May 12, 2025 • 33 mins
Imagine a civics classroom where every student—regardless of ability, background, or learning style—can fully engage with the democratic principles that shape our society. Three exceptional educators from a civic literacy cohort share their revolutionary approaches to differentiating civic education, transforming traditional multiple-choice instruction into vibrant, accessible learning experiences.
These master teachers, representing elementary, middle, and gifted education, reveal practical strategies for making civic concepts come alive for all learners. From inquiry-based activities with "low entry, high ceiling" approaches to creative assessment methods that prioritize understanding over memorization, they demonstrate how modern civic education can reach every student in meaningful ways.
You'll discover how innovative techniques like hexagonal thinking help students visualize connections between civic concepts, while role-playing activities and simulations transform abstract principles into tangible experiences. The teachers share how they've successfully used everything from Hamilton songs to fake guillotines to make civic knowledge stick, proving that engagement and emotional connection are the true keys to lasting civic understanding.
Most powerfully, these educators explain how they connect abstract constitutional principles to students' everyday experiences—comparing international conflicts to playground disagreements or helping students see how First Amendment rights apply in their daily lives. Through these real-world connections, civics transforms from a collection of facts to a framework for understanding society.
Whether you're a new teacher seeking a foundation for teaching civics, a veteran educator looking for fresh approaches, or anyone passionate about preparing the next generation of engaged citizens, these insights will inspire you to reimagine how we teach democracy. Join the movement to ensure every child receives the civic education they deserve and develops the knowledge and skills to become active, informed participants in our democratic process.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Liz Evans (00:00):
Welcome back everyone .
I really love this topic thatwe're talking about STEM, STEM,
stem and maybe your civics.
You know was a bunch ofmultiple choice tests or some
(00:32):
really quick facts and that's it, but what I'm what we're moving
to is more of civics indifferent ways for different
types of learners in differentways for different types of
learners.
So I have three amazingteachers from our civic literacy
cohort with me here today andwe're going to talk about
differentiating instruction incivics by equipping the teachers
(00:56):
with strategies to engagediverse learners, connect
classrooms to real-world civicengagement and assess student
understanding in meaningful ways.
So I am going to let themintroduce themselves and we will
get started.
VerGeshia Washington (01:13):
Hi, I'm VerGeshia.
I'm an elementary schoolteacher in Georgia.
I currently teach science andsocial studies.
Rhonda Watton (01:23):
I currently teach science and social studies.
I'm Rhonda Watton and I teacheighth grade social studies in
Sussex, wisconsin.
Morgan Routh (01:34):
My curriculum is pretty much focused on US
history and government.
Hi, I'm Morgan Routh and I am agifted specialist for a
profoundly gifted,self-contained middle school
program where I teachinterdisciplinary humanities,
which is kind of like a mixtureof ELA and social studies.
A little about me as well.
I'm not only a part of thecohort, but I also write for the
(01:59):
Arizona Geographic Alliance.
Liz Evans (02:03):
Amazing and I love the difference in what you're
teaching, VerGeshia.
I love that you teach sciencetoo, because I think that
sometimes we think civics canonly be taught in a social
studies class, so it's reallyfun.
It's fun to have a kind ofsample of the teachers that
we've had, because there are 28teachers working on this
(02:25):
curriculum.
It is a true K-12 curriculum,created for teachers by teachers
, and I have said this before,I've been out of the classroom
for five years.
I do not know what apost-pandemic classroom looks
like, which is why I hireexperts, because they are the
ones that know.
So all of these lessons arecreated by people who are
practicing, who are in educationand the best of the best, to be
(02:48):
very honest with you.
So my first question is reallylooking at the lessons in action
, because you all createdamazing lessons.
How do the lessons that youcreated in the civic literacy
curriculum kind of supportdifferentiated instruction in
civics classrooms?
Morgan Routh (03:08):
So to go ahead and start, one of the best things
about this curriculum is thatour differentiating instruction
is not just extension activities, it's not just going deeper.
We essentially did a lot ofbackwards planning where we had
kind of that immigrationquestion for the test and we
(03:29):
were able to build out a wholeexperience around it.
So a lot of the lessons that Iended up doing they support
things like research basedlearning.
They support different types oflearners, so kinesthetic,
verbal or visual learners.
We also implement things likeAVID strategies, especially WICR
, and then for mine inparticular, because I have that
(03:53):
kind of gifted kid mindset, wedo a lot of inquiry activities
and the nice thing about inquiryactivities it's one of those
low entry, high ceiling elementswhere my kiddos can go in and
they, you know you can have aregular classroom, you could
have an ELL classroom, you couldhave a self-contained SPED
classroom or you could have agifted classroom and they could
(04:15):
all get something out of it.
So a good example of that wouldbe my James Madison lesson,
where students inspected thefirst revision of the
Constitution.
I put all of the differentimages into a slideshow and the
kids can observe and when youactually look at James Madison's
(04:36):
like first revision.
I mean he's got X's, he's gotyou know little margins in the
corner, he's got wording things,he's got big you know idea
revisions.
And so when we're talking aboutwhat kids can observe, they can
not only relate to the factthat James Madison is a drafter,
(04:56):
but also that there are just somany like little mini
negotiations.
That kind of happened in thedrafting of the constitution and
it's of course a document ofcompromises, so you can really
have the kids kind of accessthat through their own way
without needing much background.
Rhonda Watton (05:18):
With mine I would kind of piggyback a lot on what
Morgan mentioned.
The inquiry does allow for allabilities to kind of reach their
potential at their level.
In a couple of the lessons Idid we varied the vocabulary too
, so sometimes the vocabularyand some of the lessons can be
(05:39):
higher ended.
So again, doing differentvocabulary activities helps with
the comprehension of thecontent that you're covering.
Doing some projects, such asProject Citizen, which is one in
which students select an issuein their community or school,
(06:01):
again it involves researching it, coming up with new ideas.
Those are things that you know.
No matter what their abilitylevel, they work with small
groups.
So again, you need studentswith all different skills and
abilities to be successful inthe project.
One of the lessons I did waslooking at different like
holidays and different civicholidays, and again that one as
(06:24):
well.
Whether you do announcements,whether you create bulletin
boards or you know you come up.
