groups have openly organized on social media networks and recruited others to their cause.

On Wednesday, their online activism became real-world violence, leading to unprecedented scenes of mobs freely strolling through the halls of Congress and uploading celebratory photographs of themselves, encouraging others to join them.

Identify some of the platforms, groups and strategies used by the president's supporters to organize their storming of the U.S. Capitol. How did social media allow President Trump's supporters to effectively coordinate? Do social media companies have a responsibility to intervene when their platforms are being used to plan and execute violence? And given that President Trump's own tweets preceded the violence, do you believe these companies should pay extra attention to messages that world leaders post online, and their possible implications - or should they be treated the same as posts shared by anyone else?
Part II: Evaluate how social media companies should respond.
After the violence at the Capitol, Facebook suspended Mr. Trump's account at least through the end of his term, and Twitter temporarily suspended his account - and issued a warning that any further violation of its rules could result in a permanent suspension. Kevin Roose writes:

For years, top executives at social media companies treated President Trump with kid gloves, contorting themselves into pretzels to explain why he was still allowed to post on their platforms despite violating their rules again and again. Fearful of provoking a backlash from the president and his allies, they gave gauzy speeches defending free expression, wrote special policies to justify their inaction and attached weak warning labels to his posts.

But Wednesday's rampage at the Capitol - and perhaps the knowledge, solidified earlier in the day, that Democrats will soon control both houses of Congress - appears to have stiffened some spines.

If you were the C.E.O. of a social media company, how would you respond? Draft a statement for your company detailing what actions you are planning to take and why. Consider the following questions:

Are social media companies responsible for moderating posts that may incite violence? Or is it the responsibility of users?

Do you think Mr. Trump should be allowed to have accounts on these platforms? Do you think that removing his posts or his accounts altogether is a justifiable limit on free speech? Does allowing him to have accounts threaten democracy or public safety?

What are the possible downsides of suspending Mr. Trump's accounts? If Mr. Trump remains barred by major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, will he just find another platform that does not restrict his use?

Update, Jan. 12: We invite students to respond to our Student Opinion prompt: " What Do You Think of the Decision by Tech Companies to Block President Trump? "

Part I: Learn the history of sedition.
On Twitter, the American Historical Association writes that "teaching today's events - which are not a 'moment,' but the product of a long history - presents a familiar, yet unusually urgent, challenge: How can students use historical knowledge and thinking to understand the present?"

One way is to study the history of sedition - a word that was on the lips of many as a mob stormed the Capitol on Wednesday. What is sedition exactly? When has it been invoked throughout American history and why? Who has been charged with sedition previously - and who hasn't?

Students can explore those questions and more in the Times article " 'Sedition': A Complicated History." As they read, invite them to compare what happened on Jan. 6 with other historical moments. What similarities do they see? What differences?

The article ends by saying: "'Sedition' may have captured the moment yesterday. But some historians question whether it is the most illuminating verbal touchstone, given its own complicated history."

Have students weigh in: Would they consider what happened on Wednesday to be "sedition"? Should it be called something else? A coup? An insurrection? "Vigilante antidemocratic paramilitary violence," as historian Greg Downs suggests in the article? How would they define it and why?

For more historical connections, students might explore some of the texts in this Twitter thread from the American Historical Association.

Part II: Help write future history books.
After order was finally restored in the Capitol building, Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said that "we can now add Jan. 6, 2021, to that very short list of dates in American history that will live forever in infamy," invoking President Franklin D. Roosevelt's phrase after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

How do your students think this dramatic day will be remembered in history books? How should it be?

Invite students to imagine that they are creating a print or digital textbook to help young people in future generations understand the events that took place on Jan. 6. What primary documents would they include - tweets, social media posts, newspaper articles, photos and videos? What would be the main themes or takeaways? What key people, events and facts would they cite? What would they identify as the main factors and causes? How does it fit into or compare with past events? They might also make some predictions: What do they think will be the fallout and effects of Jan. 6? How will the storming of the Capitol affect the future of this country?

For more background and historical context for the tumultuous events of Jan. 6, and on Mr. Trump's continued attempts to overturn the results of a democratic election, they can read:

Facing History and Ourselves | Responding to the Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

Share My Lesson| How to Engage Students in Civil Discourse Following the Insurrection at the U.S. Capito l

Teaching Tolerance | Leading Conversations After the Insurrection in Washington D.C.

Anti-Defamation League | Discussing Political Violence and Extremism with Young People

PBS NewsHour | Classroom resource: Three ways to teach the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day | Ways To Teach About Today's Insurrection

The Choices Program | "This Is Not Who We Are." Or Is It? Historians Contextualize the Capitol Riot

Morningside Center for Social Responsibility | American Democracy, Week 1 of 2021

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Teaching Resources to Help Students Make Sense of the Rampage at the Capitol

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Dozens of lesson plan ideas, activities and Times materials for exploring the causes and consequences of this assault on democracy in the United States. Not since the War of 1812, when British forces set fire to the Capitol, have the halls of power in Washington been overtaken by violent intruders as they were on Jan.

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Teaching Tolerance

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Our advisory board shared ideas for starting discussions the day after the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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Current & Controversial Issues Discussion

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Current & Controversial Issues Discussion

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1.6.21 Materials

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Exploring "Cancel Culture": Accountability or Free Speech? 

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Three ways to teach the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

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Three ways to teach the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

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ead the summary below and answer the discussion questions. To read a transcript of the video, Directions: Watch the video, rclick here . You can also access Pear Deck slides based on the lesson . We will continue to update links to relevant stories and resources at the bottom of the page.

Summary: The nation on Wednesday witnessed a grave breach of its democratic traditions. For the first time in American history, supporters of the losing presidential candidate forcibly disrupted the official counting of electoral votes.

After rioters forcefully entered the building, Trump tweeted a recorded message telling people to "go home now," while writing to them "we love you; you're very special" and repeating false claims about the election.

One woman who was shot inside the Capitol died. Four others died as well, including a Capitol Police officer who was injured after the Capitol was breached and died of his injuries on January 7. His death is being investigated as a homicide.

UPDATE: While Congress has confirmed Joe Biden's election as president, many questions linger about the assault on the U.S. Capitol and about what price President Trump might pay for his encouragement of the assault, as well as what failures led to inadequate security at the Capitol building.
ACTIVITY ONE: Class discussion Warm up questions:

1. What events took place on Wednesday at the Capitol building?

2. Who was involved in the insurrection? Who was affected as a result of the safety breach?

3. Why did Trump supporters seek to forcefully disrupt the counting of the electoral votes?

4. When and where did the insurrection take place?

5. How have politicians reacted to the breach and President Trump's initial encouragement of the attack?

Focus questions:

1. Why are the events at the U.S. Capitol being referred to as an insurrection rather than a protest? How would you describe the event?

2. What changes do you think the assault should lead to, and what do you think are the biggest open questions to seek to resolve?

3. If you were a lawmaker in Congress right now, how would you address your constituents about the events at the Capitol?

ACTIVITY TWO: Media Literacy
Several different U.S. departments and law enforcement agencies were sent to Washington D.C. including the National Guard during Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, which were overall very peaceful. Contrast this with Wednesday's insurrection at the nation's Capitol in which individuals stormed the halls of Congress, and the National Guard was initially held back.

Take a look at the two photos below (captions are below but read those after), one from a Black Lives Matter protest in 2016, and the other from today's storming of the Capitol. What do you notice? Who is in the photo? What events are taking place? Why do you think the photographer took the picture? What questions do you have?

Caption for photo #1: A supporter of President Donald Trump being walked down the steps of the Capitol during the insurrection in Washington D.C. Jan. 6, 2021. Courtesy: CNN (screenshot)

Caption for photo #2: Lone activist Ieshia Evans stands her ground while offering her hands for arrest as she is charged by riot police during a protest against police brutality outside the Baton Rouge Police Department in Louisiana, July 2016. Evans, a 28-year-old Pennsylvania nurse and mother of one, traveled to Baton Rouge to protest against the shooting of Alton Sterling. Sterling was a 37-year-old black man and father of five, who was shot at close range by two white police officers. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman
ACTIVITY THREE: Trump and Biden's comments Directions: Read the summary, watch the videos of President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden and answer the discussion questions below.
President Donald Trump released a video Wednesday, calling for his angry supporters to go home after thousands gathered outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., with some breaching the building and using force against law enforcement.

In his message, Trump repeated false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election before asking his supporters for peace.

"You have to go home now, we have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order," Trump said. "We love you. You're very special," he continued.

President-elect Joe Biden said: "To storm the Capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, the floor of the United States Senate...It's not protest, it's insurrection. The world is watching. Like so many other Americans, I am genuinely shocked and saddened that our nation, so long the beacon of light and hope of democracy has come to such a dark moment."

Biden went on to say America will endure and prevail and that he plans on restoring democracy, honor and the rule of law.
Discussion questions:

1. What do you think of President Trump's statement, which he released via social media? Did he sufficiently condemn the violence, and in the proper manner?

2. What do you think of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube's decision to delete Trump's statement? Did Twitter act appropriately by locking Trump's account for 12-hours?

3. Did Trump's debunked reiteration of a "fraudulent election" help or hurt efforts to diffuse the unrest? Similarly, what do you think of Trump telling those who forced themselves in the nation's Capitol, "We love you. You're very special"? How does this juxtapose with what the President has said of Black Lives Matter protestors?

4. How does President-elect Joe Biden's address, citing the "unprecedented assault" on the Capitol, compare to the remarks by President Trump?

5. In his address, Biden called upon Trump to make a formal national address to condemn the mob attacking the capital. Was Biden justified to make this request, and should Trump have listened? Do you think Trump should make a formal address condemning those who breached security at the Capitol?

Additional resources:
If you have time, you can also watch this video of NewsHour hosts and reporters discussing in detail all they saw on January 6:
High school teacher David Cutler contributed to this lesson.
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Classroom resource: Three ways to teach the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol - PBS NewsHour Classroom

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ead the summary below and answer the discussion questions. To read a transcript of the video, Directions: Watch the video, rclick here . You can also access Pear Deck slides based on the lesson . We will continue to update links to relevant stories and resources at the bottom of the page.

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Talking with Your Students About the Assault on the Capitol

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Talking with Your Students About the Assault on the Capitol

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Talking with Your Students About the Assault on the Capitol

Tyler Merbler/flickr.com. This image is under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol building after months of Trump claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. The scenes from that day and the issues it brings to the surface will stay in many people's minds through the coming weeks, months, and years.

Constitutional Rights Foundation has created three new classroom activities to help you and your students discuss abiding questions about the events of January 6 and the meaning of those events while encouraging thinking about the future of American democracy - and how to strengthen it.

Each activity can be completed in one class session.

This activity:

Is mindful about potential trauma, while also including government content (powers of the president and Congress).

Aligns to research on social-emotional learning.

Provides assessment strategies to help teachers avoid making judgements about kids' opinions.

This activity:

Gives students the opportunity to reflect on the importance of respecting common goals despite partisan differences.

Presents multiple perspectives on the concept of partisanship itself.

Allows teachers to assess students' understanding after discussion and questioning.

This activity:

Gives students a glimpse of how the story was reported in newspapers (with various political leanings) from different parts of the country; none are identical.

Reflects important principles of media literacy and analysis: examine key words, analyze images, compare and contrast different sources.

Provides assessment that emphasizes a forward-looking approach and evaluation of how students communicate their ideas.

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Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) is a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization. CRF seeks to instill in our nation's youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society.

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By Ana Barrera, SUHSD

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ShareMyLesson

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The world is watching and has been watching for the last four years. The insurrection that unfolded on Jan. 6 before our eyes, under the glaring spotlight of friends and foe alike, captured by more than a million smartphone cameras, has recorded history in the making. This day, these events will join the dark caravan of historical canons that dot the timeline of American history.

As an educator, school leader, student or parent who will be expected to log in to whatever instructional platform you are using-where instruction is virtual or in person-the range of emotions, questions or comments may challenge, frustrate, or enlighten, or perhaps all of the above.

