I teach 3rd grade and was gratified to see how many of the concepts discussed here intersect with concepts and approaches I can/do use in my classroom. 

One way I try to incorporate civic engagement in WH is to frame the inquiries around questions that have relevance to today. For example, for an inquiry on Classical Civilizations I use the question: What does it take to live in a complex society? I use that question to frame the work we do. It helps place the events in an historical context (What changed from earlier eras in history?) and is directly relevant to today (How do we manage to live in even more complex societies? What can we learn from the past on how they had to change to re-establish functioning societies?)

I'm still hung up on these new laws to prevent discussion of critical subjects.  I know I'm going to have to prepare myself to answer questions from parents who have fallen victim of this wave of anti-CRT rhetoric.  My superintendent has tackled this head on and our principal supports the teachers in our history department.  We are not changing anything, we will continue to address tough realities of history.  We're telling people who ask about CRT that we've never taught CRT and have no intention of doing so.  We can say this because "Critical Race Theory" is not a term we've even heard of until recently, but the premise of talking about racism, genocide, slavery, and all other tragic events continues on in discussions and investigations in the classroom as usual.  We've worked so hard to give students the chance and skills to dig into unfiltered history. 

I really liked to hear this discussion from two different background teachers.  

First and foremost, our students are going to be coming off a two year layoff. If we were high-level athletes that took two years off and then jumped into the gym in earnest, we would get sore and it would kick our butt for a time. Returning students are going to have much the same experience. We have to be explicit in building an inclusive class culture that makes students feel safe to contribute to our conversations, so they can invest themselves in discovery and then hopefully answer calls to action.

That is an excellent point! Compassion and gentleness as the hard topics may hit on close-to-the-bone wounds for many of our students, esp. BIPOC. We can't be reminded often enough about the need for gentleness and care as we re-enter.

Hi Everyone!

What a great conversation in today's Young Citizens Live Discussion. Here are the links shared in the chat from the session. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!  If you missed the conversation, recordings will be available tomorrow so you can watch at your leisure.

• https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/controversial-subjects-in-the-classroom#:~:text=Students%20resist%20taboo%20topics%20%2D%2D,controversial%20matters%20in%20the%20classroom
• https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/community-matters-fh-approach-advisory 
• https://education.uw.edu/sites/default/files/u284/Parker.Hanson%26Howe.response.pdf 
• https://app.education.nsw.gov.au/digital-learning-selector/LearningActivity/Card/570 
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/magazine/memory-laws.html?searchResultPosition=1 
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ta-nehisi-coates-nikole-hannah-jones.html 
• constitutioncenter.org/.../educational-resources  https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/about-this-program/ 
• https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/my-part-story-exploring-identity-united-states 
• https://education.uw.edu/sites/default/files/u284/Parker.Hanson%26Howe.response.pdf 
• app.education.nsw.gov.au/.../570 
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/magazine/memory-laws.html?searchResultPosition=1 
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ta-nehisi-coates-nikole-hannah-jones.html 
• constitutioncenter.org/.../educational-resources  
•  https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/about-this-program/ 
• www.facinghistory.org/.../my-part-story-exploring-identity-united-states 
• www.socialstudies.org/.../ncss_building_literacy_in_elementary_social_studies.pptx 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ADAY9AQm54 
• https://www.teachervision.com/teaching-strategies/classroom-management/create-a-parking-lot 
  www.facinghistory.org/.../identity-and-community 
• https://app.education.nsw.gov.au/digital-learning-selector/LearningActivity/Card/570 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coqMbfWJKQs 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfhpZiH1S5M 

Curtis Greeley that's an excellent point! I think it applies to academics as well as social and emotional learning. My end-of-year sophomores definitely felt "younger' than in a normal year. We will have some adjusting to do!

Thank you all for attending today's live discussion. If you're a high school teacher and would like to know more about the social studies elective course "Introduction to Intelligence and National Security Studies" please take a look at the Standards, the Teacher Notes, and my first introductory video for teachers embarking on this journey in Georgia: https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Pages/Social-Studies-Introduction-to-Intelligence-and-US-Security-Studies.aspx 

Thank you LAMESHA CRAFT ! Your Live Discussion was wonderful. Your conversation with Nate and Linda was so enriching. There are so many ideas we can incorporate in the new school year!