Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement
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Unit Purpose:
Learners look at primary documents of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to gain a sense of the purpose, motivations, and people of the founding documents. Through viewing, reading, quotations, and discussion, students explore the meaning of democracy and responsible citizenship. Students explore the impact of service and volunteerism in our democratic history. They write a personal statement of responsible citizenship and create a group presentation about the importance of taking action for the common good as democratic citizens. The demonstration will include writing and technology to communicate personal statements of advocacy as it relates to their roles as citizens.
Focus Question: What is our democratic responsibility for volunteering and serving for the common good?
Unit Duration:
Eight 50-Minute Class Periods, plus time to create a group presentation
Unit Objectives:
The learner will:
- discuss the meaning of the text of the Preamble to the Constitution in response to a picture book.
- scan and read parts of the Constitution online.
- summarize the purpose of the Constitution.
- write about the roles and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.
- scan and read parts of the Declaration of Independence online.
- define powerless, treason, patriotism, and advocacy.
- identify changes to government as a result of citizen action and the work of nonprofit organizations.
- define democracy and compare and contrast spectators and participants.
- identify historic examples of active participation in government.
- discuss possible results of inaction on important issues.
- read articles about civil society, civic responsibility, patriotism, and the right to petition the government.
- summarize an article and present to the rest of the class.
- read and discuss quotes about democracy by the founding fathers.
- identify characteristics of an engaged citizen.
- work in a small production group of 5-8 students to create a presentation as a piece of advocacy.
- view the presentations of all the learners.
- reflect on the impact of the project.
Service Experience:
Learners create a presentation (audio, video, or other technology) that communicates a statement of advocacy for a specific issue or to promote personal responsibility in a democratic society to act for the common good. The students determine an appropriate audience and venue for their piece of advocacy in order to teach others about their responsibility as "We the people."
Unit Assessment:
Observe learner participation in discussions and small groups to evaluate personal effort and comprehension of the concept of participatory democracy and effort.
In Lesson Three: My Civic Responsibility, use Attachment One: Rubric as a guide for assessing student work on the final presentation.
Bibliographical References:
- Catrow, David. We the Kids. Dial, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-0803725539
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Learning to Give Briefing Papers (individual papers cited in lessons) http://learningtogive.org
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The LEAGUE. Pathfinder Middle School Pledge video http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLEAGUEMichigan
- The Nike Foundation. "The Girl Effect" http://www.girleffect.org/
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icivics. Games to teach about the courts and the Constitution. http://www.icivics.org/
- Tufts University. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) http://www.civicyouth.org/
- US Constitution Online. "The Constitution." http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst.html
- US History.org. "The Declaration of Independence." http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
- Westheimer, Joel. “Teaching Students to Think About Patriotism” (Educational Leadership, v.65, no. 5).
State Curriculum and Philanthropy Theme Frameworks:
See individual lessons for benchmark detail.
Lessons Developed By:
Barbara Dillbeck
Director
Learning to Give
Betsy Flikkema
Associate Director
Learning to Give
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.