How will school communities address this situation? What are useful, constructive ways to help students make sense of and navigate unprecedented historical events in their lifetime?

In sum, to ignore or gloss over the events of the last 24 hours may not be healthy for you or for those in your spheres of influence. While you may be limited or cautious in addressing these events, your students and families are turning to you, yet again, during this moment in time.

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This Moment in Time: Navigating Unprecedented Historical Events

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The world is watching and has been watching for the last four years. The insurrection that unfolded on Jan. 6 before our eyes, under the glaring spotlight of friends and foe alike, captured by more than a million smartphone cameras, has recorded history in the making.

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A swastika, 20 feet in diameter, is burned into the pavement at a junior high school. A group of white high school students dresses in banana suits for a basketball game and taunts their majority-black rival with racial slurs. A Sikh student has his turban pulled off and hair cut by fellow students.
Your school has plans and protocols in place to respond to fires, severe weather, medical emergencies, fights and weapons possession. But what about school incidents like those listed above that involve bigotry and hate? Are plans in place to respond to a bias incident or hate crime? Too often these plans are created in the moment during the actual crisis. Bias incidents are far too complex for on-the-fly planning; an early misstep can heighten tension and damage chances for long-term success.

Responding to Hate and Bias at School is designed primarily for school administrators, but teachers, staff, counselors, students and others also may find guidance here.

The guide is divided into three sections:

Before a Crisis Occurs

How can you and other school leaders assess your school's climate with an eye toward defusing tension, preventing escalation and avoiding problems?

When There's a Crisis

What are the nine key points to consider when responding to a crisis that has been triggered by a bias incident at your school?

After the Worst is Over

How can you address long-term planning and capacity building for the future, including development of social emotional skills?

Hateful acts at school are dangerous, disturbing and disruptive. But keep this in mind: A bias incident does not define a school. It is, in many ways, a test of the school's culture and climate. How you respond is the true measure of a school's character.

It's up to school leaders to set expectations. Everyone on staff, from the bus driver and custodian to classroom teachers and the IT department, must know that hate, disrespect and intimidation have no place on campus, and that every student should feel welcome.

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A swastika, 20 feet in diameter, is burned into the pavement at a junior high school. A group of white high school students dresses in banana suits for a basketball game and taunts their majority-black rival with racial slurs. A Sikh student has his turban pulled off and hair cut by fellow students.

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The Presidency in U.S. History & Politics Choice Board

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The Presidency in U.S. History & Politics Choice Board

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The Presidency in US History and Politics

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Checks and Balances Select a social issue and create a sketchnote indicating what role each branch of the government should play in making decisions about this topic Presidential Speeches Remix text from a historical State of the Union or Inaugural Address speech to create one for Joe Bi...

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Civics for All, NYC Department of Education

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The 2020 election season has come with its share of twists and turns. IllinoisCivics.org is committed to supporting classrooms in processing the election. Below are resources to help address common questions you and your students might have at this critical juncture in the history of our republic.

What are some strategies I can use to discuss the election and its aftermath with my students?

An IllinoisCivics.org blog post from October 2020 shared resources from Teaching Tolerance, Facing History and Ourselves, Project Zero, iCivics, and more to help classrooms reflect, revisit norms, and have ongoing civil dialogue about the election.

How Are Ballots Counted?

New Hampshire Public Radio Civics 101 recently created a mini-podcast episode to give an overview of the process.

What happens before, during, and after votes are cast to ensure free and fair elections?

Facing History and Ourselves has an explainer describing the essential steps taken throughout the election process.

What's the Timeline for Each State to Count Their Ballots?

FiveThirtyEight created a resource about when to expect election results in every state. You can also visit the website to see the latest returns.

What are the Deadlines for Election Results to be Finalized?

Street Law created an infographic explaining what happens between the 78 days between election day and inauguration day.

How do News Outlets Determine When to Project a Winner?

PBS Newshour Extra created a mini-lesson, How do news outlets decide when to call a winner?

How can I provide my students with a deeper understanding of the Electoral College?

The IllinoisCivics.org Election 2020 Toolkit has a plethora of resources classrooms can use to explore how the Electoral College works.

How can I help students understand how the peaceful transfer of power is designed to work?

iCivics designed an infographic around the Peaceful Transfer of Power and the Bill of Rights Institute published this timely lesson on Contentious Elections and the Peaceful Transfer of Power.

How has the Supreme Court of the United States been involved in the election up to now?

Street Law has created a timeline of SCOTUS cases in the 2020 elections.

What role might the courts play in settling election results?

The ABA Division for Public Education has partnered with Dr. Steven D. Schwinn, Professor of Law at the University of Illinois at Chicago John Marshall Law school to provide timely updates for teachers on their YouTube channel.

What supports are available for teachers in this ongoing election season?

A series of post-election webinars are available for viewing in the Webinar Archive. Each webinar has an accompanying blog with resources.

The Teaching for Democracy Alliance hosted a Social Studies Chat on Twitter that is archived with resources shared.

Many of our civic learning partners are hosting professional development opportunities for teachers. Visit the Professional Development Calendar to find out more.

Did the youth vote make a difference?

Our friends at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) are analyzing the data and updating their Election Week 2020 documenting youth turnout and impact in battleground states daily.

What does it mean to be a "lame duck"?

A recent Civics 101 Podcast has a brief explainer of what it means to be a "lame duck."
C-SPAN Classroom has a bell-ringer activity to start the conversation using a political cartoon.

What is a concession speech?

Civics 101 Podcast breaks down the components of a concession speech.

Politico provides video clips of past concession speeches from both sides of the aisle while Poynter provides an overview of The Art of the Concession Speech and why they are important.

How does the transition between presidents work?

How do Presidential Pardons Work?

The Bill of Rights Institute has an e-lesson, Mr. President, Pardon Me that explores the foundations of the presidential pardon in the U.S. Constitution, as well as how and why this power has been exercised throughout history.

iCivics has a mini-lesson on the Pardon Power that also explores commutations and the limitations on these presidential powers.

C-Span Classroom has a lesson on pardons with historical video clips.

How can I address questions related to voter fraud and voter suppression?

What does the President's Cabinet do? How does one become a member of the Cabinet?

Civics 101 Podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio has an episode that explains the role of the Cabinet. They also have an Executive Branch Starter Kit with a mnemonic device students can use to learn the executive departments in order of creation.

KQED has a lesson plan about the President's Cabinet.

A Very Big Branch from iCivics helps students learn how the executive departments and agencies regulate and enforce governmental policies, and they explore the roles and responsibilities of the presidential cabinet.

C-Span Classroom has a Bell Ringer about the Role of the President's Cabinet.

Politico, the Washington Post, and The New York Times all recently did pieces speculating who might serve in President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet.

What is a "faithless elector?"

The Bill of Rights Institute has created a lesson plan, "Faithless Electors and Electing the Executive" that has students explore the processes used to select members of the Electoral College and analyze the responsibilities of electors in our election system.

Street Law has resources for students to explore the recent SCOTUS case Chiafalo v. Washington. This case challenged a Washington State "faithless elector" fine.

What is the significance of the first 100 days of a presidency?

For over two centuries, American political offices have peacefully transferred power after every election. Use this infographic from iCivics to show students how precedent, tradition, and legitimacy have helped create this democratic norm. Consider the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and why it is important to a democratic form of government.

The FDR Library provides a historical perspective of the first 100 days of a presidency during times of crisis.

The History Channel has "fast facts" on the "First 100 Days."

How does Washington's First 100 Days stack up against his successors? This lesson from Mt. Vernon helps students explore this question.

This 4 minute interview from NPR answers listener questions about the importance of a president's first 100 days.

What are resources to engage students in the upcoming inauguration?

ADL shares seven ideas for teaching about the inauguration.

EDSITEment has a lesson plan, Presidential Inaugurations: I do solemnly swear, that helps students reflect on what the Presidential inauguration has become and what it has been, while they meet a host of memorable historical figures and uncover a sense of America's past through archival materials.

Teacher Vision has resources highlighting Inaugural Poetry.

What role does Congress play in settling Electoral College disputes?

What resources are available to help classrooms process the recent violence at the U.S. capitol?

Facing History and Ourselves created a Teaching Idea: Responding to Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol with strategies to support educators and students.

The Social Studies Chat Network hosted a special discussion where educators crowdsourced resources for classroom use.

The Bill of Rights Institute created a playlist of resources considering principles, processes, and examples of constitutionally guided transitions of power.

Share My Lesson from AFT has curated video clips and lesson plans to help facilitate meaningful discussions with students and communities about the attempt of a mob to infiltrate the capital and impede election certification in Washington, DC, and to put a focus on how crucial the foundations of democracy are to the preservation of a functional government.

Three ways to teach the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol from PBS News Hour Extra includes video, text, and discussion questions.

What is the significance of the 25th Amendment?

Resources to help students understand terms such as insurrection, sedition, treason, and coups

For further reading about helping students process the results of the election, consider the following:

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The 2020 election season has come with its share of twists and turns. IllinoisCivics.org is committed to supporting classrooms in processing the election. Below are resources to help address common questions you and your students might have at this critical juncture in the history of our republic.

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2020-21 - Host a Conversation Guide_100 Days of Conversations.pptx

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Community of Practice

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MCOE Civic Education - Framework Resources

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College, Career & Civic Life C3 Framework for Social Studies.pdf

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Cartoonists Need You! Our profession is endangered! Newspapers are dropping their editorial pages! Editorial Cartoonists still depend on newspapers, but papers are dropping national editorial content now, in great numbers. Don’t let our profession die. You can help our profession to survive wit…

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New York Times

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The National Guard patrolling the perimeter of the Capitol Thursday morning. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Supporters of President Trump broke into the building as lawmakers were certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s electoral victory.

The National Guard patrolling the perimeter of the Capitol Thursday morning. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Rioters scaling the United States Capitol, marching with Confederate flags and riot gear.

Lawmakers scurrying off the floor of the Senate, ducking for safety.

Capitol Police officers standing near a barricaded door with guns drawn, guarding the House chamber.

These are among the stunning images from a historic day on which a mob of people loyal to President Trump broke into the Capitol to try to prevent lawmakers from certifying the Electoral College count to confirm President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory.

Image

Insurgents acting in the president's name vandalized Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, smashed windows, looted art and briefly took control of the Senate chamber, where they took turns posing for photographs with fists up on the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had been presiding just minutes before. Outside the building, they erected a gallows, punctured the tires of a police S.U.V. and left a note on its windshield reading, "PELOSI IS SATAN."

"This is what the president has caused today, this insurrection," Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, said as he and other senators were hustled off to a secure location.

The mob swarmed past the police and barriers with relative ease, some spraying officers with chemical agents. The Capitol Police appeared to be outnumbered and unprepared for the onslaught, even as it was openly organized on social media sites like Gab and Parler.

The police response drew criticism from law enforcement experts and members of Congress. Activists who participated in demonstrations against racial injustice over the summer condemned what they saw as a double standard, with many pointing out that they had been hit with rubber bullets, manhandled, surrounded and arrested while behaving peacefully.

By Wednesday evening, the Capitol had been cleared of pro-Trump extremists and Congress confirmed Mr. Biden's victory early Thursday morning.

In a statement just before 4 a.m. Thursday, the president finally acknowledged his loss, saying, "Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th."

Even before losing the Nov. 3 election, Mr. Trump warned his supporters that the election would be rigged against him, and encouraged them to physically prevent it from happening.

On Wednesday, as thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington, Mr. Trump told them at a rally near the White House to "walk down to the Capitol," saying that "you will never take back our country with weakness."

That afternoon, Republican lawmakers loyal to Mr. Trump tried to overturn the results of the presidential election by falsely saying the election was stolen, a claim that has been rejected by every court that has examined the evidence.

Just after 2 p.m., the gathering turned violent and chaotic as Trump supporters swarmed the Capitol, breaking through metal gates that had been placed around the building. They then scaled the outside of the Capitol and broke through the front doors.