It's another type of activitythat's really open-ended and can
be, you know, met in manydifferent ways.
Sometimes, in learning some ofthe specific you know content,
you know I usually like to putthings to songs, so you know a
(06:49):
lot of times there's songseither that you know students
can write lyrics to or songsthat help in retaining, and then
as well as just other types ofinteractive activities.
Anytime students are able tointeract with one another.
I always find that that helpswith retention.
VerGeshia Washington (07:07):
For me.
I work a lot with the STATstudents, so when I was thinking
about differentiation, Ithought a lot about them, so
bringing things down for themand just making sure that the
information could reach them andbe accessible.
(07:28):
I'm looking at my FirstAmendment lesson, so, like for
them, making sure that theinformation is right in front of
them on paper versus the boardand just, you know, write hands
on, like I said, because I worka lot directly with them and
even with their the end product,giving them more options than
(07:53):
the rest of the class where theycan do theirs on paper versus
electronically, creating apresentation or they can write
it.
So I just presentation or theycan write it, so I just.
I was in my mind I wanted toreach the high, the gifted, as
(08:17):
well as sped, because I feellike sometimes they I don't know
how to word it not getforgotten about, but sometimes
it's hard to kind of figure outhow to include them or how to
reach them, and so I was veryintentional with making sure
that the lesson could be asaccessible as possible, you know
, and ensuring that we're also,you know, reaching the standard
(08:38):
and answering the questions aswell.
Morgan Routh (08:41):
Yeah, VerGeshia, you know, working with you and
seeing how you've designed someof your lessons, I always
thought that they were excellentand that you took a lot of time
to really think out what isgoing to happen, start to finish
.
Yeah, we, I think that's one ofthe best parts of this
curriculum is that teachers whoare busy and they don't have
(09:03):
that same kind of lessonplanning time, they can just
kind of pick it up and run withit and make modifications as
they need.
Liz Evans (09:10):
And this is exactly why we have practicing teachers,
because we don't want to, atthe risk of saying, no child
(09:40):
left behind into a group ofeducators, but we don't.
We want every kid to be able tolearn, regardless of where they
are at now, where they havebeen in the past.
Every child deserves a civiceducation.
So you kind of talked a littlebit about strategies.
So what kind of strategies canteachers use to engage diverse
(10:02):
learners and in this case fordiverse learners?
We're talking about kind ofability levels while ensuring
that all students build a strongcivic knowledge, especially
because we're starting to seemore of a rise in states
requiring a civics test tograduate which really aligns
with the citizenship test kindof what we did.
I think the most recent one wasthe state of Iowa.
(10:24):
Rhonda, I will start, I willhave you start on this one.
What kind of strategies do youutilize in your classroom?
Rhonda Watton (10:33):
Okay, and I think I kind of talked a little about
this in the last one, but Iwill I will share again A few
things that I find work withstudents of all different
abilities are anything.
That's usually like a hands-onsomething where I do partner or
group work and sometimes Iintentionally, you know, put you
(10:55):
know different levels, abilitylevels together, um, but um,
other times, uh, you know, likeI said, with vocabulary
activities, we do, um, thingskind of like the headbands, you
know, where we put a word up andthey have to.
You know, they give clues andthey have to try to figure out
what the word is and they haveto try to figure out what the
(11:16):
word is.
Sometimes we just do like theGIM kits and the book kits and
some of the online activities.
You know what was I going tosay, I guess, with using the
songs too, I always find, likewith some of the civic ones with
the Schoolhouse Rock I knowthat was my generation back in
the day and some of the kidshave heard them some of the
civic ones with the SchoolhouseRock I know that was my
generation back in the day andsome of the kids have heard them
(11:37):
, some of the kids haven't, butthey really are a nice
springboard for, you know, kindof introducing a lot of the
topics that many of theselessons focus on.
And that's not the only song,but you know, those are just any
ways that kids can connect.
And I think what I found too iswith the Hamilton songs from
the musical.
(11:59):
You know, I've never had morekids interested in some aspects
of history before and they knowsome of the facts because of
those songs.
So you know, I guess that's oneof those areas that you know
some of the higher ends.
You know, when you're talkingdiverse, some of the higher end,
(12:37):
you know you're taking some ofthose to a different level as
well.
So, rather than you knowparticipating and they have a
word, a vocab word, a person, itcould be an event, and then
usually students I have ingroups of three or four, they
take these hexagons and theyhave to make connections between
the words.
So you know you can use it inany unit where they have to.
You know they might have FirstAmendment and freedom of speech
(12:58):
and they have to put themtogether and then give an
example of that.
Or you might have, you know, aperson like James Madison and
Federalist Papers and again,what's the connection there?
So that way again you can varythat with your ability.
You may require just somestudents to maybe do three to
(13:21):
five and again other ones maybemore, or be able to explain or
make connections with more.
So those are just a few of thestrategies that I found that
have worked well.
Morgan Routh (13:33):
Those are just a few of the strategies that I
found that have worked well.
I love hexagonal thinking.
I totally do it, and at agifted level.
We've done a ton of trainingson them and it's so cool because
it's really easy to make andyou can use it in any subject.
So if you've ever heard of, youknow, want to research
(13:58):
hexagonal thinking, there's agreat YouTube video about it.
You just got to type it in.
So for me, differentiation andtrying to reach those learners
that are kind of diverse, youknow, the best part about civics
is that, instead of, you know,thinking about it in the old
terms, where it's like the fillin the bubble or you know you
just got to answer thesequestions, you kind of have to
think of it as if it's aframework of society.
You know it's what's happeningin our news, it's what's
(14:21):
happening in our history classes.
You know, when we're talkingabout the United States and our
values, we kind of work withinthis framework and these rule
sets and these checks andbalances, and that if something
exciting is happening, it's kindof like one of those where the
people are pushing against thoseframeworks.
And so I think that anywhereyou go, you'll find people can
(14:47):
still understand it.
For an example, I'm pretty sureevery kid in America has cited
free speech as a reason why theycan yap at each other in the
class.
And it's you can't stop myspeech.
It's like, well, I know.
So I guess when I built some ofmy lessons, I wanted to think
(15:10):
about how does it come alive inour real world?
