Some General Lesson Outlines for the First Four Weeks of Generation Citizen

Some General Lesson Outlines for the first four weeks of Generation Citizen

(work in progress)

Week 1 (4 days): Introduction to Action Civics and GC/Narrowing a Focus Issue
Objectives:
· Define action civics
· Explain the purpose/mission of GC
· Define Focus Issue
· Define citizenship
· Make connections to US Curriculum (Constitution, government, etc.)
· Apply GC to personal lives and current events
Essential Questions:
1. How can young people participate on a state and national level? (Give examples)
2. How will Generation Citizen help young people participate civically?
3. ly the principles of US government and the Constitution to analyze rticipation?
4. What are the rights and responsibilities of an effective citizen?
Resources:

· NBC: Making a Diff

erence
· The Power of One
· History wiki: past projects
· The Change Agent
· PBS: The New Heroes http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/
· Citizenship Activities: 1.1
· Levels and Branches of Government Scavenger Hunt
Outcomes:
· Frayer Model: Action Civics
· Mark up (Word, crocodoc,) and summarize GC Mission Statement and Summarize

http://crocodoc.com/0E1ZcoR

· Mind Map: Focus Issue
· Grievances Writing Assignment - Dana Marie
· Case Study - The New Heroes: http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/ (SEE LESSON PLAN)
Week 2 (2 days): Choosing an Issue
Objectives:
· Identify voting processes
· Define lobbying
· Lobby for issues
· Choose an issue
Essential Questions:
1. What are the different ways of decision making?
2. Why is our issue significant/important?
Resources:
· Flow chart of GC steps in the process -
Week 3: Grassroots Movements/Grassroots Advocacy
Objectives:
· Define grassroots advocacy
· Give examples of grassroots movements from history
· Evaluate the successes and failures of previous movements
Essential Questions:
1. What failures and successes contributed to major movements of change in the US and around the world?
2. How do you evaluate whether or not a movement is a success?
3. How did people in these movements respond to and change as a result of these failures?
4. How can this debate inform your own experience working with GC?
Resources:
Week 4: Formulating an Action Plan
Objectives:
· Define goals of the project
· Identify the steps in a successful action plan
· Describe the action plan
Essential Questions:
1. What is your specific role in the project? What products will you contribute?
2. How does your role fit into the larger picture?
3. What are the benchmarks and time frame?
4. How will we measure our success?
5. How will we respond to our failures?
Resources:
Weeks 5-11: Work on Action Plan
Objectives:
· Identify what you already know and what you need to know about your issue
· Evaluate sources for reliability and bias
· Collect, evaluate and site reliable sources
· Summarize information
· Identify relevant information
· Apply information to specific action plan
· Identify different formats for presentation
· Identify community resources
Essential Questions:
1. Why should we evaluate different sources?
2. How can we identify reliable and appropriate sources?
3. How are we taking action? Why this particular plan?
4. Is our plan sustainable? Can it be continued in the future?
Resources:
**Use the following depending on your project**
· Mobilizing others
· Writing that persuades
· Getting media attention
· Learning from an expert
· Lobbying for our issue
· Effective public speaking
· Opinion pieces
· Influencing decision makers
· Social media
Week 12: Reflection
Objectives:
· Identify problem
· Identify process of addressing the problem
· Identify solution/action plan
· Evaluate the successes and failures
· Apply skills to other situations
· Identify learned skills
Essential Questions:
1. Did this process change your mind at all about your issue? In what ways?
2. What other things could you have done to deal with this issue?
3. Looking back, what would you change about the process?
4. Looking forward, how will you apply your new knowledge and skills?
Resources: