Illinois Civics Hub Newsletter | |
A newsletter for Illinois teachers to support the implementation of the Illinois middle and high school civics course requirements and K–12 social science standards. | |
Exploring the Implications of Last Term's Blockbuster Supreme Court Cases with the Constitutional Democracy Project
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
1:00 pm- 2:30 pm
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Join the Constitutional Democracy Project for an engaging and informative 90-minute Zoom session on exploring the implications of last term's blockbuster Supreme Court cases. Delve into the most impactful decisions shaping the landscape of the administrative state, the status and implications of presidential immunity, the big gun cases, and much more! An expert panel of constitutional scholars will dissect significant decisions that are shaping the legal landscape of our nation. Throughout this virtual event, explore the implications and repercussions of several high-profile cases that have captured the nation's attention.
Presenters:
- Carolyn Shapiro, Illinois Tech Chicago-Kent College of Law
- Christopher Schmidt, Illinois Tech Chicago-Kent College of Law
- Steven Schwinn, UIC Law
Reserve your spot now and be part of this enriching and enlightening legal exploration. This Zoom session is open to the public, so feel free to share the invitation with friends, family, and colleagues who might be interested in this thought-provoking legal journey.
A zoom link will be provided upon registration. You must register to attend.
Register Here
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ICSS Fall Conference—Friday, October 11, 2024, Harper College
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Navigating Controversial Topics in Today’s Digital World
The Illinois Council for the Social Studies conference provides opportunities to contribute to the professional dialogue through session presentations and networking with colleagues across and beyond Illinois. ICSS invites presentations from all areas of social studies, particularly sessions that explore one or more of these areas of immediate interest.
The ICSS Fall Conference engages practicing PK-12 social studies teachers, preservice teachers, university faculty, social studies researchers, and concerned citizens. Participants will explore a variety of topics and sessions that are pertinent to social studies students and teachers in the field across grade levels and social studies content areas.
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Proposal deadline: Sunday, August 18, 2024 @ 11:59 pm
- Proposal acceptance status date: Friday, August 30, 2024
- Conference date: Friday, October 11, 2024
- Conference location: Harper College, Palatine, Illinois
Visit the ICSS webiste for more information
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Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center Hosts Intergenerational Brunch |
llinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and 3G Chicago invite you to join Holocaust Survivors and their families for brunch at the Museum. All ages are welcome! Registration includes brunch, children's activities, docent-led tour, and reservations for virtual reality & hologram exhibitions.
There is no cost to attend, but registration is required no later than August 28.
Reserve tickets online
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Back to School Elementary Webinar with iCivics |
Kickstart the school year with iCivics! As you prepare to welcome students back into the classroom. Join a free webinar on August 22, 2024, from 7:00–8:00 p.m. ET to explore engaging election resources, civic lessons, and other exciting updates to help you inspire the next generation.
Register for the Webinar
Natacha Scott, iCivics Director of Educator Engagement, will guide you through:
- An overview of our election resources and support for teaching elections;
- An introduction to our nonpartisan, standards-aligned instructional materials; and
- An exclusive preview of yet-to-be-released resources for teaching digital literacy
Additionally, participants will get a tour of the new iCivics Education website, designed to provide a more user-friendly experience and launch just days before the webinar.
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Exploring Immigration with the National Issues Forum |
Immigration is one of the most pivotal issues our country faces—and one of the most complex. But very few Americans have had the chance to learn about it and weigh the country’s choices in a civil, nonpartisan setting. That’s where an NIF online forum on immigration can help.
Join us for a three-hour workshop designed to help NIF moderators and conveners conduct online forums using the new Everyone’s In (EI) interactive format.
Not familiar with EI? Watch this short video.
The EI Immigration Workshop will be held on Wednesday, August 14, 1:00-4:00 EDT / 10:00-1:00 PDT.
You can register to attend this free Zoom session below.
The Immigration workshop will:
- Review the goals and design of EI forums
- Review the newly-revised, updated NIF immigration materials
- Provide detailed information on setting up polls in Zoom and using them in your forums.
- Include chances to practice moderating using the EI format
- Offer opportunities to share ideas for leading productive, deliberative conversations on immigration
REGISTER
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Common Sense Education Recommends FREE Tools to support visual design, feedback, and digital literacy |
Common Sense Selections contains the very best of the tools hand-picked and reviewed using an independent rating criteria and rubric to save you some precious hours of your time. Here are three free tools that can help with visual design, feedback/assessment, and digital literacy:
Canva for Education (Grades K–12): Not only is it free for educators, but you can use Canva to cut down the time it takes to create materials for your classroom. Plus, it's fun! Create and collaborate on beautiful interactive docs, presentations, videos, websites, and more. Pick from thousands of ready-made templates specifically for education, seamlessly personalize them, and look like a true design professional.