And so I have a ton ofmultimedia elements in there
videos, turn and talks and, youknow, conversational elements
that you can kind of bring inmodern news or modern history in
, and there's plenty of openingswhere you have little anecdotes
.
For example, we had I did oneon the role of the vice
(15:34):
president and the role of thepresident, and the kids would
make a resume thinking aboutwhat is the president's job and
how would they apply for a joblike that, and so it kind of
brings in that that CTE elementin there.
And then another great lessonthat I did was where they were
(15:56):
able to use the USGS website andexplore what our US territories
looked like, and it was kind oflike a little web quest webinar
thing where they could look atpictures, they could look at the
cuisine, look at the cultures,and so you know, the kids can
hit that standard of being ableto spot it on a map, but the
actual research itself goes alot deeper and you kind of bring
(16:20):
those cultures into 3D inrelationship to our territories.
So you know, when we're talkingabout civics, we just have to
kind of broaden our scopes andthink how exactly do our civics,
you know, actually touch ontheir lives?
Think how exactly do our civics, you know, actually touch on
their lives?
And I think that's a cool thingabout this lesson guide is we
have so many different teachersthat have so many different
(16:41):
perspectives on how life is andthen they kind of fake it into
the lesson yeah, um, I use a lotof songs too.
VerGeshia Washington (16:48):
I know just recently we're talking
about the three branches and Ifound a silly song on PBS and
they were dancing and the kidswere making fun.
But they were singing along anddoing the silly dance and they
were remembering something.
I do a lot.
I I tell a story, especiallywith the wars, like you know,
I'm like if someone's in aconflict, you go get your big
brother, they wouldn't got theirbig brother, you know.
(17:10):
Make it relatable to them andthey just that gets them hooked
because they can relate to that.
You know they can relate toconflict on the playground or
conflicts in family,unfortunately.
But it helps them to see youknow why the wars got started or
why the certain countries gotinvolved.
So I do a lot of storytellingto something that they can
(17:32):
relate to or things that they'veseen to.
Hopefully, you know, help themmake the real, real world
connection and remembersomething or know the why behind
it.
I guess because you know, theyknow why a fight starts on the
playground, you know.
So maybe, knowing that, andthey okay, that's why the war
started.
They, they disagreed on youknow what land, who the land
(17:56):
belonged to, or they, theydisagreed on that.
They didn't like that persondid that, and so it makes them
understand it a lot, um, a lotbetter.
Cause I like to work withyounger kids, third through
fifth grade, so just I have tobring it all the way down and
I'm very I'm a quiet person inreal life but in the classroom
very animated too, and extra,and I do all the things and a
(18:19):
lot of repetition and I'm just Ican say the regular, you know
regular statement, but I'll sayit in a dramatic way and you
know I'll say it 10 times overand over and have them repeat it
, just so things like that Ijust try to, I try to entertain
them and just keep theirattention and it, it, it, it
works.
At least it lets them enjoy myclass, but I think it helps them
(18:43):
to, you know, absorb some ofthe information at least.
Liz Evans (18:49):
I love that you I mean we have like teachers are
entertainers, like let's behonest, we have to keep their
attention.
But I really appreciate that youutilize language that makes
sense to them, like you'retalking about fighting and why
people disagree, and they getthat, and even I mean it is such
(19:28):
a simple thing.
But it can be utilized inelementary school and in high
school too, because I think alot of times kids are like I
don't understand why we go towork, I don't.
You know who cares about X, yand Z, but when you who are like
I know in real life I'm anintrovert, I'm pretty quiet, but
as soon as I get in front ofkids, it's like a whole
different thing, because youhave to keep their attention and
kids learn from teachers andclasses that they have fun in
and they feel like they can bekind of their like fun extra
(19:50):
selves too.
So I really love that andappreciate that.
Their like fun extra selves too.
So I really love that andappreciate that.
So what role do assessments andwe're not just talking about
tests, right, like I thinksometimes people think social
studies and they're like, oh,multiple choice tests, but
there's so many different waysto assess kids.
So what role do assessments andthese real world connections
(20:10):
play in tailoring civicsinstruction to meet the needs of
individual students?
VerGeshia Washington (20:17):
The first thing I think of are like the
scenarios, just them.
Like you said, it's not aboutmultiple choice and just knowing
the dates and the where and thefacts, just understanding the
why behind it.
Again, it was just why I try tohave it relate to them, and a
(20:40):
lot of our tests are about thescenarios, it's the reason
behind it.
So I don't focus a lot on thishappened on this date and this
person did.
I mean, they have to know someof that.
But I think it's important tounderstand the scenarios and, in
order for them to understandthat, like I said earlier,
(21:01):
helping them to relate to it.
So then when they see thescenario or when they're reading
the question, then they're like, okay, well, when she said that
this happened, okay, that's whyquestion.
Then they're like, okay, well,when she said that this happened
, okay, that's why.
So, I think, just helping themunderstand the.
(21:21):
I like to paint a picture.
I guess is what I'm trying tosay.
You know, I like to have themsee the story, versus seeing
words and numbers.
And I think when they see thetest in front of them and that
kind of, I hope the picturecomes back and they can kind of
see the flow of everything, ifthat makes sense.
Liz Evans (21:38):
So what it sounds like is you're not assessing
them on what they remember, likedates.
You're assessing them on whatthey know, and that is such a
positive way to assess studentsbecause it really allows them to
explain the why, and I thinkthat that sets kids up for
success, no matter their levelin school, whether they're
(22:01):
elementary or high school.
It allows them to again justshow what they know, and that is
such a powerful thing.
VerGeshia Washington (22:08):
Yeah, and it's unfortunate sometimes they
don't do well on the test, butif I ask them what happened,
they can tell me everything.
So that is always my goal.
I want them to know theinformation.
I don't want them to just dowell on the test, because that's
just memorization and I don'tlike that.
I don't like that.
(22:29):
But I want to make sure theyknow the information and they
can at least tell me.
So you know, they may not havedone well on the test, but they
learned something and that Imean.
I think that's all that matters.
Rhonda Watton (22:47):
Well, and when we memorize things then we forget
them, like our brain can hold somuch Right, yeah, and I would
agree a lot with what wasmentioned.
