Teaching Civics at Home | Resources
Parents in Washington State were thrown for a loop this spring when schools were shuttered for the remainder of the 2019–20 school year to help stop the spread of COVID-19. As we approach June, many parents and teachers are turning to thoughts of summer and the winding down of the school year. But if you are still looking for some final “stay-at-home” educational opportunities for your student or are seeking to prevent learning loss over the summer, civics education is a great way to keep their gears turning.
One place to find online open education resources aligned to Washington State learning standards is the Washington Hub of the Open Educational Resources Commons (Washington OER). Washington OER collects educational materials vetted and curated by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. It is searchable by subject, learning standard and education level. In the wake of COVID-19, content experts have also curated links to external educational materials for teachers, students and parents. Lesson suggestions: Injustice at Home | The Japanese-American Experience of the World War II Era and Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment.
iCivics is the go-to online destination for civics education resources for middle and high school aged students. Founded in 2009 by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, this award winning website has seen 10 million downloads and has been used by 6 million students in all 50 states. Free access to the full library of iCivics infographics, lesson plans and games requires account registration. When COVID-19 sent parents desperately looking for engaging materials to keep their kids busy, iCivics developed their #ShelterInPlay program that incorporates iCivics games into a weekly “quest for civics knowledge.” Lesson suggestions: Shedding Light on a State of Emergency and Get Counted! (The U.S. Census). Game suggestions: Do I have a Right? and Court Quest.
Two other websites dedicated exclusively to civics education are the Bill of Rights Institute (BRI) and the Civics Renewal Network. BRI has an excellent Current Events Resource Library, including COVID-19 news stories that demonstrate freedom of the press and citizen juries principles. BRI curricula are intended for middle and high school students and include lessons such as African Americans in the Gilded Age and Liberty and Security in Modern Times. The Civics Renewal Network is an alliance of organizations that provide free online civics education resources for grades K-12. Participating organizations include NewseumED which focuses on the First Amendment and media literacy skills, and What So Proudly We Hail which teaches civics and other subject material through classic American stories, speeches and songs.
Two final multi-disciplinary resources worth checking out are PBS LearningMedia and Wide Open School. PBS LearningMedia is a comprehensive state standards aligned resource with videos, lesson plans, interactive lessons and more for elementary to high school students. The Civics and Government resources run the gamut from a police reform collection with interactive lessons to a Teaching the Constitution collection.
Wide Open School is a direct response to the COVID-19 school closures. Editors at Common Sense, the go-to media resource for parents, have partnered with a group of 25 organizations to curate top-notch online educational resources for at home learning. Wide Open School’s curated civics resources are primarily geared toward students in grades 6–12, but there are wonderful resources here for parents and children of all ages, including tips and tools for teaching students with special needs and learning differences, English-language learner materials and timely life skills lessons such as hand-washing, social distancing, and social-emotional learning. (SC)
