{"id":12894,"date":"2018-04-26T12:35:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T19:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=12894"},"modified":"2018-04-26T12:35:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T19:35:00","slug":"literature-identity-agency-civic-engagement-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/literature-identity-agency-civic-engagement-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature, Identity, Agency: Civic Engagement in the Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

High school ELA teacher and NWP teacher leader Janelle Bence explores how civic engagement forms the essential “why” of her classroom practice, helping students consider their identities, values, and connections to communities big and small.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was recently asked, \u201cWhat is a current trend in education that has shaped your teaching?\u201d My immediate response was civic engagement. Knowing the \u201cwhy\u201d of my praxis guides my choices in lesson design. As I ponder this question and my response more deeply, an unsettling feeling takes over.<\/p>\n

How could civics learning be considered a trend? How can preparing students to actively participate in our democratic society be seen as one of the many here today, potentially gone tomorrow, initiatives in public education?<\/em><\/p>\n

Shouldn\u2019t developing skills to help our youth contribute, question, and make informed decisions about what goes on around them be at the heart of public education? Shouldn\u2019t part of helping learners articulate their voices be focused on engaging in real-world challenges? If not, all the number crunching, all the empathy lessons, all the increased awareness of our histories, all the hypotheses and experiments\u2026 Why?<\/p>\n

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Connecting Literature to Identity<\/h4>\n

One benefit of civics learning is student engagement. Recently, my ninth grade English classes studied Romeo and Juliet<\/em> through the lens of understanding the fine line between love and hate. Students can relate to the idea of loyalty, young love, and sacrifice.<\/p>\n

Coupling Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet<\/em> with Citizen Films\u2019 documentary American Creed<\/a><\/em> challenges learners to investigate their own identities. Students contemplate how this universal question of the intersection of love and hate affects them on a personal level. They explore shared values of what it means to be American (or part of American society) and what happens when these values are not always supported by actions and policies. In short, learners investigate how love for, and pride in, aspirations of a country can at times translate into acts that may be considered hateful by others, when said aspirations are not met.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s youth struggle with multiple identities. They are one way at home, another at school, another with friends, another online, and so many more. It\u2019s no wonder they have no time to contemplate the meaning of being part of American society. But their participation in voting and decision-making hinges on knowing what they value as being American.<\/p>\n

Learners first need an opportunity to explore and express their own values. Because many of my students had never reflected on their own national identities, in this lesson, they were invited to read historical documents, poems, and other texts about the American identity. Choosing what resonated with them, students created spoken word pieces by combining words and phrases they found in their reading with their own thoughts.<\/p>\n

Students were asked to curate symbols to accompany their ideas and create a digital story. With the help of my digital media co-facilitator Kat Saucier, learners used iMovie to sequence the images to coordinate with the narration of their spoken word pieces.<\/p>\n

This initial taste of discovering and discussing cultural identity was an entry to a deeper dive into what it means to be part of American society. Students revisited their values and beliefs. Some were surprised at what they found. Still, others doubted the impact of a national identity on their life as a whole. What they did recognize was both common threads and differences through the American landscape. They began questioning what quelling the tension of shared aspirations with varied results looks like in action.<\/p>\n

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Making and Writing Our Future<\/h4>\n

Having viewed the film, learners are now creating short films of their own, responding to prompts created by National Writing Project\u2019s<\/a> initiative Writing Our Future<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Watch “Creating Digital Stories” at TeachingChannel.org<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Learners have selected topics that connect to the following questions:<\/p>\n