Agree a lot with what wasmentioned, and I think sometimes
your experiential learning oremotional learning is what
really sticks with you.
I can, I know one of theseventh grade teachers.
They do a lot of.
They have, well, a fakeguillotine, but like you know,
(23:09):
they do that whole thing withthe French Revolution and the
kids come to me every yearremembering that and like they
can tell you a lot about theevents leading up to it and
after that.
And I think sometimes when youhave activities like that, you
know it's they, like you said,they don't remember everything,
but they know the big picture ofall of it.
And you know, I like to do alot of role play and simulations
(23:32):
.
In fact, we're doing theConstitutional Convention
(24:02):
tomorrow where they're, all youknow, a historical identity and
you know, and then can becreative, because in the past
kids come with different voicesand all different theatricals
and some of the conversationsreally are pretty deep and go
further than what I think youcould do in a textbook or that I
could do just running through aGoogle Doc.
So I like to have that type ofinteraction in class.
I know our assessments too havechanged, like you were saying,
in five years.
It's varied because I've beenteaching for over 30 years and
(24:24):
we've always done tests andwe've always had multiple choice
and not necessarily true andfalse, but short answer, that
kind of stuff.
And we still to some degree docontent checks.
But for the most part, whenyou're looking at their
summative grades you're lookingat more open-ended, like when
they learn the content, what canthey do with it.
So you know, like in one of theunits we have them create a
(24:45):
newspaper for Westward Expansion.
So again, taking a look at someof the main ideas, was Westward
expanse and justifiable?
They create a, a politicalcartoon, um, you know, and add
some of all those components toit.
We've done artifact boxes forthe revolutionary war.
So they have to think of whatare five artifacts that if you
(25:07):
were to kind of summarize therevolutionary war under the
essential question of you know,how, would you know, how did the
Continental Army beat theBritish?
You know we have them focus ona vocabulary word, an event, a
person, a particular battle, andthose are all of their choice.
And then they have to come upwith what artifact would match
(25:29):
with that.
And again, it's challenging forsome because some of the kids
really are like just give me thetest, I want to just do the
test and that's it.
But I think this is where it itdigs a little deeper and not
only are they learning butthey're learning from each other
as well, which I think is kindof a cool thing.
And then, like one pagers we'vebeen doing those recently too
(25:51):
where again it's it's theirsummative for the unit, so they
have to be able to identify thepeople.
I mean, they're doing all thethings I think you normally
would do on a test, but they'redoing it in their own creative
way and the way that their brainworks and remembering it I do,
I use traveling trunks from acouple organizations for
Revolutionary War and the CivilWar, so they're able to, you
(26:15):
know, put on the jackets or holdthe cartridge box or whatever
artifacts may come with thoseboxes.
And you know we have theconversations about it, but I've
done raft writing with onewhere they come with many,
especially with the civil war.
So they have, you know, maybethey have a shoe or they have
(26:35):
the cartridge box and they haveto the raft.
Writing is the R is for role, ais audience, f is the format and
T is topic.
So again, they have a lot ofvoice and choice in how they,
you know, maybe they take thatshoe and they think that shoe um
was on, you know, a battle induring Gettysburg and it was on
(26:59):
the foot of you know, whoever itmight have been there, you know
pick it or whatnot, and um, youknow, and they have to do a
written piece so they can do itbased on um.
You know, maybe they're goingto do a diary entry, maybe
they're going to write a poem.
So how they present it again isreally up to them.
So one other option that I notall schools offer this, but we
(27:23):
do a Washington DC trip too,which is like we don't do a test
on it or an assessment on it,but certainly we go in October
where students are able to buildon that then throughout the
year or reflect on where they'vebeen, what they've done for
those students that haveattended.
Liz Evans (27:38):
When I say we got the cream of the crop for teachers,
I truly mean it, because theseare the things like I want my
daughter doing right, and mynieces and nephews, because it
isn't just sit and get and thenspit it out on a test, it is
let's do stuff with it.
And I love that you said studentvoice and choice, because at
the end of the day, as long asthey can show you what they know
(28:00):
, however, they do that throughtheir writing is such a powerful
thing and it allows them to besuccessful in a manner that
works best for them.
And I think that that is suchan underrated thing and so many
teachers do it.
And I wish I mean I do not havethe solution for standardized
tests.
I wish I did, but these are thekinds of things that make
(28:23):
standardized tests, I think, somuch easier for kids because
they're able to kind of expand.
So when they have to go down,sometimes it's a little easier
to kind of expand.
So when they have to go down,sometimes it's a little easier.
This has been amazing andwonderful, so I'm going to ask
one final question what is onehope that you have for how
(28:47):
differentiated civicsinstruction can impact students
or communities too.
And Virgesha, I will start withyou.
VerGeshia Washington (28:50):
The first thing that came to my mind just
teachers, I guess, having havingaccess to the lessons so that
they can teach them to thestudents, because sometimes,
especially a new teacher, it'snot.
You don't know what to do orwhere to look or where to begin,
and so and that's somethingelse I had in mind with the
(29:11):
lessons is what?
If you know, I'm a new teacher,I don't know what to do, where
to start.
I wanted to be sure that theteacher could have a foundation.
I guess I think that's my hopeis that teachers have a
foundation, have somewhere tostart at least, so that they
don't feel lost and, you know,they can build from there.
Rhonda Watton (29:38):
Well, definitely, I think, through this um, this
process of creating thiscurriculum, um, you have a huge
toolbox there that have many,many really creative interactive
ideas and, um, like I wasmentioned before, you can take
it, you can tweak it.
Um, you know, they're prettystraightforward lessons with
everything linked Certainly agreat place for some new ideas,
(29:59):
instead of some of those onlinesources that you go and pay for
a lesson here or there.
These are free and I think someof these lessons are just as
good, if not better, if notbetter.
As far as students lookingforward, you know, ultimately,
as citizens, I would like to see, you know, the students become
active in their communities,productive, become effective
(30:23):
citizens, where they'reknowledgeable about the history
and background of our countryand you know, kind of where, how
we've gotten to this point.
And then also, you know, to getout there and exercise your
right to vote, exercise, youknow, that type of going and
working in your communities.
You know, I always tell them Isaid you want to get out there
(30:45):
and vote.