Some wore riot helmets and military-style protective vests. Many took selfies as they broke into the home of American democracy and proudly shared the images on social media.

Lawmakers from both parties denounced the break-in as they themselves huddled for safety.

For a time, senators and members of the House were locked inside their respective chambers. Security officials instructed members there to reach under their seats and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda.

As they hid, some lawmakers pleaded for Mr. Trump to tell his supporters to retreat.

Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, yelled out to Republicans on the House floor: "Call Trump, tell him to call off his revolutionary guards."

One woman was fatally shot by a police officer inside the Capitol, Chief Contee said on Wednesday evening. Another woman and two men died near the Capitol after they "appeared to have suffered from separate medical emergencies," he said.

Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington announced a curfew for the city beginning at 6 p.m. Chief Contee said, "It was clear the crowd was intent on causing harm to our officers by deploying chemical irritants on police to force entry into the United States Capitol building."

The chaos on Wednesday was not spontaneous, but rather came after a monthslong effort to delegitimize the election and a yearslong crusade by Mr. Trump to undermine any opposition.

Calls for violence against lawmakers and talk of taking over the Capitol have circulated online for months.

Organizing for this attempted takeover took place on social media sites like Gab and Parler, platforms whose unwillingness to curtail fake news or threatening messages have made them popular with the far right and supporters of Mr. Trump.

As images of lawmakers huddling for safety circulated around the world, Mr. Trump's aides urged him to call for an end to the violence. Mr. Trump issued one tweet just after 3 p.m., which did not appear to have any effect.

Mr. Biden appeared at a news conference and called on Mr. Trump to go on national television, condemn the chaos and urge the people in the Capitol to retreat immediately.

By 4:17 p.m., Mr. Trump had posted a minute-long video on Twitter, falsely claiming the election was "stolen" and telling the people who had stormed into the Capitol to leave peacefully. "We love you," he said. "You're very special."

Twitter immediately flagged the video for misleading content and "due to a risk of violence."

They eventually broke into the Senate chamber. Some gleefully posed for pictures in the seats and offices of the lawmakers they had just chased away.

The office of Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who as House speaker has led political opposition to Mr. Trump's agenda, was also broken into.

The rioters, who said they were trying to protect democracy, at times appeared cheerful about their ability to wander freely inside the Capitol.

Trump supporters outside the Senate chamber after breaching Capitol security. Credit... Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, via Shutterstock

A Trump supporter at a desk in the U.S. Capitol. Credit... Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Around 5:40 p.m., security officials at the Capitol announced that the building was secure. Twenty minutes later, the city's curfew went into effect.

The police seized five guns and arrested at least 13 people during the violent protest, Chief Contee said.

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Stunning Images as a Mob Storms the U.S. Capitol

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Supporters of President Trump broke into the building as lawmakers were certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s electoral victory. The National Guard patrolling the perimeter of the Capitol Thursday morning. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times Rioters scaling the United States Capitol, marching with Confederate flags and riot gear.

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The Monterey County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Office of Education with their Civic Learning Partnerships, the Region Five History-Social Science Community of Practice and Content, Literacy, Inquiry, and Citizenship (CLIC) Project (tinyurl.com/MCOEFrameworks), provide the following recommendations to support the expansion of equitable civic learning opportunities from the county offices of education with the communities they serve:

Expand access to inclusive, equitable, and high-quality opportunities for civic education, engagement, and leadership to ensure students representing the rich diversity of our counties have access and are able to participate meaningfully.

Partner with districts, teachers, administrators/instructional leaders, and paraprofessionals to continue to strengthen communication and provide quality support to promote inclusive, equitable, and high-quality civic education and opportunities for civic engagement and leadership to students. Provide district leadership connections to the LCAP, MTSS, English Learner Roadmap, State Seal of Civic Engagement Roadmap, and C3 Readiness. Expand professional learning opportunities. Recognize and celebrate excellence with Civic Learning Awards, State Seal of Civic Engagement, and regional events.

Partner with parents/caregivers, families, community members, community-based organizations, and government agencies to raise awareness and expand opportunities; support and expand parent engagement, expand outreach for partnerships, explore ways to minimize barriers; and partner within and across divisions to create internal capacity to support and advance the work.

Explore effective and equitable systems.

Authentic civic engagement opportunities should be available to all students, including students who may be perceived as disengaged (Cohen, Kahne, Marshall, Anderson, Brower, & Knight, 2018). "Students who engage in inquiry- and project-based learning, including civic learning experiences, have opportunities to read and hear content texts within real-world contexts that enhance students' engagement by piquing their interests and connecting with their own lives" (ELA/ELD Framework, California Department of Education, 2015, p. 88).

The Monterey County Board of Education adopted the Support for Civic Learning: College, Career and Civic Life Resolution in 2016 that encourages resources dedicated to civic learning opportunities with goals to achieve equity, diversity and inclusion, to demonstrate and promote active citizenship and to teach students civic skills needed for the 21st century workplace. Furthermore, the court and community day schools in both Santa Clara and Monterey counties provide opportunities for their students to engage in taking informed action and interacting with civic leaders, such as attorneys and judges from the county Superior Courts through annual events such as Law Day. Santa Clara County launched its participation in the National Day of Racial Healing in 2019, while simultaneously launching the Women's Equality 2020 campaign. Sunol and Gateway Community Day Schools planned multiple opportunities for students to participate, and social workers, teachers and administrators collaborated with other county offices to support their plans. Sunol Community Day School created a girls' group that met weekly and focused on the importance of using one's voice by integrating short lessons on social movements, such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement.

A multi-pronged, multi-level approach is needed to transform schools into the democratic and equitable spaces we need them to become.

It was great to see members of the group step up and speak up while motivating others and becoming the leaders we always saw in them. One of my favorite moments was when one youth empowered another to take the opportunity and speak with their school board members and superintendent during a site visit. This young lady was brave enough to share her unique story and advocate for youth just like her. She inspired them so much that she was able to continue with a school placement that was previously not an option. (Brown, 2020).

Teaching and leadership practices that help to increase civic participation and student achievement include: discussion of current events, service learning, consideration of people's diverse values, who could be affected by the outcome of deliberation or problem-solving, ideas of different people discussed, student involvement in decision-making, effective committee structure for decision-making, effective communication facilitation, and an appropriate level of autonomy in decision-making (Elemen, 2015). Examples for implementation include: Student Advisory Councils, Positive Peer Culture programs, Near-Peer programs, Youth Participatory Action Research programs, Youth Civic Engagement councils, focus groups, site teams, leadership groups and internship programs with local government and community-based organizations.

Youth must be invited to the table in groups representative of the student body and community population in addition to the traditional student council, student government and school site council representatives. Student voice should be included in decision-making at the school site level with School Plan for Student Achievement and at the district level with the LCAP. The Civic Learning Compendium for the California History-Social Science Framework (Constitutional Rights Foundation & Los Angeles County Office of Education, 2017) also provides guidance for K-12 classrooms to integrate civic action in classrooms.

At the district leadership level, to comprehensively and effectively center youth voices in the LCAP process, the Center for Cities+Schools at UC Berkeley (2016) provided the following recommendations: 1) Process engagement innovations at the state and local level by providing an academic context for LCAP through the creation of a curriculum that provides a platform for youth participation in the LCAP process during the school day and capitalizes on opportunities for synergy between community-based and grassroots organizations as well as LEAs; 2) Translate engagement into action transparency by centering on youth voice, ideas, and concerns to strategically integrate them into the LCAP spending formula for districts and use non-adultist language to make visible how youth voice has been implemented; 3) Measure outcomes of LCAP investments and increase documentation of emerging best practices impact by sharing knowledge of best practices across LEAs and advocacy groups to deepen the quality and breadth of student engagement, and develop metrics to measure how LCAP investments impact student achievement. Additionally, guidance has been provided on "Promoting History-Social Science in your District's LCAP and Accountability Dashboard Report" (Herczog & Contreras, 2017), which includes supporting the development of civic competencies aligned to state and local priorities and the History-Social Science Framework (California Department of Education, 2017).

Several organizations and networks have emerged to elevate youth voice and agency, especially to address civic empowerment and anti-racism. For example, Move School Forward has put forth the following demands: 1) students must have a voice that shapes their education; 2) a just response to COVID-19 must prioritize comprehensive support for marginalized students; 3) students' basic needs must be completely met; 4) the public sector should support schools in closing the digital divide; and 5) schools must cultivate a positive and nurturing climate and culture (Move School Forward, 2020).

Similarly, My School Votes, affiliated with When We All Vote and Rock the Vote, advocates for voter education campaigns that build civic leadership capacity in the schools they serve, beyond the traditional voter registration drives. A multi-pronged, multi-level approach is needed to transform schools into the democratic and equitable spaces we need them to become. For example, the Monterey County Office of Education has convened a Monterey County Youth Civic Leadership Forum and African American Student Leadership Forum, aiming to invite youth and adult partnerships for school community and civic leadership. In online meetings, voluntary participants collaborate on the "We Count, We Rise" Census 2020, voter and civic education campaigns, and equity advancement in partnership with school districts, community organizations, and youth councils.

Additionally, Assembly Bill 331 proposes to add the completion of a one-semester Ethnic Studies course to the high school graduation requirements in the 2029-2030 school year (public) and 2025-2026 school year (charter). Besides providing the metaphorical mirrors, windows, and doors to youth learning about identity, students will learn about cultural diversity, social stratification, inequality, the historical roots of systemic racism, civic action and social justice to empower collective change. Students' research and project-based learning could integrate ethnic studies with civics, Social and Emotional Learning, science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics (STEAM), language and literacy. More of these promising practices can be integrated into schools designing college, career, and civic readiness with youth civic empowerment.

As we aim to center critical civic literacy with equity in education, "this demand for schools to be sources of civic preparation requires system-wide soul-searching about what literacy means at a time of civic turmoil and amidst continued systemic inequities in multiple areas of public life for members of minoritized communities. These tasks must be undertaken at multiple levels (e.g., within classrooms, community spaces, and teacher preparation programs), and-as we focus on in this piece-in policy conversations" (Garcia & Mirra, 2019). We look forward to continuing this conversation as a community moving toward equitable civic empowerment in schools and addressing the civic debt in democratic education.

Resources Brown, C. (2020). Women's Equality 2020. Santa Clara County Office of Education. California Department of Education. (2015). English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework. Retrieved from https://www.mydigitalchalkboard.org/cognoti/content/file/resources/documents/ac/ac1376ba/ac1376ba78a91e80241cb0e458caaa57310d0763/elaeldfmwkfeb17.pdf

California Department of Education. (2017). History-Social Science Framework. Retrieved from https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/hs/cf/documents/hssframeworkwhole.pdf California Department of Education. (2020). State Seal of Civic Engagement Recommended Criteria. Retrieved from https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr20/documents/sep20item05.docx

California Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning (2014). Revitalizing K-12 civic learning in California: A blueprint for action. Retrieved from http://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/cltffinalreport.pdf

Center for Cities+Schools, University of California, Berkeley. (2016). Youth engagement and authentic student voice in LCAP/LCFF planning processes. Retrieved from https://citiesandschools.berkeley.edu/uploads/PLUS_2015-16_Brief_Derrika_Casey_4.28.16.pdf

Cohen, C., Kahne, J., Marshall, J., Anderson, V., Brower, M., & Knight, D. (2018). Let's Go There: Race, Ethnicity, and a Lived Civics Approach to Civic Education. GenForward at the University of Chicago. Chicago, IL.

