Teacher Spotlight: Using Can We Talk? in Montgomery County

Athan Biss teaches History and Civics at The Baldwin School in Montgomery County, and he is using C70's Can We Talk? curriculum to bolster an often overlooked skill in civic education: listening.

"My students are bright and politically engaged young women who care deeply about their communities and are not shy about sharing their own beliefs," he states. "While they hail from many different zip codes across four counties, my students are not very ideologically diverse."

Using Can We Talk? lessons, Dr. Biss is challenging his students to engage with people who do not share their political views and to begin to exercise their listening muscles. For their final projects last semester, students focused on complex issues like education reform, climate change, mass incarceration, reproductive rights, the opioid crisis, and homelessness. "As they find their own voices, Can We Talk? has helped my students realize the urgency and power of engaging with people who have different life experiences and with whom they might disagree."

Get STAR cards for your students

If you have not yet seen our STAR cards helping young students to discuss civics, we are excited to share them directly with educators. They are designed for students in grades K-8, but they make for good opening prompts for any individual, students or adults.

Email us to request your own free copy(ies). Or share them with the elementary and middle school teachers and parents in your life.

An emerging judicial education program

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts has embarked on a mission to bring a reimagined Civics Education Program into classrooms with lawyers and judges as teachers. PMC has a free curriculum to help strengthen the connection between the courts and the community. And volunteer lawyers and experienced judges will come to your class to help facilitate the curriculum.

With legislative deadlocks in Harrisburg and Washington, many governmental decisions are being made in courtrooms. This program will help your students gain awareness for how the judiciary impacts their lives.