Don’t Get Me Started! How Action Civics Grabbed Me

Four years ago I organized a TEDx event, a day of talks by Chicago teachers, to give them more voice in discussions about education. Teachers applied to speak, sending sample brief videos to the committee that was putting the event together. One intriguing submission was from Elizabeth Robbins, a Chicago high school history teacher. Her talk at the event was more than intriguing. Elizabeth described how her students researched issues that mattered to them. One group was deeply concerned about date violence. They reviewed school curriculum on the issue and, dissatisfied with what they found, created and field-tested their own lessons. They presented these to the Board of Education and the Chicago Public Schools CEO and got their curriculum approved for use in the city’s high schools.

This story was a gut-hitter. It was so obviously powerful, so transforming for the students, that I had to learn more. I visited Elizabeth’s classroom — repeatedly, to see how their latest project was going (on Illinois’ referral of teens to adult court for serious crimes, a practice the state legislature did ultimately end). I began finding organizations like the Mikva Challenge in Chicago that promoted this kind of teaching and learning. I read some of the insightful books on the approach (favorites: Ben Kirshner’s Youth Activism in an Era of Education Inequality, Meira Levinson’s No Citizen Left Behind, Brian Schultz’s Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, and the Mikva Challenge lesson guide, Issues to Action). People referred me to more and more schools and classrooms where student inquiry and action were happening. I hung out with the student after-school Social Justice League at Alcott College Prep High School, guided at that time by English teacher Heather Van Benthuysen, as they worked to improve the school culture and strengthen the student body’s involvement in important issues. And I repeatedly asked myself, “How had I missed this for so long?” It seemed so essential for creating a context and purpose for learning of all kinds, in all subjects.

So what do we obsessive language-oriented people do in such a circumstance? We write books. That’s how From Inquiry to Action came to be.

I’m not accustomed to touting the books I write. But I’m especially proud of this one for a couple of reasons. First, it’s built around the rich stories of great teachers, committed young people, and cool classrooms –

  • Elizabeth’s, of course, then at Hancock High School
  • Fifth grade teachers Jen Cody, Elizabeth Cullin, and Lori McGarry at Park Forest Elementary School in State College PA
  • High school history teacher Jean Klasovsky at Farragut Career Academy, Chicago
  • Seventh grade humanities teacher Francesca Peck’s and math teacher Carrie Moy’s Peacekeepers, at Polaris Charter Academy, Chicago
  • Biology teacher Marnie Ware’s ecology club at Prosser Career Academy, Chicago
  • Art teacher Mauricio Pineda at Reilly School, Chicago
  • Math teacher Brad Latimer at Science Leadership Academy, Philadelphia
  • And English teacher Heather Van Benthuysen at Alcott College Prep in Chicago.
  • Plus extensive help from Jill Bass, Chief Education Officer at the Mikva Challenge.

Second, the social and political turmoil in this country right now shows how badly we need citizens who know how to improve elements of their community that aren’t working well, rather than grow cynical, feel helpless, and blame people who look different from them. The Carnegie report, The Civic Mission of Schools, reminds us that public schools in America are intended to create that citizenry. We do it not by telling kids what to do or believe, but by guiding them to identify issues they care about, research them, and act to advocate and address them. That way, they learn how to take responsibility and act thoughtfully. From Inquiry to Action is intended to help teachers help young people start doing it.

Of course, I’d like teachers to buy the book. But even more I want them to take up this wonderful work. As Elizabeth Robbins titled her talk, “Young people are the NOW.”

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Civic Action in Schools

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By Steve Zemelman, Director, IL Writing Project; author, “From Inquiry to Action;” co-author, “Subjects Matter” & “Best Practice;” Restorative Justice advisor

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