The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has teamed with the Civic Learning Council and the National Constitution Center to provide this professional development opportunity on resources and tools for helping students engage in discussions of controversial issues.

Download the video file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jefvmk5tv6t0zoa/OSPI_CLC_CIVICS-BridgeTheDivide-FINAL.mp4?dl=0

In Washington, a stand-alone high school civics course is required by a new state law.

A statewide sub-committee of OSPI's Social Studies Cadre and Walter Parker, Professor of Social Studies Education, University of Washington, drafted this list of resources in hopes that it will be useful to schools needing to create such a course or update an existing course. It is a work-in-progress.

Grounded in the belief that students need to explore climate change for themselves, the high school-level Climate Project course from the OER Project equips students with the knowledge and skills to take action. The course aims to understand the climate crisis by examining facts, impacts, and solutions, fostering civic action, education, and career readiness, and promoting constructive discussion. Through an inquiry-based approach, students interrogate diverse sources, build data and digital literacy skills, and engage with timely materials. Flexible in design, the course can be taught as a comprehensive semester program or through standalone lessons, culminating in projects ranging from climate-focused careers to community civic action.

It is important to educate future voters about the issues, processes, and impacts of voting in elections. These resources include links to lesson plans, videos, games, and printables to assist teachers K—12 to promote civic participation and voting.

These lessons are part of the Reform to Equal Rights K-12 Disability History Curriculum from Emerging America, part of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium.

An introduction helps establish safe and respectful study of disability history. In lesson 1, students the Question Formulation Technique helps develop questions. Then a presentation highlights disabled advocates across American history. In lesson 2, students research the causes, goals and methods, successes and setbacks of the Disability Rights Movement. Students present research with multiple media options: talk with slides, podcast, video, essay, or poster. Lesson 4 guides a genuinely inclusive civic engagement project.

Grades 6-12 - Intro Lesson: Introduction to Disability History
Grades 9-12 - Lesson 1: The Roots of the Disability Rights Movement
Grades 9-12 - Lesson 2: Research and Share Disability Rights History
Grades 9-12 - Inclusive Civics Project - Disability Rights

Reform to Equal Rights uses 250+ primary sources. Most are in the public domain. Many others come from public online collections. For the rest, Emerging America secured permission so that teachers can use all these sources in creative ways. https://www.emergingamerica.org/disability-history-curriculum.
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The Duty & Service module from the Supporting Readiness through Vital Civic Empowerment curriculum, focuses on how individuals are important to establishing a strong community, how civic identity promotes civic engagement, and how to advance change through civic action. There are 15 lessons in this module that include video, student-facing slides, a teacher toolkit, and handouts. The lessons are aligned with the C3 Framework, National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) Core Principles of Media Literacy Education, and Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Social and Emotional Learning Competencies.

Educators may modify the materials to suit the specific needs of their students. This may include adapting the
materials for various settings and purposes, provided that such changes are made within the scope of the specific educational use.
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The Dialog & Respect module, from the Supporting Readiness through Vital Civic Empowerment (SRVCE) curriculum, focuses on exploring current issues from multiple perspectives, with respect for people’s lived experiences, and reflecting on how civil discourse strengthens democracy.

The 15 lessons include video, student-facing slides, a teacher toolkit and handouts. Resources are aligned with the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards, National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) Core Principles of Media Literacy Education, and Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Social and Emotional Learning Competencies.

SRVCE blends inquiry-based civic learning, media literacy education, and exploration of public service careers to prepare students to be active citizens and thrive in the workforce. All SRVCE materials are free. These materials are intended solely for educational purposes. Educators may modify the materials to suit the specific needs of their students. This may include adapting the materials for various settings and purposes, provided that such changes are made within the scope of the specific educational use.
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This unit of study consisits of 5 activities to investigate the effects of Native American Boarding Schools on the individual, the family, and the community. Students will analyze before and after pictures of indigenous students, primary source comments given by boarding school survivors, and historic newspapers to asertain attitudes towards Native Americans during this time period. Middle school students will conclude with a short writing assignment. Secondary students will prepare an essay that relates the attitudes of the time to the practices in Native American Boarding Schools. This is an emotionally difficult subject and special care should be taken if you have Native students in your classrooms, as this topic is traumatic for families who have survived this experience. See Multicultural Considerations before beginning.