Opportunities to Promote the "Civic Good"

by Jason M. Artman, Illinois Civics Teacher Mentor

Jason M. Artman is a Social Studies teacher and Head Coach of Boys and Girls Soccer at Mendota High School. Jason serves as a civic mentor for LaSalle, Marshal and Putnam counties. In this guest blog post, Jason reflects on how his role as a civic educator shapes his larger identity and interactions in his community.

I guess if you believe in something enough and make it a part of everything you do, that becomes a part of your character, your identity. As the only civics teacher in a small school in a small community, what I do in the classroom is a large part of the identity I carry among my students and their parents, whether I am in the classroom, on the soccer field, or even in the local grocery store. Wearing many hats in a small community gives me the opportunity to see my students as many others may not. In addition to being a teacher and a coach, I am an active band parent, as my two daughters are proud members of our marching and concert bands.

Student involvement in extracurricular and co-curricular activities naturally produces students who grow accustomed to being a part of something larger than themselves. It builds a community of diverse participants and learners. My soccer players know that in order for the team to succeed, they have to share the ball, move together, defend together, and work toward a common goal, all despite another group of people actively working against them. Soccer adds the unique element that it is played nearly everywhere in the world, and different regions have different ways of playing. When I have students from diverse backgrounds (which is nearly always), they usually come to our team accustomed to one way of playing and have to be open to new ways of doing things. Our band students also know if all the sections, despite their different notes and tones, do not work together, they fail to sound appealing; if one person marches out of step, he can literally bring the entire performance to a halt.

Too often in today’s world we hear about sports dividing people; whether one person’s protest is another person’s disrespect is not the greater picture. The greater civic good and opportunity for civic discussion and action comes from the teamwork and membership that individuals share when they bond together despite any differences they have. That is our opportunity for civic action and civic learning. For me, it comes in the classroom. It comes on the soccer field. And it comes in the flute section.