Writable (Grades 3–12): This program centralizes feedback for teachers and scaffolds the writing process for students. Notably, they've unveiled an updated suite of AI-powered tools that provide ideas for writing prompts, suggestions for feedback and comments, assisted scoring, and an "Originality Check" for academic integrity (be aware that these results aren't always accurate). While AI can never replace the role of a teacher in providing feedback to students, it's nice to have suggestions when you want them. But as always, use it with caution and a healthy amount of human revision.
The AI Education Project (Grades 6–12): This tool offers a 10-week, project-based learning course, print-and-go projects, and more about the fundamentals of AI. If you only have five minutes, though, you can check out their AI Snapshots! The quick warm-ups help prompt students to think deeply about the benefits and pitfalls of AI. The questions are thought-provoking—like how you would design an AI that can learn to solve the problem of online harassment.
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Get Involved in Retro Report's First Civic Engagement Challenge! |
Retro Report is inviting students to share their perspectives on civic issues they are passionate about. A panel of judges will award $500 to 10 entrants across two categories: video and essay. We’re sponsoring this challenge with Civics Unplugged.
Here are the prompts:
- What does civic engagement look, feel and sound like in your community?
- What’s an issue in your community that people aren’t paying attention to, but need to?
- Highlight a place in your community where civics happens.
- Find someone who disagrees with you on an issue. Make a video together modeling civil discourse.
The submission portal will appear on Retro Report's website on Aug. 5. In the meantime, take a look at the submission guidelines and our toolkit, downloadable as a PDF.
Learn About the Challenge
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Retro Report en Español Collection |
The “Retro Report en Español” collection is now available. The collection includes one interactive map and 17 videos with closed captions and transcripts available in Spanish as well as English.
Several of the videos touch on topics relevant to Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. and abroad.
- To turn on Spanish closed captions, click on the ⚙️ settings button on the YouTube player, select Subtitles/CC and then Spanish (Latin America)
- Spanish transcripts are available on the collection page and each video page, at the end of the video summary.
This addition to Retro Report's offerings is part of an ongoing commitment to making videos accessible to ESL students and teachers of Spanish.
Explore Videos en Español
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Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures. Most Americans have only been exposed to part of the story, as told from a single perspective through the lenses of popular media and textbooks. NK360° provides educational materials, virtual student programs, and teacher training that incorporate Native narratives, more comprehensive histories, and accurate information to enlighten and inform teaching and learning about Native America. NK360° challenges common assumptions about Native peoples and offers a view that includes not only the past but also the vibrancy of Native peoples and cultures today. Resources include:
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The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Essential Understandings are an educational framework of key concepts based on the ten themes of the National Council for the Social Studies standards. They serve as a foundation for educational materials developed by the NMAI. In addition, educators, curriculum developers, administrators, and others can use these Essential Understandings to conceptualize new curricula, lessons, and learning activities. This framework can lead students to new knowledge about Native Americans as historical and contemporary people with diverse cultures and roles, namely as diplomats and leaders, civic engineers, orators, scientists, agriculturalists, participants in global events, and much more. Available in English and Spanish.
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The NMAI is constantly creating new online educational materials that embrace a richer and more inclusive discourse about Native Americans. Mindful of today's classroom demands and priorities, these materials are manageable in scope and address academic standards. NK360° lessons engage students through explorations of the most relevant and crucial stories from the histories and contemporary lives of Native peoples. Created in collaboration with Native communities themselves, NMAI resources bring the Native voice directly into the classroom. NK360° offers teachers and students of various grade levels a rich selection of geographically and culturally diverse resources.
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NK360° professional development supports educators to build more inclusive and culturally-responsive classrooms, and to support social justice for Native Americans. The NMAI offers a variety of online and in-person professional development designed to equip teachers with critical concepts, more complete content, and engaging pedagogy that will support a transformation in their teaching and learning about Native Americans.
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¡INVESTIGADORES de la historia! |
Explore Private i History Detectives in Spanish
¡Hola, historiadores! Private i History Detectives, our supplemental mystery-themed curriculum, is now available in Spanish for select mysteries. These lessons teach strategies such as notice, wonder, infer, and compare.
