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The Grade 8 Civics course has students exploring these questions:
What does a good government look like?
What rights and responsibilities do members of a society have to the larger group?
How can individuals in society make change?
How and why has our system of government changed over time?
What do students need to know to be informed consumers of news?
We begin this course examining how the framers of the Constitution used big ideas of rights and human nature to design a government they felt met the needs of the time after the Revolution. Then we will explore the essential features of our Constitutional system, including separation of powers, checks and balances, and clearly defined rights. We will look at times when different groups of people advocated for the federal government to expand its definition of who was a citizen and how deserves equal protection under the law. Lastly the course is present-centered. There are lessons on media literacy, bias and trustworthy sources. In addition, students will experience a civics project, where they identify a community issue they think it is important for us to work on, and develop effective advocacy strategies.
Reading, writing, presentation and research skills are integrated into each course. Note taking, text annotation and other skills essential to success in high school social studies classes are woven into the class throughout the year.
Civics Action Project
Civics Action Project
The Civics Action Project will take place in the second half of the year. Groups of students will select an issue that is important to them and practice using their democracy to try to shape policy around that issue. Unlike a community service project, Action Civics challenges students to make a lasting impact on their issue. For example, students working on a service project might adopt a park and keep it clean for a month, but in an Civics Action Project, students would advocate for a line item in the town’s budget for regular cleanings.
In Phase 1 of the project, teams select their general topic, then research current conditions, root causes, and influential groups/individuals. They will also set a tentative policy goal and present to their classmates for feedback.
In Phase 2, teams finalize their policy goal and design a campaign to make it happen. Within the time constraints of the project, students will implement their campaign as much as they can. It’s often a much bigger and more complex job than they expect. While not every team will accomplish their policy goal - hey, it doesn’t always happen for adults, either! - every team will learn about the ups and downs of making change and get more comfortable interacting with adults as fellow community members.
The Civics Fair will be in April, and community members are invited to come see what we have learned!
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