Civics with Dean - Class 5 – Mock Election

 

It doesn't get better than this - teaching Civics during a Presidential Election year!

izzit.org diligently worked on creating mock-election materials, including key terms students should know as they navigate their way through election media coverage. In addition, izzit.org provided I Voted stickers to truly emulate the voter experience. 

Since my class is in New Hampshire, I wanted to keep up with the First-in-the Nation motto, so I decided to have my class be the izzit.org Mock Election pilot. We began the class with a new Teachable Moment, "Why Reading Matters," which features economist and educator Thomas Sowell. The message I wanted the class to understand was that reading, researching, and being aware of the candidates makes citizens better informed. Rather than relying on hearsay, students (electorate) need to be self-reliant and take responsibility while performing their civic duty. I prefaced to the students that when they do the reading (research), they alone can decide devoid of other opinions or misinformation. One part of their homework was to research who they would be voting for today!

I then turned on the television and selected two channels with opposing viewpoints - the Ah, Ha moment happened! Some students heard what was important to a particular political base on one channel, and a very different perspective from the other station. Several topics were discussed as replicated from the talking points at the second presidential debate. They included:

1) Economy

2) Covid

3) Race issues

4) Foreign relations

5) 2nd Amendment (as both candidates had local ads in NH addressing this issue)

I then introduced Jeff Kelman, VP of Development at izzit.org and a well-researched expert on the 2nd Amendment. Jeff explained the Framers' intent, and further discussed the implications on both sides of the issue. My students had some focused questions, including the fact that new gun technology was never foreseen by the Framers. My students insisted that this meant the Constitution is a living document. Finally, I shared the impetus behind the 26th Amendment and that eighteen is the age to be able to vote in the United States.

As students came up to receive their ballots, vote, and return their ballot to our “voting box,” they received an I Voted sticker (see picture). After ballots were read, the class selected former Vice-President Joe Biden to win over President Trump by 6-4.

izzit.org's complete Mock Election results can be found here: https:/izzit.org/mock_election. 

Dean Graziano is the Vice-President of izzit.org. He is a multi-state, award-winning educator and former Curriculum Specialist Teacher grades 6-12 Social Studies, with over 25 years in education. He served on the Massachusetts MCAS Standard Setting Panel, and also selected by the College Board to be an Advanced Placement Reader for U.S. History. He worked on the historical inquiry model and a national presenter for ABC-Clio, a Social Studies data base company. 

In 2007, in a surprise visit to his school, he was awarded the United States Department of Educations' American Star of Teaching Award. Dean was selected as the 2017 State of New Hampshire's Extended Learning Opportunity Coordinator- of -the Year. Dean’s pilot program in Rochester, NH was singled out by NH Governor, Chris Sununu as the model for the State of N.H. Career Academies. In 2019, he developed and implemented a proposal to purchase a Mobile Classroom ( a new & remodeled 36’ RV, aka M.A.P.s) utilizing Perkins V funding, to bring CTE/WBL programming - leveling the playing field/equity for ALL NH students and spoke nationally at several ACTE Conferences on this model.

Civics with Dean – Class 3 – First Amendment & Freedom of the Press

For this week's class on the First Amendment, I was truly fortunate to have a special guest visit with us. Kim Haas is a reporter for the Union Leader, the largest newspaper in New Hampshire. I've worked with Kim for five years. (She once gave one of my ELO students an awesome opportunity – doing photography with the newspaper.)

I began with simple questions about the First Amendment. Did students know what rights are protected by it? We then zeroed in on freedom of the press due to our guest. I asked students why it was important to have freedom of the press. Kim chimed in with, "Great question. Why is it?"

Today's lesson featured the izzit.org video, Read All About It!, which explores freedom of the press. (Along with the interesting slant that Sweden was actually the first country to codify a free press in their constitution!) 

Here are some discussion questions from the Teacher's Guide that accompanies Read All About It!:

1.What are some responsibilities that come with freedom of the press?