Constitutional Rights Foundation & Los Angeles County Office of Education. (2017) Civic Learning Compendium for the California History-Social Science Framework. Retrieved from https://www.lacoe.edu/Portals/0/Curriculum-Instruction/HSS/Civic%20Learning%20Compendium_CCSS_FINAL.pdf?ver=2017-11-02-115721-493

Education Commission of the States (ECS). (2014). Guidebook: Six proven practices for effective civic education. Retrieved from http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/01/10/48/11048.pdf

Elemen, J. E. (2015). Students' high school organizational leadership opportunities and their influences on academic achievement and civic participation. Journal of Research in Education, 25(2). Eastern Educational Research Association. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1098005.pdf

Garcia, A. & Mirra, N. (2019). "Signifying nothing": Identifying conceptions of youth civic identity in the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards and the National Assessment of Educational Progress' Reading Framework. Berkeley Review of Education, 8(2), 195-223, doi: 10.5070/B88235831

Herczog, M. & Contreras, Y. (2017). Promoting history-social science in your district's LCAP and Accountability Dashboard Report. Social Studies Review, 11-18. Retrieved from https://schd.ws/hosted_files/cisc2018/3f/Promoting%20HSS%20in%20District%20LCAP%20and%20Dashboard.pdf

Kahne, J. E., & Middaugh, E. (2009). The civic opportunity gap in high school. In Youniss, J. & Levine, P. (Ed.), Engaging young people in civic life (pp. 29-58). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

Lo, J. C. (2019). The role of civic debt in democratic education. Multicultural Perspectives, 21(2), 112-118, doi: 10.1080/15210960.2019.1606633

Mirra, N. & Garcia, A. (2020). The profound civics lesson kids are getting from the U.S. government's response to the covid-19 pandemic. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/05/06/profound-civics-lesson-kids-are-getting-us-governments-response-covid-19-pandemic/

Mitra, D. L., Serriere, S., & Kirshner, B. (2014). Youth participation in U.S. contexts: Student voice without a national mandate. Children & Society, 28, 292-304. doi: 10.1111/chso.12005

Move School Forward. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.moveschoolforward.org/

Promoting Authentic College, Career, and Civic Readiness Assessment Systems (PACCCRAS). (2020). Draft Proposed State Seal of Civic Engagement Roadmap. United Nations (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. United Nations: Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

Jennifer Elemen serves as educational administrator at the Monterey County Office of Education. Olivia Santillan and Laura Guajardo serve as coordinators at the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

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The Monterey County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Office of Education with their Civic Learning Partnerships, the Region Five History-Social Science Community of Practice and Content, Literacy, Inquiry, and Citizenship (CLIC) Project (tinyurl.com/MCOEFrameworks), provide the following recommendations to support the expansion of equitable civic learning opportunities from the county offices of education with the communities they serve: Expand access to inclusive, equitable, and high-quality opportunities for civic education, engagement, and leadership to ensure students representing the rich diversity of our counties have access and are able to participate meaningfully.

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Brené Brown

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There is never an easy answer. Never a single answer. No easy way to prepare for the conversations in your classrooms and schools over the next few days. But we are here for you. We are working to curate resources to help, organize opportunities for conversations, and focusing on how we can better support you during these unprecedented times. We know we do not and will not have all the answers, but we are here for you.

This post will continue to be updated with additional resources as we find them and they are shared with our team. If you have a resource you think will help others, please email it to info@teachbetter.com. Please reach out if we can support you, if you need to talk, if you need to vent, if you need anything.

Recent Resources

Resources for Difficult Conversations

Resources for Trauma-Informed Teaching

Resources for Self-Care

Resources for the US Election

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Resources for Difficult Conversations with Students

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There is never an easy answer. Never a single answer. No easy way to prepare for the conversations in your classrooms and schools over the next few days. But we are here for you. We are working to curate resources to help, organize opportunities for conversations, and focusing on how we can better support you during these unprecedented times.

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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future." At the California Department of Education (CDE), we work to help California educators build our youth to be successful and engaged citizens.

Educators, administrators, students, families, community members, and others are encouraged to use these resources to support civic engagement inside and outside the classroom, especially as students work to earn the California State Seal of Civic Engagement (SSCE). Please use the contact information at the bottom of the page if you have questions, or to learn more about the SSCE.

Distance Learning During COVID-19

Students can still be civically engaged, even in this new and rapidly changing educational landscape. Many of the resources listed on the tabs below can be adapted for distance learning, and some programs are already providing resources designed for a virtual environment. Additionally, the links below contain several resources specifically designed to teach civics through distance learning during the COVID-19 response.

The CHSSP provides History-Social Science (HSS) resources to support teachers engaged in distance learning and parents helping children learn at home, including a parent's guide to History-Social Science (HSS).

The Office of the Governor California Volunteers Program has special opportunities to get involved with the COVID-19 volunteer response.

This page contains comprehensive information about California's COVID-19 response, including ways to become involved in the effort.
CDE Resources to Support Distance Learning
This page aggregates guidance documents, webinars, and content-specific links to support distance learning in a variety of subjects.

This article, published in the Journal of Public Affairs in April 2019, details one professor's development and implementation of a civics project in an online American government course.

These free resources from iCivics include games and toolkits designed for educators and families to use for distance learning.

Street Law provides interactive curriculum and training for teaching young people about the law and government. This list has been updated to include at-home civics learning resources and strategies.

This growing list highlights organizations that are producing and elevating resources to support civic engagement through distance learning.

Foundational Documents for Civic Engagement

In 2013, Former State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI), Tom Torlakson, introduced the Civics Education Initiative. This included a series of programs and resources geared toward revitalizing statewide civic education:

The following documents provide research, case studies, and policy recommendations for improving student civic engagement.

Research and Reports

Published in 2003 as part of a partnership between the Carnegie Corporation, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, this document represented an effort to gather scholars and practitioners to determine the most effective, feasible civic education programs possible. The report serves as the foundation for several other documents in this collection, and marks the beginning of the current national push to improve civic education.

The result of a three-year state-led collaborative effort, the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards was developed for states to upgrade their social studies standards, and for local school districts, schools, teachers, and curriculum writers to strengthen their social studies programs. Its objectives are to: (a) enhance the rigor of the social studies disciplines; (b) build critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills to become engaged citizens; and (c) align academic programs to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in HSS.

This 2020 report was published in the Journal of Social Studies Research to discuss the role of emotion in citizenship and presents an argument for critical affective literacy in civic education classrooms. The report also offers instructional strategies for handling the political emotions of students.

This article outlines the importance of schools promoting equity, social justice, and civic engagement in schools. It also provides an explanation of how the State Seal of Civic Engagement (SSCE), the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) process, Multi-Tiered System of Supports and related efforts to incorporate civic engagement standards into the California School Dashboard can help equitable civic empowerment for all students.

This report, published by Educational Testing Service in the leadup to the 2012 presidential election, analyzes how gaps in educational attainment and income indicate fault lines in our democracy by predicting voting and civic engagement rates. The report includes specific data on young adults' civic engagement compared to their income and education, and makes recommendations for schools, colleges, and adult education.

This publication provides several key strategies for advancing civic education system wide based on experiences promoting civic learning and engagement in Chicago, Illinois and Riverside, California.

This 2011 report builds and expands on the findings of the 2003 Civic Mission of Schools. The report updates research on the benefits of civic learning, outlines the Six Proven Practices for Effective Civic Learning, and makes policy recommendations for improving civic outcomes.

This article focuses on the idea of "lived civics" as a frame for more effective civic learning by explicitly addressing the interests and experiences of young people through the context of best practices in teaching civics. The article offers ideas on reframing civics content and instruction, and includes a review of contemporary civics literature, principles of lived civics, and reflections for educators to consider.

This study of civic learning in California school districts draws upon LCAPs and district mission statements to assess the degree to which districts are focused on and devoting resources to civic priorities. It provides several key findings based upon the data, and makes recommendations for supporting the SSCE and moving forward with a systemic commitment to, and investment in, civic learning.

This report, published in 2017, adds several complementary streams of research and practice to the Six Proven Practices for Effective Civic Learning. Ideas for enhancing civic education with news media literacy education, action civics, social and emotional learning, and school climate reform are included, as well as two case studies of states improving their civic learning plans.
Revitalizing K-12 Civic Learning In California: A Blueprint For Action (PDF)
This report, by the California Task Force on K-12 Civic Learning, was published in August 2014 as a partnership between former SSPI Tom Torlakson and Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye. The report offers system-wide recommendations to improve civic learning, including revising the HSS Content Standards and Framework and improving professional learning opportunities.

Published in 2014 by the Education Commission of States, this guidebook is a resource for teachers, administrators, policymakers, and others who want to put the Six Proven Practices in place but are not sure where to begin. The document highlights research and provides practical suggestions for implementing each practice.

Council is a sharing method, focused on empathy and active listening. It can be effective especially when working on topics such as personal development and strengthening of group dynamics.

This 2013 conference, funded by the Bechtel Foundation, brought together several experts on youth civic development and citizenship education in order to promote civic development and participation for youth from all backgrounds. The report outlines recommendations regarding improving citizenship education nationwide.

General, Comprehensive Resources

These organizations offer a variety of programs to support civic learning at all levels and for a variety of audiences.

Webinars, podcasts, and curriculum to support civic engagement from a global perspective.

Series of civics programs, community partnership opportunities, lesson resources, and other publications.

Extensive array of lesson resources including Bill of Rights in Action, Civics On Call, civic scenarios and simulations, and more.

Wide variety of resources for educators , school leaders, students and families that address racism, anti-semitism, and prejudice throughout history. Key resources include curriculum, strategies, webinars, Teaching with Current Events , the Choosing to Participate Toolkit , and Fostering Civil Discourse: How do We Talk about Issues that Matter .

Classroom activities and lessons, voter registration information, teacher training and resources, school and district resources, and research on civic education.

Program geared towards helping civics educators implement comprehensive civics education programs. Includes lesson plans, an E-Congress, mock elections, research, current events discussion support, and teacher training.

Searchable Resource Databases

These sites include searchable resource databases that provide information for educators, administrators, families, and students.

Database of resources focused on career and technical education lessons. Includes primary sources, lesson plans, strategies, and resources to support Project Based Learning.

Articles, reports, lesson plans and other resources that support civic engagement.

Searchable database of resources dedicated to civic engagement. Search by content or by standard, or play games, check out curriculum units, or plan a civics scope and sequence. They also offer resources to support distance learning.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provides this resource that contains lesson plans, curricula, and full teacher's guides for grades K-12. Search by topic and grade level. Resources are HSS-focused, but also include literature, language arts, arts and culture.

Database focused on lessons for civics, government, and law-related education for K-12 students. Includes simulations, discussions, mock trials, case studies, and other research-based materials. Filter lessons by grade level, lesson topic, strategy, or standard.

Resources Targeted by Grade Level or Function

Below are recommended resources organized by grade level (kindergarten through grade eight [K-8], and grades nine through twelve [9-12]). Please keep in mind that many resources can span multiple grade levels based on individual student needs, and educators should review and adapt all resources before implementing them.

Resources for Kindergarten through Grade Eight

Even the youngest students can become civically engaged! The following resources can help K-8 students get excited about civics.

Apprentice-level learning adventures geared at teaching kids ages four through eight about the U.S. government.

One-day workshops for students and advisors to focus on teamwork and building ideas for effective student governance.

Elementary schools are encouraged to apply for Civic Learning Awards and participate in the Judges in the Classroom Program. Lesson resources are also available for elementary students on the Digital Chalkboard.

A wide range of short articles on various topics in world history, American history, and government. Also includes a series of biographies on dozens of influential individuals.

Field trips designed for kindergarten through grade two (K-2) students focusing on fundamental principles of democracy.

Students can choose from a variety of games ranging in length from 0-30+ minutes on topics such as voting, arguing Supreme Court cases, and international diplomacy.

Interdisciplinary lesson resources that use literacy and mock trials to teach key principles of civics. Some lessons are created for students in grades four and five.

Series of lessons that teach about the electoral process and encourage citizenship in the classroom, school, home and community.
Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement Literature-Based Mock Trials
Lesson plans focused on teaching the skills of civil discourse when discussing social justice issues, designed for a K-2 audience.

Resources for Grades Nine through Twelve

These resources are appropriate for students primarily in high school, although many can be adapted for grades 6-8.

Information about SOS initiatives to educate and engage young Californian's in the democratic process, including programs to pre-register to vote at age 16, High School Voter Education Weeks, California Student Mock Elections, and guidance for school administrators and teachers.

