Teachers | iCivics

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Lesson Plan

Rule of Law

This skit-driven lesson explores the six factors that make up the rule of law and how they protect individual rights and freedoms in our day to day lives. Students then connect the rule of law to…
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Lesson Plan

Step One: We've Got Issues

In the first of nine steps, students explore two county issues you have chosen. They vote to decide which issue the class will focus on for its “County Solutions” project.This resource was created…
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Lesson Plan

Step Two: The News and You

Having chosen an issue for the project, students analyze two news articles about the issue. They apply the “5W + H” method in order to learn how to gather information from a news article. Using what…
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Lesson Plan

Step Three: Who You Gonna Call?

To begin thinking about possible solutions for the issue they read about in Step Two, students learn about the difference between individual, group, and government action. They analyze examples, then…
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Step Four: Working With Websites

To increase their knowledge about both the chosen issue and the three types of actors they studied in Step Three, students examine three websites of governmental and non-governmental organizations…
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Lesson Plan

Step Five: All About Public Policy

Having built a foundation of knowledge about the chosen issue in Steps One through Four, students now learn the term “public policy.” Students identify government action and regulation as the two…
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Lesson Plan

Step Six: Real World Policies

Building on the concepts of public policy, government action, and regulation from Step Five, students analyze real-world examples of government actions and regulations. Students get a taste of the…
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Lesson Plan

Step Seven: Brainstorm a-Brewin'

Armed with knowledge about the chosen issue and about how public policy works from Steps One through Six, students brainstorm a public policy solution for the issue the class has been studying.…
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Step Eight: Positions, Please!

Students summarize their research and their proposed solution in one coherent document that describes what the issue is, what’s being done, and how the proposed public policy will help solve the…
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Lesson Plan

Step Nine: Action Campaign

Now that the research is done and students have articulated a proposed public policy solution for the chosen issue, they learn how to gather support. Students learn 12 different campaign and…
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Lesson Plan

Step 1: Change the World?

Kick off this project-based unit by asking students to examine what it means to make change in the world. Students think about why people are motivated to advocate for change, what kinds of issues…
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Step 2: Find What You Need

Do your students breeze through internet search results, easily weeding out irrelevant results and finding exactly what they need? No? This step offers a detailed look at how to search for and find…
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Lesson Plan

Step 3: Become an Expert

In this step, students read and annotate the sources they identified in Step 2. The lesson discusses investigative reading and offers strategies for staying organized when faced with a large amount…
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Step 4: Consider the Context

No issue exists in a vacuum, so in this step, students examine the factors that contribute to the circumstances surrounding their issue to gain a deeper understanding of the issue and its interplay…
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Step 5: Identify Your Stakeholders

In this step, students figure out who’s got a stake in their issue. They learn what stakeholders are and how to identify them, as well as why the power of numbers is important and how to leverage…
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Step 6: Plan Your Attack

Armed with information and a deep understanding of their issue, students shift into action mode in this step by writing an action plan for “moving the needle” on their issue.
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Lesson Plan

Step 7: Fill the Holes

Students take a “step” back in Step 7 and identify gaps in their information: What pieces of the puzzle are still missing? What information is important to have before going on? To fill those holes,…
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Lesson Plan

Step 8: Talk It Up

To get support for an issue, you have to be able to talk about it—and in this step, students learn how to do that effectively. By developing and practicing both an elevator speech and a set of…
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Lesson Plan

Step 9: Grab People’s Attention

In this step, students get creative by developing “swag” to promote their cause. They learn principles of effective attention-grabbing that they apply to their own swag designs, including how to…
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Lesson Plan

Step 10: Make Your Pitch

In the culminating lesson, students learn how to design and deliver an effective slide presentation to gather support for their issue, create a 5-minute presentation targeted to a specific…
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