2. Why do people or organizations suppress expression of speech or thought? 

3. How is the access to information and human advancement connected?

Another special guest, Rob Chatfield, President and CEO of izzit.org, was astounded at what the class came up with. One student mentioned that a free press provides a check on the government. Another said it provides citizens in America with the knowledge of what's really going on, without fear of reprisal.

Kim mentioned that our First Amendment freedoms come down to freedom of thought as well. Rob mentioned how these liberties matter on an every-day basis, impacting many aspects of our lives.

We talked about our individual, natural rights, our property rights, and how all these allow a person to direct their own life. How can we even discuss these rights - or issues or infringements against our other rights – if we don't have freedom of speech? Answer: we can't.

Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of our society. Of any free society.

For homework, I assigned students to take the quiz that goes with Read All About It! (Another part of the very comprehensive Teacher's Guide that accompanies the video!) The class average was 90%! (That's a successful lesson!)

Big thanks to Kim Haas for being part of our exploration of freedom of the press, and Rob Chatfield for coming to class as well!

Dean Graziano is the Vice-President of izzit.org. He is a multi-state, award-winning educator and former Curriculum Specialist Teacher grades 6-12 Social Studies, with over 25 years in education. He served on the Massachusetts MCAS Standard Setting Panel, and also selected by the College Board to be an Advanced Placement Reader for U.S. History. He worked on the historical inquiry model and a national presenter for ABC-Clio, a Social Studies data base company. 

In 2007, in a surprise visit to his school, he was awarded the United States Department of Educations' American Star of Teaching Award. Dean was selected as the 2017 State of New Hampshire's Extended Learning Opportunity Coordinator- of -the Year. Dean’s pilot program in Rochester, NH was singled out by NH Governor, Chris Sununu as the model for the State of N.H. Career Academies. In 2019, he developed and implemented a proposal to purchase a Mobile Classroom ( a new & remodeled 36’ RV, aka M.A.P.s) utilizing Perkins V funding, to bring CTE/WBL programming - leveling the playing field/equity for ALL NH students and spoke nationally at several ACTE Conferences on this model.

Civics with Dean - Class 2

 

Just short of a week after Constitution Day, we were already at class number two! 233 years ago, thirty-nine delegates met in secrecy in Philadelphia and signed a document establishing the basis of our government and way of life. But another story is the trust and “on a promise” that a bill of rights would be included into that document - after ratification and apprehension of those opposed.

My opening question to the class was, “Could you imagine in politics today either side trusting the other to carry out what was a mere agreement, a promise to include the Bill of Rights?" Suffice to say, the answers were a resounding, “NO WAY!"

So then, why were they included?

As students pondered that question, we spoke of the federalists and anti-federalists, the desire to design a central government, while also ensuring states’ rights. This list, or enumeration of these prescribed rights is really protection of those rights! As classroom discussion became more centered on how the Bill of Rights was meant to ensure that our newly formed central government WOULD NOT overstep its authority by violating them, we turned to current events (found in izzit.org archives – "Executive order to ban two social media platforms," August 2020) and pondered - what steps do you take to protect your online privacy? [Truth be told, I have a Union Leader reporter, Kim Haas, as a guest speaker next class. She will be discussing a NH case regarding social media and this was a perfect introduction for class 3.]

Realizing you start with number one sequentially; we began discussing the First Amendment. After a brief overview, students watched First Amendment, Why a Bill of Rights? izzit.org’s educational video from the minicourse, First Amendment. They were to think and respond to the following questions (From the First Amendment minicourse Discussion/Essay questions):

• Why did some of the Framers resist the idea of a bill of rights? Why did some insist it was needed? Which group do you agree with? Explain your position.
• Do you agree with the woman in the video that we often take our rights, especially our First Amendment rights, for granted? Why or why not?