An online resource for studying democracy, designed for use by teachers, professors, and college and secondary students. Includes information on essential principles of democracy, a study guide for democracy, and comparative information on the study of freedom internationally.

Curriculum for high school teachers, including an action project, research and blogging, democracy in action, and infographics.

The Institute for Local Government's PYLG units focus on roles, responsibilities, and processes of local government.

Funded by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Action Civics initiative worked to civic awareness and engagement in 14 middle and high schools in the Sacramento region. This site includes resources to support professional development provided through the program and other tools to support civic learning. The initiative also developed resources for middle school students.

High school law course materials, Supreme Court of the United States in the Classroom program, and rule of law education curriculum.

Collection of documents that focus on specific issues in American civic history. Each collection has an introduction that provides necessary context and three sets of study questions. Each of the documents is annotated with footnotes that provide biographical information on document authors and identify obscure words, events, or individuals.

Supporting the Six Proven Practices for Effective Civic Learning

This page contains some of the strongest resources for incorporating each of the Six Proven Practices of Effective Civic Learning.

The California Courts recognize and celebrate public schools' efforts to engage students in civic learning through their annual Civic Learning Awards . Co-sponsored by Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye. Seventy-five schools earned awards in 2020. Schools seeking to earn an award may also refer to this list of resources as they set up or enhance their civic learning programs.

Instruction in Government, History, Law, Democracy

Schools can offer courses on civics, government, history, and law, in an effort to encourage better-informed citizens. The below resources include vetted, easy-to-implement curricula to support these courses.

Current Events and Controversial Issues

Effective classroom discussions of current events and controversial issues can increase student interest in government. The below resources provide a variety of options for facilitating these types of engaging discussions.

Service-Learning

Service-learning opportunities provide ways for students and the community to come together to develop habits of community engagement. These resources can help educators facilitate projects, while also tying them back to the classroom.

Extracurricular Activities

Student-led volunteer projects that occur outside of the classroom can also teach skills in collaboration and civic participation. The below organizations provide resources and ongoing support for students, teachers, administrators, and families.

Student Participation in School Governance

Giving students a voice can also help increase understanding and appreciation of the intricacies of the democratic process as it also teaches key behaviors of citizenship. These organizations provide guidance and support for schools implementing a structure for student voice in school governance.

Simulations

Simulations allow students to simulate adult civic roles and offer a unique, deep civic learning experience. Some of these programs use role-playing games to simulate government, helping students participate in processes such as national elections.

Resources for Students

The below resources are especially helpful for students looking to become more civically engaged.

Student Institutes and Conferences

While not officially part of the Six Proven Practices, participation in institutes and conferences offer additional chances for students to engage first-hand in a way that supports overall civic engagement.

Programs to Support Student Engagement

The below organizations can help support students who seek to enhance civic learning and engagement on school campuses. In light of COVID-19, many of these organizations are providing resources to support civic engagement virtually.

Miscellaneous Tips, Skills, and Ideas

These resources can help students as they carry out their civic engagement projects. Resources include advice on writing professional emails, ideas for community service projects, and helpful checklists to guide projects from start to finish.

This list will grow over time. Have you come across any other helpful guides or tools directed specifically towards helping students carry out the day-to-day work of civic engagement projects? Please share them with the CDE at ssce@cde.ca.gov.

Reminders, guidelines, and samples to help students write a variety of professional emails.

Professional Learning Opportunities for Educators

The 2016 HSS Framework incorporates critical shifts for educators. These shifts include a focus on inquiry-based instruction through innovative teaching and learning practices. The HSS Framework guides educators as they design, implement, and maintain a coherent course of study to teach content; develop inquiry-based critical thinking skills; improve reading comprehension and expository writing ability; and promote an engaged and knowledgeable citizenry in history and the related social sciences.

The Budget Act of 2017 included an allocation of funds for high-quality professional learning and resources for HSS educators and administrators to implement the new framework. Through funding from the CDE, the Sacramento County Office of Education has developed a system of statewide and regional communities of practice to provide meaningful and targeted support in HSS for classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, and site administrators. Representing the four instructional shifts described in the HSS Framework, the Content, Literacy, Inquiry, and Citizenship (CLIC) Project develops and facilitates the many elements integral for successful implementation of the HSS Framework. As part of their work, the CLIC Project hosts a YouTube channel that contains videos to support educators and administrators as they implement the HSS Framework, including videos on fostering student advocacy and classroom approaches to civic learning .

Below is a list of additional professional learning institutes, courses, and other opportunities to support educators as they implement civic learning programs.

External Websites Dedicated to the State Seal of Civic Engagement

The websites listed below have been developed by California organizations that are supporting LEAs to implement the SSCE. These sites are being updated as new resources become available.

California History-Social Science Project Sites

Each of the below CHSSP sites has a variety of resources to support professional learning in civics.

Institutes

Coaching, Seminars, Training Videos, Toolkits

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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future." At the California Department of Education (CDE), we work to help California educators build our youth to be successful and engaged citizens.

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This collection of resources, including links to professional learning opportunities, was compiled in conjunction with the California School Library Association (CSLA) and KQED in fulfillment of the requirements set forth in Senate Bill 830: to ensure that young adults are prepared with media literacy skills necessary to safely, responsibly, and critically consume and use social media and other forms of media.

The resources for teachers, teacher-librarians, administrators, and others include media literacy curriculum, collections of media literacy lessons and other resources, media production resources, and links to professional development (PD) opportunities. These resources were chosen based on the CSLA's criteria:

Original

Accurate

Current

Technically sound

Easy to access and use

Inviting

Informative and useful content about media literacy aligned to the California Model School Library Standards (MSLS)

Understanding and teaching media literacy is the responsibility of all educators. Media literacy is best learned and practiced when integrated into the school's curriculum. Classroom teachers are encouraged to work with teacher librarians in exploring this collection of resources to develop media-rich contextual learning activities. This web page contains a curated list of resources, but to access and share even more media literacy resources in a professional learning community, create a free account at Collaboration in Common and join the Media and Information Literacy Toolkit-group.

Additionally, the California State Library has contracted with Encyclopaedia Britannica, ProQuest, and TeachingBooks.net to provide online, authoritative resources for free to public schools in California. Local educational agencies can sign up to take advantage of these free databases. Click on the first tab below for more information on each of these resources.

K-12 Online Content

California is now offering, at no cost to local schools, districts, or students, three online databases for use by every kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) school and student in the state, with access starting at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year.

Online content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, ProQuest, and TeachingBooks.net will be available individually to all K-12 students in California, as well as all public schools in the state.

These content resources, commonly referred to as "library databases," provide teachers, school librarians, and students with a great deal of digital information: books, scientific research, newspaper articles, photos, videos and more-all aligned with the curriculum that California has created for its schools.

To sign up to receive information and resources from these online content providers, visit the California State Library .

Encyclopaedia Britannica -offers multiple tools for student research, including:

ProQuest -An informational resource company used by researchers and librarians around the world. Their content collection encompasses 90,000 authoritative sources, six billion digital pages, and spans six centuries. ProQuest has collections on culture, scholarly journals, general reference material, content for beginning researchers, eBooks, and more. A one-page summary of everything California can access is on Proquest's Teacher/Librarian Resources web page.

TeachingBooks.net -A suite of authoritative materials about children's and young adult books. Learn directly from an author about why a book was created. Download discussion questions to dig deeper into a book's meaning. Enjoy video book trailers and audio performances of a book to bring it to life. TeachingBooks is a treasure trove of instructional materials about the books read by children and teens, and is a PD for educators and families to identify and connect to culturally relevant, quality books for all content areas, prekindergarten through grade twelve.

Media Literacy

Media literacy and the concepts surrounding it evolve with changes in technology and society. These definitions, from SB 830 and organizations of experts, provide a foundation through which to understand media literacy and the ideas connected to it.

SB 830 states: Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and use media and encompasses the foundational skills that lead to digital citizenship.

SB 830 further states: Digital citizenship is a diverse set of skills related to current technology and social media, including the norms of appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior.

These literacies closely relate to information literacy: the ability "to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" ( American Library Association ).

UNESCO states that media and information literacy is a "combination of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices required to access, analyze, evaluate, use, produce, and communicate information and knowledge in creative, legal and ethical ways that respect human rights."

California's MSLS (PDF) organize their standards around concepts of information literacy:

Students access information

Students evaluate information

Students use information

Students integrate information literacy skills into all areas of learning

What do media literacy skills look like? Here are three sample scenarios:

Elementary students use a library catalog to locate a book on recycling, which informs their task of photographing examples of recycling in their neighborhoods to share on their class wiki.
In this example, students are accessing information through the library catalog, using it to inform their task. They are then using media to share information through photography on their class wiki-this involves production, communication, and following norms of online behavior with digital citizenship.

Middle schoolers use a spreadsheet to organize data they collect about pets' exercise habits, which they will analyze for a science fair project.
In this example, students are using technology to use information effectively. They are then analyzing that information to arrive at conclusions for a project-that project will involve further skills in communication of that information to a particular audience.

High schoolers locate articles in a database about data privacy, which is the basis for the students' video production that gives recommendations for teens to protect personal information.
In this example, students are accessing information through the database, and then analyzing that information to produce a video, involving communication skills. The topic is data privacy, which includes elements of digital citizenship.

These example scenarios give only a small view into what students might be doing within the classroom that includes media and information literacy skills. View the resources located in the other tabs to see more examples of lessons to incorporate media and information literacy in all classrooms.
Curriculum

The following resources are ready-made curricula, usually consisting of scope and sequence learning outcomes and activities, for media and information literacy as well as digital citizenship:

Resources/Lessons

These collections include many high-quality lessons, units, videos and other learning aids, and supportive material. Several of these collections are searchable by grade or topic.
Multiple Literacies: Media Literacy: Digital Citizenship:
Information Literacy:

KQED Learn featuring Above the Noise videos-A safe, online space for students (grades 6-12) to practice civic discourse with peers nationwide. Free.

Media Production

An important way to gain media literacy is to produce media: learning by doing. These resources address media production tools and processes.

Professional Development

Several professional organizations address media literacy, providing valuable educational resources as well as PD activities.

Professional organizations that include PD:

Training:

Last Reviewed: Friday, August 16, 2019

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This collection of resources, including links to professional learning opportunities, was compiled in conjunction with the California School Library Association (CSLA) and KQED in fulfillment of the requirements set forth in Senate Bill 830: to ensure that young adults are prepared with media literacy skills necessary to safely, responsibly, and critically consume and use social media and other forms of media.

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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Our comprehensive, short-form video series created with the Center for Civic Education explains the text, history, and relevance of the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and additional amendments in everyday language. Check out all 35 videos today!

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Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, wrote this poem, "Capitol Losses:"

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Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, wrote this poem, "Capitol Losses:"

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We asked viewers to explain how they were reacting to this week's insurrection. Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, sent us a poem that stopped us in our tracks. It's called "Capitol Losses:"

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We asked viewers to explain how they were reacting to this week's insurrection. Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, sent us a poem that stopped us in our tracks. It's called "Capitol Losses:" https://t.co/pjMvmDLWG1

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We asked viewers to explain how they were reacting to this week's insurrection. Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, sent us a poem that stopped us in our tracks. It's called "Capitol Losses:" pic.twitter.com/pjMvmDLWG1
— NOW Tonight with Joshua Johnson (@NBCNOWTonight) January 10, 2021

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We asked viewers to explain how they were reacting to this week's insurrection. Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, sent us a poem that stopped us in our tracks. It's called "Capitol Losses:" https://t.co/pjMvmDLWG1

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We asked viewers to explain how they were reacting to this week's insurrection. Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, sent us a poem that stopped us in our tracks. It's called "Capitol Losses:" https://t.co/pjMvmDLWG1

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We asked viewers to explain how they were reacting to this week's insurrection. Trisha, a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, sent us a poem that stopped us in our tracks. It's called "Capitol Losses:"

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By Mark Gomez

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No sleepy time for those
Who’s Dreamy time deposed 
what history has rot: Our present decay
What bed side manner
This red, pride hammer of white
Made blue 
Early morning hues will fade 
Tides receding
Times revealing
This not a dream worth sleeping 
But our nightmare to awaken

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
No sleepy time for those
Who’s Dreamy time deposed 
what history has rot: Our present decay
What bed side manner
This red, pride hammer of white
Made blue 
Early morning hues will fade 
Tides receding
Times revealing
This not a dream worth sleeping 
But our nightmare to awaken

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
No sleepy time for those
Who’s Dreamy time deposed
what history has rot: Our present decay
What bed side manner
This red, pride hammer of white
Made blue
Early morning hues will fade
Tides receding
Times revealing
This not a dream worth sleeping
But our nightmare to awaken
— Mark Gomez (@gomehead2000) January 7, 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
No sleepy time for those
Who’s Dreamy time deposed 
what history has rot: Our present decay
What bed side manner
This red, pride hammer of white
Made blue 
Early morning hues will fade 
Tides receding
Times revealing
This not a dream worth sleeping 
But our nightmare to awaken

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
No sleepy time for those
Who’s Dreamy time deposed 
what history has rot: Our present decay
What bed side manner
This red, pride hammer of white
Made blue 
Early morning hues will fade 
Tides receding
Times revealing
This not a dream worth sleeping 
But our nightmare to awaken

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
No sleepy time for those
Who’s Dreamy time deposed 
what history has rot: Our present decay
What bed side manner
This red, pride hammer of white
Made blue 
Early morning hues will fade 
Tides receding
Times revealing
This not a dream worth sleeping 
But our nightmare to awaken

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
How do media outlets cover the events of 1/6/21? Analyze the language used, tone, and meaning of multiple perspectives to help students understand and make meaning. Critical reading is #civics and #SEL as we help students process an attempted coup. https://t.co/OlZgfNZUEX

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US allies say Trump attempted coup with help from federal law enforcement

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The big unanswered question: Why were so few law-enforcement agents at the Capitol when demonstrations like that are usually heavily policed?

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
How do media outlets cover the events of 1/6/21? Analyze the language used, tone, and meaning of multiple perspectives to help students understand and make meaning. Critical reading is #civics and #SEL as we help students process an attempted coup. https://t.co/OlZgfNZUEX

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How do media outlets cover the events of 1/6/21? Analyze the language used, tone, and meaning of multiple perspectives to help students understand and make meaning. Critical reading is #civics and #SEL as we help students process an attempted coup. https://t.co/OlZgfNZUEX
— OCDEhistory (@OCDEhistory) January 8, 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
How do media outlets cover the events of 1/6/21? Analyze the language used, tone, and meaning of multiple perspectives to help students understand and make meaning. Critical reading is #civics and #SEL as we help students process an attempted coup. https://t.co/OlZgfNZUEX

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.entities.urls[].title
US allies say Trump attempted coup with help from federal law enforcement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.entities.urls[].description
The big unanswered question: Why were so few law-enforcement agents at the Capitol when demonstrations like that are usually heavily policed?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
How do media outlets cover the events of 1/6/21? Analyze the language used, tone, and meaning of multiple perspectives to help students understand and make meaning. Critical reading is #civics and #SEL as we help students process an attempted coup. https://t.co/OlZgfNZUEX

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
How do media outlets cover the events of 1/6/21? Analyze the language used, tone, and meaning of multiple perspectives to help students understand and make meaning. Critical reading is #civics and #SEL as we help students process an attempted coup. https://t.co/OlZgfNZUEX

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.entities.urls[].title
US allies say Trump attempted coup with help from federal law enforcement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.entities.urls[].description
The big unanswered question: Why were so few law-enforcement agents at the Capitol when demonstrations like that are usually heavily policed?

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By Claudia Rankine

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Born in Jamaica in 1963, Claudia Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, including Citizen: An American Lyric (Graywolf Press, 2014), which received the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. She served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2013 to 2018.

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Teachers of Color More Likely Than White Peers to Tackle ‘Controversial’ Civics Topics

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Teachers of Color More Likely Than White Peers to Tackle ‘Controversial’ Civics Topics

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Irene Sanchez knows that her social studies class might introduce civic ideas that her high schoolers haven't ever studied before.

Sanchez, a Latino studies teacher in the Azusa Unified school district in California, discusses local laws with her students, with an emphasis on how they affect different Latino groups in the area. She shows students what their state looked like before colonization and modern-day borders and emphasizes that Los Angeles county is part of a global community.

"Because so much of our history and our culture has been excluded from the mainstream U.S. society and made our communities feel excluded, it's kind of like our class has to cover those gaps," said Sanchez, who is Chicana. "It's my responsibility to show my students how they can also participate and have a capacity to make change."

The key to getting them involved in civic life, she said, is having them see themselves in it.

This approach to civics education, one that puts a greater emphasis on the global community and doesn't shy away from so-called "controversial" issues, is more common among teachers of color, like Sanchez, according to a new report on civics education from the RAND Corporation.

RAND researchers surveyed 820 social studies teachers in the United States, at all grade levels K-12, through their American Teacher Panel. In general, the report found that teachers wanted more support in the subject: Only one in five teachers said they felt very well-prepared to support students' civic learning, and most said they needed better school- or district-provided instructional materials, including materials that were culturally relevant for their students.

But the report also outlined some key differences in responses for two groups of teachers: teachers of color, and all teachers who work with English-language learners. These two groups held different priorities, and identified different needs, compared to the other teachers in the survey.

Tackling Controversial Issues

Teachers of color placed a greater emphasis on teaching international relations, the environment, and immigration and emigration. They were also more likely than their white peers to say that it was essential for students to understand the Bill of Rights and the responsibilities of citizenship. Teachers of color more often discussed controversial issues in their classrooms, and they were less likely to indicate trust in institutions.

Both groups-teachers of color and teachers of who worked with a greater number of ELLs-were more likely than respondents as a whole to say that they needed more resources for teaching civics.

The results highlight the importance of a diverse teacher corps in civics, the report's authors write. But the two groups of teachers' responses regarding resources and opportunities also suggest that "some students are getting less access to curriculum and experiences that build the full range of competencies that they will need to succeed and thrive when they leave the K-12 system," said Laura Hamilton, an adjunct behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation and the first author on the report, in an interview with Education Week.

Averill Kelley, a former high school civics teacher and current doctoral student at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, saw when he started teaching that Black and Latino students were not getting the same learning opportunities as their white peers.

In on-level courses, made up of mostly students of color, teachers wouldn't assign presentations, speeches, or simulations-experiences that could have made civics seem more relevant and interesting, said Kelley, who is Black. "It would be like, 'My students can't write, and my students can't behave well, so I can't give them this fun project,'" he said of his conversations with other teachers.

Kelley, who had been active in Model Congress when he was in school, committed to giving his students those opportunities to research, figure out the issues that were important to them, and ask questions of those in power.

He also highlighted Black civic role models, beyond the traditional examples of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. Kelley taught his students about people like Septima Clark, a teacher and organizer in the Civil Rights movement who developed a network of Citizenship Schools that prepared thousands of Black adults to pass the literacy tests required for voter registration under Jim Crow laws.

These lessons demonstrate that students' ancestors and the people in their communities made change, Kelley said, and they also broaden students' understanding of what civic engagement can look like.

It makes sense that teachers of color would emphasize these ideas, because they're often teaching students of color, said Kristen E. Duncan, an assistant professor of secondary social studies education at Clemson University. Surveys from the Pew Research Center have found that at schools where more students are Black, Latino, Asian, or Indigenous, a larger share of teachers are, too.

"Teachers of color realize that, if I want to reach my students in ways that speak to my communities and ways of living, then I need materials that do that as well," Duncan said.

'Community-Centered' Civics

Too often, civics is framed as "all about voting and jury duty," said Duncan. "Are those rights and responsibilities of citizens in the U.S.? Absolutely. But communities of color are more likely to focus on community-centered framings of civics."

Sanchez, the California teacher, takes a different approach to ideas and concepts that other teachers may have previously taught. For instance, she reteaches Manifest Destiny from an Indigenous perspective, and centers learning on Latinos' stories, like in her lessons about the pandemic's disparate impact on some Latino communities in Los Angeles county.

"I feel like, in many ways, that I have to uncover some truths that have been hidden," Sanchez said.

The RAND survey shows that not all teachers share this perspective. When asked which civics concepts were "absolutely essential" for schools to teach, developing habits of community service and becoming activists who challenge the status quo were low on the list.

It's possible, Hamilton said, that some teachers think these lessons are better left for families and communities to impart. "There is some controversy around how civics should be taught, and to what extent teachers should be encouraging kids to get involved in specific causes, because you run the risk of teachers imposing their political beliefs on students," Hamilton said.

In an ideologically polarized landscape, even discussing basic civic and government processes can be fraught. Teachers are divided on whether issues that could be construed as "political" should even be discussed in the classroom-and if they are, whether it's appropriate for teachers to make their perspectives known.

But teachers of color may be less able to avoid this controversy than their white peers, Duncan said. "Teachers of color are so much more likely to engage students in these topics, because this is not controversial to them. It's life," she said. "They need this information in order to navigate the systems and structure in which they live."

Centering English Learners' Civic Experiences

Broadening schools' conception of the discipline can also help English-language learners see themselves and their families as civic actors, said Kristina Robertson, the English-learner program administrator at Roseville Area Schools in Minnesota.

The RAND survey found that as a group, teachers who taught more ELLs-including white teachers and teachers of color-were more likely to emphasize migration and drivers of inequality. This rings true to Robertson, who said that social studies curricula often fail to address English learners' "language, culture, histories, and realities." These students' teachers want to fill that gap, said Robertson, who is white.

The Roseville district has piloted a social studies course that invites students to co-construct the curriculum. This past year, several Karen refugee students, of the ethnic group in Burma, chose to study the history and politics of refugee resettlement from Burma to the United States, Robertson said.

Jennifer George, an English-learner teacher in Roseville, said migration often comes up in her classes. But she also introduces civics topics that may not generally be part of the social studies curriculum, like financial literacy. Her students, who are mostly newcomers ages 16-21, need these skills for life in the United States, where the financial system may be different than the ones they left at home.

She struggles to find age-appropriate materials that cover money and budgeting, and makes most of them herself, "not because my district wouldn't provide it, but because it doesn't exist," said George, who is white. Most of what's available online is designed for adults, she said.

Exploring complex and potentially charged topics-like immigration-requires a supportive administration, "and not just on paper," said Robertson. "You have to see evidence that your administration will back you up."

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Teachers of Color More Likely Than White Peers to Tackle 'Controversial' Civics Topics

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Irene Sanchez knows that her social studies class might introduce civic ideas that her high schoolers haven't ever studied before. Sanchez, a Latino studies teacher in the Azusa Unified school district in California, discusses local laws with her students, with an emphasis on how they affect different Latino groups in the area.

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Campaign contact, digital outreach, young people engaging their peers, and action on racial justice all contributed to higher youth voter turnout.

Youth electoral participation in 2020 was high and could be even higher if we support young people, who have varied priorities for the new administration.

The full report of our study of civic education in the Commonwealth highlights challenges and recommendations for more inclusive and equitable K-12 civics.

The data suggests outreach to young Black voters worked, and their overwhelming preference for the Democratic candidates may have been decisive.

The runoff elections for both Georgia seats will determine control of the Senate, and mobilizing Black youth in the state may be a decisive factor.

Campaign contact, digital outreach, young people engaging their peers, and action on racial justice all contributed to higher youth voter turnout.

Youth electoral participation in 2020 was high and could be even higher if we support young people, who have varied priorities for the new administration.

The full report of our study of civic education in the Commonwealth highlights challenges and recommendations for more inclusive and equitable K-12 civics.

The data suggests outreach to young Black voters worked, and their overwhelming preference for the Democratic candidates may have been decisive.

The runoff elections for both Georgia seats will determine control of the Senate, and mobilizing Black youth in the state may be a decisive factor.

