Classroom Resources to #Teach2020

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist

Last week, Dr. Shawn Healy, Director of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation's Democracy Program, hosted the third in a series of spring webinars designed to connect educators with content and resources to #teach2020. Among the topics Dr. Healy addressed were a retrospective of the Illinois primary, remaining primaries and caucuses, the coming veepstakes, and various electoral college scenarios in November. Did you miss it? Educators are welcome to access a recording of the one hour webinar.

Registration is now open for our next webinar on May 12th from 3:45-4:30 will examine, “Does the Progressive Tax Add Up for Illinois?” In this session, Dr. Healy will examine the referendum on the Illinois Fair Tax, an amendment to the Illinois Constitution that would change the state income tax system from a flat tax to a graduated income tax.


Throughout our #Teach2020 series, we concluded each webinar with resources and ideas for teachers to use in their classroom to support the proven practices of civic education in this teachable moment. We collected these ideas in our new Election 2020 Toolkit which provides classrooms with content to help understand:
  • Why Vote?
  • Why Engage Students in Voting and Elections?
  • The Nomination Process
  • The General Election and Electoral College
  • Initiatives and Referendums
  • Information Literacy Related to Elections
  • Researching Candidates
  • Historical Contexts of Elections
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Elections
There are also a plethora of ideas and strategies in the toolkit to support the use of current and societal issue discussions, simulations of democratic processes, and service-learning during the election season.

What are you doing to #Teach2020? Please comment below. Together, we can prepare students for college, career, and civic life.

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