You don't want to be the grumpyguy and the and the lazy boy
that complains about everything.
You got to get out there and dosomething about it.
And you know, and I just thinkthrough some of these activities
that they can get in school andsome of the opportunities that
they might have, that hopefullyyou know, through service
learning or projects as well,that they get a taste of that
(31:07):
and continue into adulthood.
Liz Evans (31:11):
Thank you, and thank you both so much for your
expertise, for your incrediblelessons.
I have been a civic educatorfor over two decades and this
project has honestly been one ofmy favorites, and working with
you and the other members of thecohort has genuinely been one
(31:31):
of the honors of my lifetime.
So thank you so much.
Listeners I will put.
I know that lessons werementioned.
I will make sure that those goin our show notes, but thank you
both so much for your time, foryour energy and for everything
you do for civic education.
Welcome back everyone .
I really love this topic thatwe're talking about STEM, STEM,
stem and maybe your civics.
You know was a bunch ofmultiple choice tests or some
(00:32):
really quick facts and that's it, but what I'm what we're moving
to is more of civics indifferent ways for different
types of learners in differentways for different types of
learners.
So I have three amazingteachers from our civic literacy
cohort with me here today andwe're going to talk about
differentiating instruction incivics by equipping the teachers
(00:56):
with strategies to engagediverse learners, connect
classrooms to real-world civicengagement and assess student
understanding in meaningful ways.
So I am going to let themintroduce themselves and we will
get started.
VerGeshia Washington (01:13):
Hi, I'm VerGeshia.
I'm an elementary schoolteacher in Georgia.
I currently teach science andsocial studies.
Rhonda Watton (01:23):
I currently teach science and social studies.
I'm Rhonda Watton and I teacheighth grade social studies in
Sussex, wisconsin.
Morgan Routh (01:34):
My curriculum is pretty much focused on US
history and government.
Hi, I'm Morgan Routh and I am agifted specialist for a
profoundly gifted,self-contained middle school
program where I teachinterdisciplinary humanities,
which is kind of like a mixtureof ELA and social studies.
A little about me as well.
I'm not only a part of thecohort, but I also write for the
(01:59):
Arizona Geographic Alliance.
Liz Evans (02:03):
Amazing and I love the difference in what you're
teaching, VerGeshia.
I love that you teach sciencetoo, because I think that
sometimes we think civics canonly be taught in a social
studies class, so it's reallyfun.
It's fun to have a kind ofsample of the teachers that
we've had, because there are 28teachers working on this
(02:25):
curriculum.
It is a true K-12 curriculum,created for teachers by teachers
, and I have said this before,I've been out of the classroom
for five years.
I do not know what apost-pandemic classroom looks
like, which is why I hireexperts, because they are the
ones that know.
So all of these lessons arecreated by people who are
practicing, who are in educationand the best of the best, to be
(02:48):
very honest with you.
So my first question is reallylooking at the lessons in action
, because you all createdamazing lessons.
How do the lessons that youcreated in the civic literacy
curriculum kind of supportdifferentiated instruction in
civics classrooms?
Morgan Routh (03:08):
So to go ahead and start, one of the best things
about this curriculum is thatour differentiating instruction
is not just extension activities, it's not just going deeper.
We essentially did a lot ofbackwards planning where we had
kind of that immigrationquestion for the test and we
(03:29):
were able to build out a wholeexperience around it.
So a lot of the lessons that Iended up doing they support
things like research basedlearning.
They support different types oflearners, so kinesthetic,
verbal or visual learners.
We also implement things likeAVID strategies, especially WICR
, and then for mine inparticular, because I have that
(03:53):
kind of gifted kid mindset, wedo a lot of inquiry activities
and the nice thing about inquiryactivities it's one of those
low entry, high ceiling elementswhere my kiddos can go in and
they, you know you can have aregular classroom, you could
have an ELL classroom, you couldhave a self-contained SPED
classroom or you could have agifted classroom and they could
(04:15):
all get something out of it.
So a good example of that wouldbe my James Madison lesson,
where students inspected thefirst revision of the
Constitution.
I put all of the differentimages into a slideshow and the
kids can observe and when youactually look at James Madison's
(04:36):
like first revision.
I mean he's got X's, he's gotyou know little margins in the
corner, he's got wording things,he's got big you know idea
revisions.
And so when we're talking aboutwhat kids can observe, they can
not only relate to the factthat James Madison is a drafter,
(04:56):
but also that there are just somany like little mini
negotiations.
That kind of happened in thedrafting of the constitution and
it's of course a document ofcompromises, so you can really
have the kids kind of accessthat through their own way
without needing much background.
Rhonda Watton (05:18):
With mine I would kind of piggyback a lot on what
Morgan mentioned.
The inquiry does allow for allabilities to kind of reach their
potential at their level.
In a couple of the lessons Idid we varied the vocabulary too
, so sometimes the vocabularyand some of the lessons can be
(05:39):
higher ended.
So again, doing differentvocabulary activities helps with
the comprehension of thecontent that you're covering.
Doing some projects, such asProject Citizen, which is one in
which students select an issuein their community or school,
(06:01):
again it involves researching it, coming up with new ideas.
Those are things that you know.
No matter what their abilitylevel, they work with small
groups.
So again, you need studentswith all different skills and
abilities to be successful inthe project.
One of the lessons I did waslooking at different like
holidays and different civicholidays, and again that one as
(06:24):
well.
Whether you do announcements,whether you create bulletin
boards or you know you come up.
It's another type of activitythat's really open-ended and can
be, you know, met in manydifferent ways.
Sometimes, in learning some ofthe specific you know content,
you know I usually like to putthings to songs, so you know a
(06:49):
lot of times there's songseither that you know students
can write lyrics to or songsthat help in retaining, and then
as well as just other types ofinteractive activities.
Anytime students are able tointeract with one another.
I always find that that helpswith retention.
VerGeshia Washington (07:07):
For me.
I work a lot with the STATstudents, so when I was thinking
about differentiation, Ithought a lot about them, so
bringing things down for themand just making sure that the
information could reach them andbe accessible.