Interestingly, students knew most of the Bill of Rights, perhaps not by exact number, but were truly unaware they were really protections of the rights within each amendment. In addition, reviewing the Declaration of Independence I had on the board showed students that many of the grievances against King George III (quartering of troops, excessive bail, speedy trial, etc.) could also be found in the Bill of Rights. This only solidified the passion and need to make sure these injustices would not be replicated in the new government of the United States.

The trust back then was solid. The Constitution passed on the promise that a Bill of Rights would be added. The Framers lived up to their word, and the United States got its protection of natural rights.

Next class, we'll be diving into Freedom of the Press with our reporter guest speaker!

Dean Graziano is the Vice-President of izzit.org. He is a multi-state, award-winning educator and former Curriculum Specialist Teacher grades 6-12 Social Studies, with over 25 years in education. He served on the Massachusetts MCAS Standard Setting Panel, and also selected by the College Board to be an Advanced Placement Reader for U.S. History. He worked on the historical inquiry model and a national presenter for ABC-Clio, a Social Studies data base company. 

In 2007, in a surprise visit to his school, he was awarded the United States Department of Educations' American Star of Teaching Award. Dean was selected as the 2017 State of New Hampshire's Extended Learning Opportunity Coordinator- of -the Year. Dean’s pilot program in Rochester, NH was singled out by NH Governor, Chris Sununu as the model for the State of N.H. Career Academies. In 2019, he developed and implemented a proposal to purchase a Mobile Classroom ( a new & remodeled 36’ RV, aka M.A.P.s) utilizing Perkins V funding, to bring CTE/WBL programming - leveling the playing field/equity for ALL NH students and spoke nationally at several ACTE Conferences on this model.

Civics with Dean – Class 1

Civics with Dean: This class focuses on liberty (yours), the power of the individual, and concepts of self-government. There will be an emphasis on what you need to know to be an active citizen and awareness of your rights. We will discuss certain amendments and how they IMPACT you (street law), financial literacy (can I afford that?), basics of government - information to know when you can say enough, as well as the rights and privileges you are owed! izzit* time we see how government works for us, our responsibilities, and how to get an equitable outcome for you?

More often than not, students seem to dread history and/or civics for many reasons. One reason is the voluminous amounts of reading the student must complete to “keep up” with what inevitably becomes the second reason: rote memorization of facts. Names, dates, key figures, etc. What needs to be infused in the classroom dynamic is the educator’s passion, emotions, expertise (tying the past to their understanding). In the movie Jerry Maquire, Cuba Groding, in his role as Ron Tidwell, screamed, “Show me the money!” Translated to students today, show me the relevance! With the right resources, you, the educator, will show them the money/relevance.

Civics Class 1 – Back in the Trenches (Classroom)

Syllabus – check. Notebooks, izzit pens and flash drives ready for students – check. I was ready for my first Civics class. As the 2020-2021 school year began, I started with the Pledge of Allegiance.     

While it's a traditional start to a school day, I had a hidden agenda! By the time we all got to "…and to the Republic, for which it stands…" I stopped the class.

"What is a Republic? Why is it in the Pledge?" The questioned was posed and students offered various responses. After allowing them a few awkward attempts toward to answer, I immediately started izzit.org's Teachable Moments (a short video that both gets to the point and shakes things up,) A Republic. As I looked across the classroom, students were attentive and engaged. The Teachable Moment allowed me to then reframe the question, "Why did the founders believe a republic would be better than a democracy?" Student answers became more along the lines of what our Framers intended. 

The idea of liberty was introduced, and we began to discuss individual & property rights and what liberty meant to each of them. LIBERTY was written on the whiteboard and students added their thoughts (see picture). Since a republic form of government and liberty are synonymous, I turned the class discussion to what gave our Founders the impetus, the ideals of both individual liberty & property rights, and how government serves the people. To help stimulate the conversation, I queued up another Teachable Moments, Magna Carta. This “great charter” happened over 800 years ago, but ties to the U.S. founding documents, underscoring that each document safeguards a person’s right to property. It began to help students piece the puzzle together. Great discussion and ideas were shared. 