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Campaign contact, digital outreach, young people engaging their peers, and action on racial justice all contributed to higher youth voter turnout. Youth electoral participation in 2020 was high and could be even higher if we support young people, who have varied priorities for the new administration.

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1. Wilmington Insurrection of 1898

On the morning of November 10, 1898, a throng of some 2,000 armed white men took to the streets of the Southern port town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Spurred on by white supremacist politicians and businessmen, the mob burned the offices of a prominent African-American newspaper, sparking a frenzy of urban warfare that saw dozens of blacks gunned down in the streets. As the chaos unfolded, white rioters descended on City Hall and forced the town's mayor to resign along with several black aldermen. By nightfall, the mob had seized full control of the local government, some 60 black citizens lay dead and thousands more had fled the city in panic.

While it took the form of a race riot, the Wilmington uprising was actually a calculated rebellion by a cabal of white business leaders and Democratic politicians intent on dissolving the city's biracial, majority-Republican government. Once in power, the conspirators banished prominent black leaders and their white allies from the city and joined with other North Carolina Democrats in instituting a wave of Jim Crow laws suppressing black voting rights. Despite its illegality, state and federal officials ultimately allowed the power grab to proceed unchecked, leading many historians to cite the Wilmington insurrection as the only successful coup d'etat in American history.

2. New York City Draft Riots

Only 10 days after the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, New York City became embroiled in the largest popular insurrections in American history. The incident began on the morning of July 13, 1863, when hundreds of young men poured into the streets to protest the federal draft lottery. New York was deeply divided over the Civil War, and many viewed the conscription law-which excluded blacks and allowed wealthy men to buy their way out of serving for $300-as a blatant civil rights violation. The demonstration quickly turned violent when the mob stormed the draft office and beat the city's police superintendent to a bloody pulp. As the protestors' ranks swelled with armed malcontents, the men marched through Manhattan and began ransacking and burning the homes and offices of prominent draft supporters and other wealthy elites.

The bedlam would continue for four days, as rioters looted businesses, torched buildings and brawled with police and National Guardsmen from behind makeshift barricades. Convinced that freed blacks were a threat to their livelihood, rioters also beat and lynched several black men, demolished the homes of others and even set a black children's orphanage ablaze. Finally, on June 16, some 4,000 federal troops marched into the city and put the uprising down by force. While the draft would resume only a month later, the riots still left a devastating mark on New York. All told, the incident claimed the lives of more than 100 people and caused millions of dollars in property damage.

3. Battle of Blair Mountain

In 1921, the winding hills of southwest West Virginia played host to the largest and bloodiest labor dispute in American history. At the time, the coal-rich region operated under the thumb of powerful mining interests who employed thuggish private detectives to harass any workers who tried to unionize. Tensions boiled over in August 1921, after company agents assassinated a pro-union lawman named Sid Hatfield. In response, as many as 15,000 miners-many of them World War I veterans-armed themselves and set off to confront the coal tycoons and organize their fellow workers.

When they approached Blair Mountain in Logan County, the army of miners clashed with a force of around 3,000 defenders marshaled by an anti-union sheriff named Don Chafin. As the miners advanced up the mountain, they were met with punishing rifle and machine gun fire, and Chafin's forces even used a small air force of biplanes to drop explosives and tear gas. The battle raged for several days before federal peacekeeping troops finally arrived on the scene, at which point most of the exhausted miners returned to their homes or surrendered. By then, over 1 million rounds had been fired and an unknown number of men-estimates range from 20 to more than 100-had been killed. The miner's defeat derailed union activity in the region for over a decade, and some 1,000 workers were later charged with crimes including conspiracy, murder and treason.

4. Richmond Bread Riots

By its third year, the Civil War had taken a bitter toll on the Confederacy's civilian population. With their supply lines choked off and inflation soaring, many Southern cities erupted in mass revolts. The largest of these "bread riots" unfolded in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. On April 2, 1863, a group of armed, half-starved women descended on the state Capitol and demanded to speak to Governor John Letcher. When Letcher shrugged off their concerns, the hoop-skirted mob marched down one of the city's major thoroughfares, commandeered several supply carts and began violently ransacking warehouses for food.

The rioters' numbers quickly grew into the thousands as more desperate men and women took to the streets, many of them chanting "bread or blood!" Ignoring the protests of city officials, they broke down the doors of private businesses and supply houses and made off with food, clothing, jewelry and other valuables. According to some accounts, Confederate President Jefferson Davis even addressed the crowd, tossing coins at rioters and pleading, "you say you are hungry and have no money. Here is all I have." The riot finally ended after the city's public guard arrived and threatened to fire on the crowd. Some 60 members of the mob were arrested, and the city would later place artillery pieces in Richmond's business district as a warning against future uprisings.

5. Battle of Athens

In 1946, a group of veterans and disgruntled citizens went to war with the local government of Athens, Tennessee. The small farming community had spent the 1940s dominated by a crooked political machine led by sheriff and legislator Paul Cantrell, who was known to rig elections in his favor through ballot stuffing and voter intimidation. Corruption ran rampant until 1945, when hundreds of young men returned to Athens fresh from the battlefields of World War II. After they experienced repeated harassment by law enforcement, the ex-GIs organized their own political party and ran several veterans for local office in the hopes of ousting Cantrell and his cronies once and for all.

The "battle" unfolded during a tense Election Day on August 1, 1946. When the veterans' accused Cantrell of vote fraud, armed sheriff's deputies began beating and detaining the GI's poll watchers, and one officer even shot an elderly voter in the back. After Cantrell and his deputies confiscated the ballot boxes and barricaded themselves inside the local jail, hundreds of ex-GIs armed themselves with high-powered rifles and laid siege to the building. The two sides traded fire throughout the night, leaving several men wounded, but the deputies finally surrendered after the veterans began lobbing dynamite at the jailhouse. When the votes were counted, the GI candidates were declared the winners and immediately sworn into office. Their upstart political party would go on to restructure local government and clean up much of the corruption in Athens.

6. Shays' Rebellion

In the years following the Revolutionary War, the United States plunged into a severe economic crisis. Tensions were especially high in Massachusetts, where overtaxed farmers began losing their property to debt collectors. In September 1786, a small army of disgruntled citizens organized mass demonstrations across the state. Led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays, the rebels eventually armed themselves and began preventing county courts from convening in the hope of curbing property seizures. Fearing revolution was in the air, Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin responded by mustering a 1,200-strong militia led by former Continental Army General Benjamin Lincoln.

In January 1787, Shays' forces set their sights on the federal armory at Springfield, Massachusetts. The battle plan was botched, however, and the 1,500 rebels were pushed back by heavy artillery fire, leaving four men dead and another 20 wounded. Only a week later, Lincoln's militia ambushed Shays' camp at the town of Petersham and crushed the main rebellion. Small skirmishes continued for several weeks, but most of the insurgent leaders-including Shays-were eventually captured. The rebellion helped influence the adoption of a more robust central government at the Constitutional Convention later that year, but it would not be the last time that economic troubles provoked a revolt. Tax disputes later led to both the Whiskey Rebellion in the 1790s and Fries's Rebellion in 1799.

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6 Violent Uprisings in the United States

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On the morning of November 10, 1898, a throng of some 2,000 armed white men took to the streets of the Southern port town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Spurred on by white supremacist politicians and businessmen, the mob burned the offices of a prominent African-American newspaper, sparking a frenzy of urban warfare that saw dozens of blacks gunned down in the streets.

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Storming the Capitol, Trumpism's Last Stand?

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Storming the Capitol, Trumpism's Last Stand?

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Storming the Capitol: Trumpism's last Stand?

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Teaching Ideas for a Democracy Under Assault

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Teaching Ideas for a Democracy Under Assault

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Photo by M.A. Cappiello
January, 1993

To love a country as if you've lost one: as if

it were you on a plane departing from America

forever, clouds closing like curtains on your country,

the last scene in which you're a madman scribbling

the names of your favorite flowers, trees, and birds

you'd never see again, your address and phone number

you'd never use again, the color of your father's eyes,

your mother's hair, terrified you could forget these.

To love a country as if I was my mother last spring

hobbling, insisting I help her climb all the way up

to the U.S. Capitol, as if she were here before you today

instead of me, explaining her tears, cheeks pink

as the cherry blossoms coloring the air that day when

she stopped, turned to me, and said: You know, mijo,

it isn't where you're born that matters, it's where

you choose to die-that's your country.

People around the world watched in disbelief on Wednesday as domestic terrorists, incited by our president and other elected officials, stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of the electoral votes from the 2020 Presidential Election and do physical harm to our elected officials and their staff. Across the United States, we continue to process our collective grief, anger, and fear.

Teachers and school librarians, you already had too much on your plate. Tasked with supporting students' emotional and physical needs as well as their intellectual development, you adjust, readjust, and readjust again to different schedules, learning platforms, and the various expectations that accompany fully online, hybrid, and fully in-person teaching during the COVID-19 global pandemic. You are also teaching within the rising tide of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, and the ongoing systemic racism within which we have operated since the very origins of the white settler colonial occupation of North America.

Where do we go from here?

In a January 10th op-ed in The New York Times, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who integrated the University of Georgia on January 9, 1961, wrote: "The duty to remember our country's history belongs to all of us." Hunter-Gault acknowledges and celebrates that her education was the result of many layers of community activists working together for change. Once at UGA, a professor taught her that "[w]e learn from history that we do not learn from history." Why can't we learn from the past? Are we doomed to repeat ourselves? After a long career in journalism, Hunter-Gault still believes that while "history echoes itself," we can do something about it, concluding with this question and this call to action: "What can we all do to keep working toward a more perfect union?"

What can educators do? We can offer young people an opportunity to better understand and make sense of this moment through information. Nonfiction books for young people offer us gripping accounts of the past and present in language that engages young people's hearts and minds. Nonfiction books for young people provide a "container" of information vetted and researched, with evidence documented in bibliographies and chapter notes, acknowledgements and author's notes. Nonfiction books for young people personalize and problematize history. Nonfiction books for young people can be juxtaposed in the classroom so that students can hear a range of perspectives and make sense across texts. Nonfiction books for young people can model inquiry and informational literacy, while also providing essential information about our past, our present, and the government structures within which we operate.

Below, you will find paired texts to support middle grade inquiry. We've provided links to which books are available on EPIC and Overdrive/Libby, to help you find digital copies for classroom use, given the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also provide links to previous blog entries if we've blogged about these books.