(07:28):
I'm looking at my FirstAmendment lesson, so, like for
them, making sure that theinformation is right in front of
them on paper versus the boardand just, you know, write hands
on, like I said, because I worka lot directly with them and
even with their the end product,giving them more options than
(07:53):
the rest of the class where theycan do theirs on paper versus
electronically, creating apresentation or they can write
it.
So I just presentation or theycan write it, so I just.
I was in my mind I wanted toreach the high, the gifted, as
(08:17):
well as sped, because I feellike sometimes they I don't know
how to word it not getforgotten about, but sometimes
it's hard to kind of figure outhow to include them or how to
reach them, and so I was veryintentional with making sure
that the lesson could be asaccessible as possible, you know
, and ensuring that we're also,you know, reaching the standard
(08:38):
and answering the questions aswell.
Morgan Routh (08:41):
Yeah, VerGeshia, you know, working with you and
seeing how you've designed someof your lessons, I always
thought that they were excellentand that you took a lot of time
to really think out what isgoing to happen, start to finish
.
Yeah, we, I think that's one ofthe best parts of this
curriculum is that teachers whoare busy and they don't have
(09:03):
that same kind of lessonplanning time, they can just
kind of pick it up and run withit and make modifications as
they need.
Liz Evans (09:10):
And this is exactly why we have practicing teachers,
because we don't want to, atthe risk of saying, no child
(09:40):
left behind into a group ofeducators, but we don't.
We want every kid to be able tolearn, regardless of where they
are at now, where they havebeen in the past.
Every child deserves a civiceducation.
So you kind of talked a littlebit about strategies.
So what kind of strategies canteachers use to engage diverse
(10:02):
learners and in this case fordiverse learners?
We're talking about kind ofability levels while ensuring
that all students build a strongcivic knowledge, especially
because we're starting to seemore of a rise in states
requiring a civics test tograduate which really aligns
with the citizenship test kindof what we did.
I think the most recent one wasthe state of Iowa.
(10:24):
Rhonda, I will start, I willhave you start on this one.
What kind of strategies do youutilize in your classroom?
Rhonda Watton (10:33):
Okay, and I think I kind of talked a little about
this in the last one, but Iwill I will share again A few
things that I find work withstudents of all different
abilities are anything.
That's usually like a hands-onsomething where I do partner or
group work and sometimes Iintentionally, you know, put you
(10:55):
know different levels, abilitylevels together, um, but um,
other times, uh, you know, likeI said, with vocabulary
activities, we do, um, thingskind of like the headbands, you
know, where we put a word up andthey have to.
You know, they give clues andthey have to try to figure out
what the word is and they haveto try to figure out what the
(11:16):
word is.
Sometimes we just do like theGIM kits and the book kits and
some of the online activities.
You know what was I going tosay, I guess, with using the
songs too, I always find, likewith some of the civic ones with
the Schoolhouse Rock I knowthat was my generation back in
the day and some of the kidshave heard them some of the
civic ones with the SchoolhouseRock I know that was my
generation back in the day andsome of the kids have heard them
(11:37):
, some of the kids haven't, butthey really are a nice
springboard for, you know, kindof introducing a lot of the
topics that many of theselessons focus on.
And that's not the only song,but you know, those are just any
ways that kids can connect.
And I think what I found too iswith the Hamilton songs from
the musical.
(11:59):
You know, I've never had morekids interested in some aspects
of history before and they knowsome of the facts because of
those songs.
So you know, I guess that's oneof those areas that you know
some of the higher ends.
You know, when you're talkingdiverse, some of the higher end,
(12:37):
you know you're taking some ofthose to a different level as
well.
So, rather than you knowparticipating and they have a
word, a vocab word, a person, itcould be an event, and then
usually students I have ingroups of three or four, they
take these hexagons and theyhave to make connections between
the words.
So you know you can use it inany unit where they have to.
You know they might have FirstAmendment and freedom of speech
(12:58):
and they have to put themtogether and then give an
example of that.
Or you might have, you know, aperson like James Madison and
Federalist Papers and again,what's the connection there?
So that way again you can varythat with your ability.
You may require just somestudents to maybe do three to
(13:21):
five and again other ones maybemore, or be able to explain or
make connections with more.
So those are just a few of thestrategies that I found that
have worked well.
Morgan Routh (13:33):
Those are just a few of the strategies that I
found that have worked well.
I love hexagonal thinking.
I totally do it, and at agifted level.
We've done a ton of trainingson them and it's so cool because
it's really easy to make andyou can use it in any subject.
So if you've ever heard of, youknow, want to research
(13:58):
hexagonal thinking, there's agreat YouTube video about it.
You just got to type it in.
So for me, differentiation andtrying to reach those learners
that are kind of diverse, youknow, the best part about civics
is that, instead of, you know,thinking about it in the old
terms, where it's like the fillin the bubble or you know you
just got to answer thesequestions, you kind of have to
think of it as if it's aframework of society.
You know it's what's happeningin our news, it's what's
(14:21):
happening in our history classes.
You know, when we're talkingabout the United States and our
values, we kind of work withinthis framework and these rule
sets and these checks andbalances, and that if something
exciting is happening, it's kindof like one of those where the
people are pushing against thoseframeworks.
And so I think that anywhereyou go, you'll find people can
(14:47):
still understand it.
For an example, I'm pretty sureevery kid in America has cited
free speech as a reason why theycan yap at each other in the
class.
And it's you can't stop myspeech.
It's like, well, I know.
So I guess when I built some ofmy lessons, I wanted to think
(15:10):
about how does it come alive inour real world?
And so I have a ton ofmultimedia elements in there
videos, turn and talks and, youknow, conversational elements
that you can kind of bring inmodern news or modern history in
, and there's plenty of openingswhere you have little anecdotes
.
For example, we had I did oneon the role of the vice
(15:34):
president and the role of thepresident, and the kids would
make a resume thinking aboutwhat is the president's job and
how would they apply for a joblike that, and so it kind of
brings in that that CTE elementin there.
And then another great lessonthat I did was where they were
(15:56):
able to use the USGS website andexplore what our US territories
looked like, and it was kind oflike a little web quest webinar
thing where they could look atpictures, they could look at the
cuisine, look at the cultures,and so you know, the kids can
hit that standard of being ableto spot it on a map, but the
actual research itself goes alot deeper and you kind of bring
(16:20):
those cultures into 3D inrelationship to our territories.
So you know, when we're talkingabout civics, we just have to
kind of broaden our scopes andthink how exactly do our civics,
you know, actually touch ontheir lives?
Think how exactly do our civics, you know, actually touch on
their lives?
And I think that's a cool thingabout this lesson guide is we
have so many different teachersthat have so many different
(16:41):
perspectives on how life is andthen they kind of fake it into
the lesson yeah, um, I use a lotof songs too.
VerGeshia Washington (16:48):
I know just recently we're talking
about the three branches and Ifound a silly song on PBS and
they were dancing and the kidswere making fun.
But they were singing along anddoing the silly dance and they
were remembering something.
I do a lot.
I I tell a story, especiallywith the wars, like you know,
I'm like if someone's in aconflict, you go get your big
brother, they wouldn't got theirbig brother, you know.
(17:10):
Make it relatable to them andthey just that gets them hooked
because they can relate to that.
You know they can relate toconflict on the playground or
conflicts in family,unfortunately.
But it helps them to see youknow why the wars got started or
why the certain countries gotinvolved.
So I do a lot of storytellingto something that they can
(17:32):
relate to or things that they'veseen to.
Hopefully, you know, help themmake the real, real world
connection and remembersomething or know the why behind
it.
I guess because you know, theyknow why a fight starts on the
playground, you know.
So maybe, knowing that, andthey okay, that's why the war
started.
They, they disagreed on youknow what land, who the land
(17:56):
belonged to, or they, theydisagreed on that.
They didn't like that persondid that, and so it makes them
understand it a lot, um, a lotbetter.
Cause I like to work withyounger kids, third through
fifth grade, so just I have tobring it all the way down and
I'm very I'm a quiet person inreal life but in the classroom
very animated too, and extra,and I do all the things and a
(18:19):
lot of repetition and I'm just Ican say the regular, you know
regular statement, but I'll sayit in a dramatic way and you
know I'll say it 10 times overand over and have them repeat it
, just so things like that Ijust try to, I try to entertain
them and just keep theirattention and it, it, it, it
works.
At least it lets them enjoy myclass, but I think it helps them
(18:43):
to, you know, absorb some ofthe information at least.
Liz Evans (18:49):
I love that you I mean we have like teachers are
entertainers, like let's behonest, we have to keep their
attention.
But I really appreciate that youutilize language that makes
sense to them, like you'retalking about fighting and why
people disagree, and they getthat, and even I mean it is such
(19:28):
a simple thing.
But it can be utilized inelementary school and in high
school too, because I think alot of times kids are like I
don't understand why we go towork, I don't.
You know who cares about X, yand Z, but when you who are like
I know in real life I'm anintrovert, I'm pretty quiet, but
as soon as I get in front ofkids, it's like a whole
different thing, because youhave to keep their attention and
kids learn from teachers andclasses that they have fun in
and they feel like they can bekind of their like fun extra
(19:50):
selves too.
So I really love that andappreciate that.
Their like fun extra selves too.
So I really love that andappreciate that.
So what role do assessments andwe're not just talking about
tests, right, like I thinksometimes people think social
studies and they're like, oh,multiple choice tests, but
there's so many different waysto assess kids.
So what role do assessments andthese real world connections
(20:10):
play in tailoring civicsinstruction to meet the needs of
individual students?
VerGeshia Washington (20:17):
The first thing I think of are like the
scenarios, just them.
Like you said, it's not aboutmultiple choice and just knowing
the dates and the where and thefacts, just understanding the
why behind it.
Again, it was just why I try tohave it relate to them, and a
(20:40):
lot of our tests are about thescenarios, it's the reason
behind it.
So I don't focus a lot on thishappened on this date and this
person did.
I mean, they have to know someof that.
But I think it's important tounderstand the scenarios and, in
order for them to understandthat, like I said earlier,
(21:01):
helping them to relate to it.
So then when they see thescenario or when they're reading
the question, then they're like, okay, well, when she said that
this happened, okay, that's whyquestion.
Then they're like, okay, well,when she said that this happened
, okay, that's why.
So, I think, just helping themunderstand the.
(21:21):
I like to paint a picture.
I guess is what I'm trying tosay.
You know, I like to have themsee the story, versus seeing
words and numbers.
And I think when they see thetest in front of them and that
kind of, I hope the picturecomes back and they can kind of
see the flow of everything, ifthat makes sense.
Liz Evans (21:38):
So what it sounds like is you're not assessing
them on what they remember, likedates.
You're assessing them on whatthey know, and that is such a
positive way to assess studentsbecause it really allows them to
explain the why, and I thinkthat that sets kids up for
success, no matter their levelin school, whether they're
(22:01):
elementary or high school.
It allows them to again justshow what they know, and that is
such a powerful thing.
VerGeshia Washington (22:08):
Yeah, and it's unfortunate sometimes they
don't do well on the test, butif I ask them what happened,
they can tell me everything.
So that is always my goal.
I want them to know theinformation.
I don't want them to just dowell on the test, because that's
just memorization and I don'tlike that.
I don't like that.
(22:29):
But I want to make sure theyknow the information and they
can at least tell me.
So you know, they may not havedone well on the test, but they
learned something and that Imean.
I think that's all that matters.
Rhonda Watton (22:47):
Well, and when we memorize things then we forget
them, like our brain can hold somuch Right, yeah, and I would
agree a lot with what wasmentioned.
Agree a lot with what wasmentioned, and I think sometimes
your experiential learning oremotional learning is what
really sticks with you.
I can, I know one of theseventh grade teachers.
They do a lot of.
They have, well, a fakeguillotine, but like you know,
(23:09):
they do that whole thing withthe French Revolution and the
kids come to me every yearremembering that and like they
can tell you a lot about theevents leading up to it and
after that.
And I think sometimes when youhave activities like that, you
know it's they, like you said,they don't remember everything,
but they know the big picture ofall of it.
And you know, I like to do alot of role play and simulations
(23:32):
.
In fact, we're doing theConstitutional Convention
(24:02):
tomorrow where they're, all youknow, a historical identity and
you know, and then can becreative, because in the past
kids come with different voicesand all different theatricals
and some of the conversationsreally are pretty deep and go
further than what I think youcould do in a textbook or that I
could do just running through aGoogle Doc.