Finally, I wrapped my class with the homework assignment - completing the First Amendment Word Games (Found in First Amendment educational video under izzit Extras). This will help students build a foundation for understanding prior to next week’s Bill of Rights, First Amendment discussion.

Bio:

Dean Graziano is the Vice-President of izzit.org. He is a multi-state, award-winning educator and former Curriculum Specialist Teacher grades 6-12 Social Studies, with over 25 years in education. He served on the Massachusetts MCAS Standard Setting Panel, and also selected by the College Board to be an Advanced Placement Reader for U.S. History. He worked on the historical inquiry model and a national presenter for ABC-Clio, a Social Studies data base company. 

In 2007, in a surprise visit to his school, he was awarded the United States Department of Educations' American Star of Teaching Award. Dean was selected as the 2017 State of New Hampshire's Extended Learning Opportunity Coordinator- of -the Year. Dean’s pilot program in Rochester, NH was singled out by NH Governor, Chris Sununu as the model for the State of N.H. Career Academies. In 2019, he developed and implemented a proposal to purchase a Mobile Classroom ( a new & remodeled 36’ RV, aka M.A.P.s) utilizing Perkins V funding, to bring CTE/WBL programming - leveling the playing field/equity for ALL NH students and spoke nationally at several ACTE Conferences on this model.

From the Homeschool Front by Colleen Hroncich...100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know

I’ve always been interested in law, history, economics, and politics. So when I saw a book titled An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know, I was immediately intrigued. By a stroke of luck, I was in Washington, DC recently when the authors were giving speaking about their book and the multimedia platform behind it.

Randy Barnett, professor at Georgetown Law and Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and Josh Blackman, professor at South Texas School of Law, developed An Introduction to Constitutional Law to innovate how constitutional law is studied.

Purchasing the book gives you access to an online library of 63 videos featuring photographs, maps, and even audio from the Supreme Court that bring the 100 cases to life. Blackman says he uses the platform to flip his classroom; the students read the chapters and watch the videos before coming to class. Then he can focus class time on discussing the importance of the decisions and really digging deep into the issues at play.

The book is roughly chronological, but it’s primarily organized around key constitutional principles, such as enumerated powers, federalism, equal protection, and specific constitutional rights. Since it includes background and supporting information for each case, the program also provides a great history and civics education.  

The authors emphasized that the book is meant to be widely accessible. While it is great for law students, it is equally valuable for high school and college students. Given our participation in speech and debate, I correctly assumed my kids would be pretty interested when I showed them the book and the video library. We’ve only just begun digging into it.

Barnett describes the book as “an overarching story [constitutional law] about 100 individual stories [the cases].” He says the best way to understand the story, which starts at the founding and continues to the present, is to learn about them in the historical context in which they were decided. 

With most Americans lacking even basic knowledge about our constitution, this program could be an important step toward improving constitutional literacy. 

PS from izzit.org – Randy Barnett is one of the Constitutional experts in our new video, Becoming Equal Under the Law, which explores how the Constitution has changed over the years to give civil rights to more people. Watch it now!

Colleen Hroncich loves that homeschooling allows her to learn right alongside her children. A published author and former policy analyst, Colleen’s favorite subjects are economics/public policy and history. She has been active in several homeschool co-ops and is a speech and debate coach.

Book Review - Inventing Freedom by Daniel Hannan (Andy Jobson)

Review – Inventing Freedom by Daniel Hannan

I like to think that one advantage of teaching is that it keeps me reading.  Some people, however, just read widely because they love it. My mother-in-law is one of those people, and she often leads me to some wonderful books. Daniel Hannan’s Inventing Freedom is one of those great finds.