Private i History Detectives can be used in a wide variety of classroom settings, including multilingual and bilingual classrooms. With two mysteries at each grade level available in Spanish, including the Introduction to Inquiry mysteries, Spanish-speaking students practice exploring primary sources, analyzing information, and asking questions.
Each mystery lesson includes English and Spanish student and class materials such as transcripts, handouts, Google Slide decks with audible Spanish narrations, and lesson plans. These resources will help students build social studies content knowledge, foster critical thinking skills, and develop disciplinary language.
Get Started with Spanish Mysteries
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ALPM Book Club for Educators |
The Poor People's Campaign of 1968 has long been overshadowed by the assassination of its architect, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the political turmoil of that year. In a major reinterpretation of civil rights and Chicano movement history, Gordon K. Mantler demonstrates how King's unfinished crusade became the era's most high-profile attempt at multiracial collaboration and sheds light on the interdependent relationship between racial identity and political coalition among African Americans and Mexican Americans. Mantler argues that while the fight against poverty held great potential for black-brown cooperation, such efforts also exposed the complex dynamics between the nation's two largest minority groups.
Join in the Abrham Lincoln Presidentail Library and Museum (ALPLM) Education and Research teams in this exciting virtual Book Club for Educators, a program that invites you to come as you are, drink what you want, and chat about great books with your peers. This virtual event is free, but registration is required. All participants who read Power to the Poor: Black-Brown Coalition and the Fight for Economic Justice, 1960-1974 and attend the discussion will receive 6.5 CPDUs.
This is a free program to attend, but advance registration is required by clicking HERE.
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Youth As Solutions with NYLC |
Youth as Solutions is creating a generation of citizens who are passionate about making a positive impact in their schools and communities!
Youth as Solutions empowers Leadership Teams - at least two young people in grades 6-12 and an adult mentor from a public school, school district, government entity, or nonprofit - to positively impact their schools and communities using our guided service-learning process to address one of the impact areas below.
Your team will investigate an issue in one of these areas, plan a project that addresses the issue, take action, demonstrate learning, and reflect along the way!
LEARN MORE & APPLY NOW!
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Three Branches Institute from the Supreme Court Historical Society |
The Supreme Court Historical Society invites educators to register for the Three Branches Institute, a self-paced virtual professional development program. This professional development opportunity examines the people, events, and processes that shape the three branches of government in the United States. Unit 3: The Judicial Branch examines the Supreme Court’s decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the decision’s impact, and applications for the classroom.
The program is open as of July 15 and will remain open through September 15. Registered participants will receive an email with additional information. Educators who successfully complete the program will receive a certificate for professional development hours.
The Three Branches Institute is hosted jointly by the White House Historical Association, United States Capitol Historical Society, Supreme Court Historical Society, and the National Archives and Records Administration.
Learn More
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Compact Civics from Buffalo/toronto Public Media is a 20-part series of non-partisan shorts help citizens gain a better understanding of how government works. Host Cory McCants explains broad civics concepts in a fun and entertaining way. With just the right dose of humor, levity and visual intrigue, the series explores topics related to voting, branches of governance, and local civic responsibility.
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New Disablility and Urban Planning Curriculum from Project Sidewalk and UIC |
Attention middle and high school social studies teachers, Project Sidewalk and UIC have partnered to create a new disability justice and urban planning curriculum! The curriculum consists of resrouces for classrooms to learn about the ADA, investigate issues in their community, analyze data, and how to advocate for change.
Want to learn more? Complete this interest form to attend a virtual information session on 4pm, August 13, 2024 at 4 p.m.
Questions? Contact: Jaimee VanAssche at jphipp3@uic.edu
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Attend the 2024 Illinois Democracy School Convening
September 23, 2024
NIU Conference Center, Naperville, Illinois
8:30 AM- 2:00 PM
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How Shall We Live Together? Promoting Civility and Civic Engagement Across the School System
Join the Illinois Democracy Schools Network for a day of learning about civic learning ACROSS the disciplines as we delve into how ALL educators can prepare students for college, career, and civic life. Registration includes parking, a light breakfast, and lunch.
Members of the Illinois Democracy School Network can attend for FREE with a grant from CivXNow. Use this link to register.
Non- Democracy School Members can register for a fee of $50 through the DuPage Regional Office of Education at this link.
Visit the Illinois Civics Hub website
for a detailed agenda and breakout descriptions
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