We recognize this is merely a starting point.
Teaching Ideas and Invitations Towards a More Complex Understanding of U.S. History
If your ELA or social studies curriculum includes a required textbook, the chronology of U.S. history presented in the textbook may be through to a colonial lens, and thus limit students' full understanding of the ways in which the structural racism codified in laws, treaties, and policies has shaped our history. Both Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You written by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi and An Indigeneous People's History of the United States Young People's Edition written by Rosanne Dunbar-Ortiz and adapted by Jeanne Mendoza and Debbie Reese, provide those perspectives. By bringing both of these texts into your classroom concurrently, you offer students a deeper understanding of the complexities of United States history. Students can apply this more complex understanding of U.S. history to the political and cultural tensions of the present. Don't feel pressure to have students read the whole book-selected chapters can be used strategically.
Towards an Understanding of Why People Join Hate Groups and Terrorist Organizations
Author Susan Campbell Bartoletti, a former middle grade ELA teacher, wrote two books over a decade ago that illuminate some of the reasons why some people align themselves with hate groups and terrorist organizations. After examining the 19th century origins of the KKK in the United States, and the early 20th century origins of Hitler Youth in Germany, students can apply their new understandings to better understand - and work towards preventing - the increase in contemporary domestic terrorism here in the U.S. Don't feel pressure to have students read the whole book-selected chapters can be used strategically.
Towards an Understanding of Our Constitutional Democracy
Before, during, and after the November 2020 election, various truths and mistruths were shared by media and elected officials. For resources to support your students media literacy, we recommend The News Literacy Project. For a deeper understanding of our Constitution and some of the contemporary challenges our democracy faces, students can explore the 2020 graphic edition or the 2019 revised edition of Cynthia and Stamford Levinsons' Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and The Flaws That Affect Us Today and Elizabeth Rusch's You Call This Democracy? How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People.One way to use these books in small groups with students is to ask students to list the problems that they see in our democracy. In small groups, they can mine the chapters of each of these books to better understand these problems and work towards concrete solutions in your community. We also have many teaching ideas for each book in our original Classroom Bookshelf entries. Don't feel pressure to have students read the whole book-selected chapters can be used strategically.
Towards Preventing Domestic Terrorism
As last week's attack on the Capitol unfolded, it appeared to be an act of mob violence, incited by fiery rhetoric. But information is currently unfolding that suggests it was a planned and organized assault. Two nonfiction picture books, All of a Sudden and Forever: Help and Healing After the Oklahoma City Bombing written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Nicole Xu, and Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, examine two 20th century acts of domestic terrorism. While Weatherford's book presents an exploration of the event, Barton's book focuses readers on the path towards healing. Students can explore each book and compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the two events, and consider the ways in which we can try to stem the tide of hate, heal the nation, and prevent future violence.
Towards an Understanding of the Symbolism of the U.S. Capitol Building
For over two hundred years, the U.S. Capitol Building has been a symbol of the peaceful transfer of power. What are its origins? When was it built? Who are the people who worked on the building? In what ways does the Capitol Building represent freedom and reveal the barriers to freedom concurrently? Two books offer a starting point: Heart and Soul: The Story of American and African Americans written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson and Capital Days: Michael Shiner's Journal and the Growth of Our Nation's Capital by Tonya Bolden. It makes sense to start with chapter one of Heart and Soul, which brings the reader into the Capitol Rotunda, an exploration of its murals, and who is included and excluded. From there, your students can explore the first few chapters of Capital Days. Michael Shiner, an enslaved African American whose journal informs the book, remembered the 1814 British invasion of Washington during his childhood - the last time the Capitol building was under assault. Bolden brings to life pre-Civil War Washington, D.C. and the rebuilding of the Capitol by enslaved and free African Americans. Don't feel pressure to have students read the whole book-selected chapters can be used strategically.
Further Explorations
The News Literacy Project
Above the Rim: Peaceful Activism for a New Year Resources On How to Talk with Students About the Domestic Terrorist Attack on the Capitol Facing History The New York Times Teaching Tolerance Stories About Teachers and Students Responding the Domestic Terrorist Attack on the Capitol The Philadelphia Inquirer School Library Journal The Washington Post WBUR, Boston

From 1990-1994, Mary Ann worked at the U.S. House of Representatives, serving in the Office of the Clerk of the House, as a staff assistant on the House Armed Services Committee, and as a Grants/Special Projects Coordinator for Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.

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Teaching Ideas for a Democracy Under Assault - The Classroom Bookshelf

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What can educators do? We can offer young people an opportunity to better understand and make sense of this moment through information. Nonfiction books for young people offer us gripping accounts of the past and present in language that engages young people's hearts and minds.

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors 1st in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President Trump

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors 1st in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President Trump

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors just became the FIRST in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President #DonaldTrump & for him and his terrorist rioters to be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law #MontereyCountyLeads⚖️

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors just became the FIRST in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President #DonaldTrump & for him and his terrorist rioters to be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law #MontereyCountyLeads⚖️ https://t.co/ZXqWrfuzrL

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors just became the FIRST in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President #DonaldTrump & for him and his terrorist rioters to be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law #MontereyCountyLeads⚖️ pic.twitter.com/ZXqWrfuzrL
— Luis Alejo⚖️ (@SupervisorAlejo) January 12, 2021

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors just became the FIRST in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President #DonaldTrump & for him and his terrorist rioters to be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law #MontereyCountyLeads⚖️ https://t.co/ZXqWrfuzrL

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Monterey County Board of Supervisors just became the FIRST in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President #DonaldTrump & for him and his terrorist rioters to be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law #MontereyCountyLeads⚖️ https://t.co/ZXqWrfuzrL

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Monterey County Board of Supervisors just became the FIRST in the state to unanimously approve 5-0 a Resolution calling for the Impeachment of President #DonaldTrump & for him and his terrorist rioters to be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law #MontereyCountyLeads⚖️

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How Trump’s Capitol Speech Incited an Insurrection

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Insurrection at the Capitol Justice and Reconciliation on our  Campuses and in our Nation

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Over the past week our nation has been collectively reckoning with the failure of all of our institutions to act in ways that would, as Martin Luther King, Jr. hoped, bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. Our media, our criminal justice system, even our government, are being asked to take responsibility for their complicity in the current moment. And I have news for us teachers, administrators, parents, and concerned citizens: schools must do the same. In fact, I might argue that if there is any real hope of creating a more just society, one in which there isn't room for white supremacy, it will require that schools rethink and redesign almost everything.

Some of you may be feeling a bit defensive right now. Maybe you're thinking: "It's not fair to blame schools for what kids are failing to learn at home!" Or, "schools can't do everything!" Or, "educators are already overworked and underpaid, now you're asking us to do more!" I get this. I live in a household of educators born of educators born of educators. As a person who thinks of my career as supporting and advocating for teachers, I'd be one of the first in line to lament how unfair our system is in the demands and constraints it places on our country's most valuable professionals. We don't manage to pay educators what they are worth or give them basic professional respect. Our treatment of our education system, and the dedicated professionals working in it, is nothing less than a national shame. I get it.

Here's the thing though. For better or worse, outside of the family, schools are the primary socializing institution in our country. Almost every child in the nation spends a minimum of 13 years, 8 hours a day, in classrooms across the country. Children spend as many waking hours with teachers as they do with their own parents. And while parents and families should certainly take responsibility for making sure their children are not violent white supremacists, this very quickly becomes a chicken and egg conversation - parents have to have it to give and our schools didn't give it to them to have. The reality is, schools are already doing a lot of the heavy lifting in raising the next generation. And we must do it better.

Schools should be places where children are learning collectively who they are and what they believe, who and what they will fight for, and what role they will play in our larger society. Schools should be places where the biases of future police officers, government officials, doctors, lawyers, tech executives, and yes, even teachers, are challenged. Sadly, they are not. Instead, the majority of what we have decided to spend our time on in schools does not contribute to making our country more critically thinking, more emotionally competent, more equitable, or more just.

As it stands, young people can graduate from high school and get college and professional degrees - the kinds of degrees that will make them the leaders of our nation - and learn almost nothing about race and racism, class and classism, gender and sexism, disability and ableism, sexual orientation and heterosexism, climate change, emotional resilience, or even how to think critically. NOTHING. You can be a straight A student and learn nothing to prepare you to process the current moment, let alone take any kind of action in it. You can be a school leader, a master teacher, an educator of 40 years and have no more perspective about what is happening on the streets of Washington, DC right now, or about the rise of white nationalism, than one of your students, and quite possibly less. And worse, most of us don't even realize how much we don't know. We definitely can't teach what we don't know.

The truth is, despite the inspiring work of many individual educators, schools as a whole are doing very little to prepare students to be justice-minded adults who are not riddled with biases about people of color, low-income people, and people from other marginalized groups. In fact, most are actively contributing to and upholding white supremacy. This is true in every kind of school, in every kind of place, run by every kind of person. Some examples from my own life:

This year, in the majority-Black large urban district where my child goes to school *and* in suburban and rural majority-white school districts where I work, teachers still taught lies about "pilgrims and Indians" for Thanksgiving. Lies that lead children to believe all Native Americans are dead (they aren't), that European colonizers didn't commit genocide (they did), that Americans didn't steal this land we are living on (we did), that Making American Great Again might be a good thing (it's not).

This year, in suburban and rural majority-white school districts where I work *and* in the majority-Black large urban district where my child goes to school, students are still reading books, and getting handouts and flash cards, that feature images in which all of the people are white - inaccuracies that support the idea that only white people are worth representing, learning about, reading about.

This year, in the majority-Black large urban district where my child goes to school *and* in suburban and rural majority-white school districts where I work, educators are still calling the two weeks we have off at the end of December "Christmas Break," still assuming everyone does Santa (even when there are Muslim, Jewish, and Jehovah's Witness students in their schools and classrooms), still failing to teach any other holiday from any other cultural tradition that might be relevant to their specific students or important for learning about the diversity of the larger world. And the Santa is still almost always white.

This year, in suburban and rural majority-white school districts where I work *and* in the majority-Black large urban district where my child goes to school, students are still being shamed for their class positions - the kind of housing they reside in, how many toys they got for "Christmas," what their parents do for a living, what they wear, whether they qualify for free breakfast and lunch.

This year, in the majority-Black large urban district where my child goes to school *and* in suburban and rural majority-white school districts where I work, students are still being rewarded for "raising the most money" in fundraisers as if that is not directly related to the class position and social capital of their families or has anything to do with the task of educating students for justice.

This year, in suburban and rural majority white school districts where I work *and* in the majority-Black large urban district where my child goes to school, what students learn is still based on textbooks written by companies out of Texas that DO NOT value diversity, equity, justice or truth telling. Districts are giving untold thousands of dollars to companies for curricula that explicitly devalue the history, experiences, and contributions of people who are not white men.

This year, in the majority-Black large urban district where my child goes to school - a district run by almost all Black women with Masters and Doctoral degrees - flashcards with pictures and words reading "handcuff," "gun," "cop," and a military "tank" were sent home as part of the kindergarten reading curriculum (in the middle of #BlackLivesMatter protests no less)!

This year in suburban and rural majority white school districts where I work, school leaders are making decisions about what kind of education is best for students and families of color and low-income students and families during a global pandemic without actually talking to those students and families about what they want and need.

What did the schools and classrooms you are affiliated with do this past week to teach students what the 1st Amendment actually protects? What "sedition" is? What a "coup" is? What "false equivalence" is? What "fake news" is? What the 14th Amendment is? What "racism" is? How the government is structured? Who becomes president if a new one isn't certified? What of substance did they learn that would explain this moment? What had they learned proactively prior to this moment that laid the foundation for helping them understand it?

We all know the answer, and the examples are endless. For generations we have created and sustained an education system that is as segregated now as it was at the time of Brown v. Board of Education; that is based on curriculum that does not teach the things we claim to value; that trains teachers and administrators in schools of education where they get almost no knowledge or skill to cultivate equity, diversity, or justice; that tracks students in ways that reinforce racial and economic segregation; that creates standardized tests that are consistently problematic; that fails to recruit or retain teachers of color; that funds schools in ways that provide more to those who already have the most; that consistently celebrates that which is white, and male, and already dominant while ignoring the contributions, people, and cultures that fall outside of that, or introducing them in only the most cursory and stereotypical ways; and on and on and on.

In short: we have an institutional problem. Across the board in our K-12 schools and our colleges of education, we are FAILING to provide students with:

critical thinking skills,

social-emotional skills, or

cultural competence and social justice skills.

Racism is taught, as the saying goes, which means anti-racism can be taught as well. And the truth is, we just aren't teaching it.

We are in crisis in this country. And if there is any hope of getting out of it, schools must dramatically shift what we are doing - NOW - from the curriculum and textbooks we are purchasing, to the lessons we are teaching in kindergarten classrooms, to our training of preservice teachers and administrators.

I had some hope that Covid-19 would motivate a true reckoning in our education system. It didn't. Perhaps white supremacists trying to stage a coup in the Capitol will.

Right now, every educator should be asking what they can do to prevent this from happening again in the future. If this moment of horror doesn't force us to change course significantly in our education system, at every level of the system, we will have many people to blame for the destruction of our nation, starting with ourselves.

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What Schools Should Be Asking Now: White Supremacy and the Crisis in our Education System

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Over the past week our nation has been collectively reckoning with the failure of all of our institutions to act in ways that would, as Martin Luther King, Jr. hoped, bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. Our media, our criminal justice system, even our government, are being asked to take responsibility for their complicity in the current moment.

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Reactions from Mr. Ahmadi's Computer Class to 1/6/2021