Hannan, a member of the European Parliament, provides an overview of the English-speaking world (which he calls the Anglosphere) that in some ways pays homage to Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking People.  Hannan takes one volume to share his insights instead of four (a bonus for busy teachers) and focuses heavily on the reasons that one island, and its offshoots, created what we think of today as Western Civilization. Those who like to denigrate the value of that civilization will probably hate this book, but those who see the importance of principles like the rule of law, private property, personal liberty, and representative government will find much to appreciate here.   

Here’s a small sample:  “(S)mall businessmen have been the drivers of progress through the centuries.  Societies that laud martial valor, nobility, and faith tend to be less pleasant places to live than societies that value freedom, enterprise, and privacy.  The petit bourgeoisie, whom Marx so despised, have contributed more to human happiness than any number of crusaders.  And they have done so, in the main, unhonored, unthanked, and unnoticed.”  (327)

Daniel Hannan

Like Churchill, Hannan looks far back into the Anglo-Saxon period in England to trace the growth of the principles stated above.  He reminds us Americans of the debt we owe to that nation while arguing that the English colonies that eventually declared independence are perhaps the strongest example of these values. As De Tocqueville said in Democracy in America, “The American is the Englishman left to himself.”  

This does not imply that only those Caucasians of Anglo-Saxon heritage are true Americans—I always try to remind my students that our nation’s citizenship is one of the few based not on ethnicity, but on philosophy.  To be American, I would argue, means to think a certain way.  Sadly, I worry that we’re losing that unique identity as we strive to become more like continental Europe. Hannan reminds us of the value of what we’re so casually throwing away. 

An educator of 22 years, Andy Jobson has taught government, economics, and U.S. History. Currently teaching English literature at Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, GA, he’s also been an administrator, a STAR teacher twice, and taught elementary school with Teach for America. 

Great Teacher Resources – iCivics.org by Mike Siekkinen

If you’re teaching history, civics, or government, have you heard of iCivics.org? It’s great, and I use it with my students.

iCivics is a non-profit organization dedicated to reinvigorating civic learning through interactive and engaging learning resources. Founded and led by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, iCivics provides students with the tools they need for active participation and democratic action, and teachers with the materials and support to achieve this. The site has educational games that my students love playing. Games vary from having students take on the role of the President of the United States, making decisions as well as working with all the different departments in Washington, to running a law firm where students match lawyers and clients cases learning the Bill of Rights. There are also games showing what happens during a jury trial and demonstrates how local government works.

The site is free and also has loads of teacher materials. In addition to lesson plans, there’s a section on webquests covering multiple topics. Also available are entire teaching units on multiple subjects as well as access to source documents. There’s a search engine on the site where you can select your state and by standard, icivics will display which games and areas tailor specifically to your state’s standards. I encourage you to check out this free, interactive, fun and informative site that students love. I have been using this for a number of years and my students really enjoy it! It’s also available on multiple platforms (internet, IPAD's, Chromebooks, etc.) so it’s easy to get to no matter what kind of technology your school is using.

If you’ve tried iCivics, what do you think of it?

Dr. Mike Siekkinen, a retired U.S. Navy submariner, became a teacher as a second career. He teaches history at St Marys Middle School as well as Adult and Career Education at Valdosta State in Georgia.

Energy Solutions: Who Chooses? New Release Exploring the Unintended Consequences of Energy Decisions.

It's not a trick for October, it's a treat! We have another new release for you.

Check out Energy Solutions: Who Chooses?

Join Johan Norberg on another exploratory adventure about the unintended consequences of energy decisions like ethanol and fracking around the world, from Germany to the U.S.

Teachers and homeschoolers, you can select this new video as your Free Annual Video. All you need to do is create a FREE account here. 

Having a FREE membership with izzit.org allows you to receive a FREE DVD each year, which includes Table of Contents, Teacher's Guide, Discussion Questions, Quizzes and more. For each year you teach, all you need to do is provide feedback after using the video. We also provide you with access to our Student Zone, Kid Zone, Online Quizzes, Current Events, Educational Standard Alignments Tool and so much more. 


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