So I like to have that type ofinteraction in class.
I know our assessments too havechanged, like you were saying,
in five years.
It's varied because I've beenteaching for over 30 years and
(24:24):
we've always done tests andwe've always had multiple choice
and not necessarily true andfalse, but short answer, that
kind of stuff.
And we still to some degree docontent checks.
But for the most part, whenyou're looking at their
summative grades you're lookingat more open-ended, like when
they learn the content, what canthey do with it.
So you know, like in one of theunits we have them create a
(24:45):
newspaper for Westward Expansion.
So again, taking a look at someof the main ideas, was Westward
expanse and justifiable?
They create a, a politicalcartoon, um, you know, and add
some of all those components toit.
We've done artifact boxes forthe revolutionary war.
So they have to think of whatare five artifacts that if you
(25:07):
were to kind of summarize therevolutionary war under the
essential question of you know,how, would you know, how did the
Continental Army beat theBritish?
You know we have them focus ona vocabulary word, an event, a
person, a particular battle, andthose are all of their choice.
And then they have to come upwith what artifact would match
(25:29):
with that.
And again, it's challenging forsome because some of the kids
really are like just give me thetest, I want to just do the
test and that's it.
But I think this is where it itdigs a little deeper and not
only are they learning butthey're learning from each other
as well, which I think is kindof a cool thing.
And then, like one pagers we'vebeen doing those recently too
(25:51):
where again it's it's theirsummative for the unit, so they
have to be able to identify thepeople.
I mean, they're doing all thethings I think you normally
would do on a test, but they'redoing it in their own creative
way and the way that their brainworks and remembering it I do,
I use traveling trunks from acouple organizations for
Revolutionary War and the CivilWar, so they're able to, you
(26:15):
know, put on the jackets or holdthe cartridge box or whatever
artifacts may come with thoseboxes.
And you know we have theconversations about it, but I've
done raft writing with onewhere they come with many,
especially with the civil war.
So they have, you know, maybethey have a shoe or they have
(26:35):
the cartridge box and they haveto the raft.
Writing is the R is for role, ais audience, f is the format and
T is topic.
So again, they have a lot ofvoice and choice in how they,
you know, maybe they take thatshoe and they think that shoe um
was on, you know, a battle induring Gettysburg and it was on
(26:59):
the foot of you know, whoever itmight have been there, you know
pick it or whatnot, and um, youknow, and they have to do a
written piece so they can do itbased on um.
You know, maybe they're goingto do a diary entry, maybe
they're going to write a poem.
So how they present it again isreally up to them.
So one other option that I notall schools offer this, but we
(27:23):
do a Washington DC trip too,which is like we don't do a test
on it or an assessment on it,but certainly we go in October
where students are able to buildon that then throughout the
year or reflect on where they'vebeen, what they've done for
those students that haveattended.
Liz Evans (27:38):
When I say we got the cream of the crop for teachers,
I truly mean it, because theseare the things like I want my
daughter doing right, and mynieces and nephews, because it
isn't just sit and get and thenspit it out on a test, it is
let's do stuff with it.
And I love that you said studentvoice and choice, because at
the end of the day, as long asthey can show you what they know
(28:00):
, however, they do that throughtheir writing is such a powerful
thing and it allows them to besuccessful in a manner that
works best for them.
And I think that that is suchan underrated thing and so many
teachers do it.
And I wish I mean I do not havethe solution for standardized
tests.
I wish I did, but these are thekinds of things that make
(28:23):
standardized tests, I think, somuch easier for kids because
they're able to kind of expand.
So when they have to go down,sometimes it's a little easier
to kind of expand.
So when they have to go down,sometimes it's a little easier.
This has been amazing andwonderful, so I'm going to ask
one final question what is onehope that you have for how
(28:47):
differentiated civicsinstruction can impact students
or communities too.
And Virgesha, I will start withyou.
VerGeshia Washington (28:50):
The first thing that came to my mind just
teachers, I guess, having havingaccess to the lessons so that
they can teach them to thestudents, because sometimes,
especially a new teacher, it'snot.
You don't know what to do orwhere to look or where to begin,
and so and that's somethingelse I had in mind with the
(29:11):
lessons is what?
If you know, I'm a new teacher,I don't know what to do, where
to start.
I wanted to be sure that theteacher could have a foundation.
I guess I think that's my hopeis that teachers have a
foundation, have somewhere tostart at least, so that they
don't feel lost and, you know,they can build from there.
Rhonda Watton (29:38):
Well, definitely, I think, through this um, this
process of creating thiscurriculum, um, you have a huge
toolbox there that have many,many really creative interactive
ideas and, um, like I wasmentioned before, you can take
it, you can tweak it.
Um, you know, they're prettystraightforward lessons with
everything linked Certainly agreat place for some new ideas,
(29:59):
instead of some of those onlinesources that you go and pay for
a lesson here or there.
These are free and I think someof these lessons are just as
good, if not better, if notbetter.
As far as students lookingforward, you know, ultimately,
as citizens, I would like to see, you know, the students become
active in their communities,productive, become effective
(30:23):
citizens, where they'reknowledgeable about the history
and background of our countryand you know, kind of where, how
we've gotten to this point.
And then also, you know, to getout there and exercise your
right to vote, exercise, youknow, that type of going and
working in your communities.
You know, I always tell them Isaid you want to get out there
(30:45):
and vote.
You don't want to be the grumpyguy and the and the lazy boy
that complains about everything.
You got to get out there and dosomething about it.
And you know, and I just thinkthrough some of these activities
that they can get in school andsome of the opportunities that
they might have, that hopefullyyou know, through service
learning or projects as well,that they get a taste of that
(31:07):
and continue into adulthood.
Liz Evans (31:11):
Thank you, and thank you both so much for your
expertise, for your incrediblelessons.
I have been a civic educatorfor over two decades and this
project has honestly been one ofmy favorites, and working with
you and the other members of thecohort has genuinely been one
(31:31):
of the honors of my lifetime.
So thank you so much.
Listeners I will put.
I know that lessons werementioned.
I will make sure that those goin our show notes, but thank you
both so much for your time, foryour energy and for everything
you do for civic education.
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