ASU’s Center for American Civics hosts workshops for educators to learn how to teach American civics in various contexts, class subjects, and grade levels with ready-made, engaging, and rich with interactive forms of learning. These workshops have been made possible by a generous donation to the Center from a private donor who cares about the quality of civic education in Arizona and wants to support our state’s excellent teachers. So, what can you expect if you attend one of these workshops?
“As an instructor, I highly valued the engaging format of the lessons and I felt like I could be a real facilitator of the learning experience rather than just a lecturer.”
-Workshop Participant
“This was a much richer discussion than I have had in previous years and it was a discussion that was driven by the inquiry of the students based on the sources we were analyzing”
-Workshop Participant
- Expect to be treated like a professional. Our workshops are designed by master teachers with decades of combined experience teaching civics at various grade levels. They know what it is like to sit through a professional development meeting that feels like a waste of time! This workshop is meant to give you valuable content knowledge that will be interesting to you, and expand your capabilities in the classroom, while also providing ready-made lesson plans and pedagogical strategies that you can take straight to your practice.
- Expect to learn from some of ASU’s best teaching faculty. ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought & Leadership faculty members lead workshops. They provide thought-provoking insight into specific historical periods, primary source documents, and philosophical studies of government through seminar-style discussions.
- Expect to be introduced to some of the best resources available for teaching American civics. These workshops are structured using the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap, a new resource to help teachers guide inquiry-based lessons and discussions with their students toward a complete understanding of our shared and pluralistic history and civic principles. The EAD website also has a massive library of curated teaching resources, lessons, and assessments that are searchable by grade level and topic to make them easy to access and use. All of it is free!
- Expect to be paid for your time! As part of participating in the workshop, teachers use the resources from EAD in their classrooms and provide ASU with a written reflection documenting their experience doing so. Our generous donor has provided funds to pay each teacher a stipend for coming to the workshop and writing about their experience.
- Expect to be fed! It isn’t easy or convenient to race from teaching school all day to make it to an evening professional development session or to take time from your weekend to come in on a Saturday for one. ASU recognizes that and will make it easier for you by providing a good meal at the workshop. Enjoy the chance to socialize with our faculty, staff, and teachers from around the state as you take a break and have a meal!
- Expect to get all of this at no personal expense. Once again, thanks to our generous donor, ASU will not charge you anything for this workshop experience. Your registration, meal, parking, and access to these teaching resources are all free. The only thing you have to do is register!
- Expect to be glad you came! The feedback we have received from teachers has been extraordinary. They have raved about how happy they are to have learned about the EAD Roadmap and teaching resources and how much they enjoyed the experience of learning from our faculty members. Furthermore, many have expressed a renewed motivation for the critical mission to teach American civics well for the good of the future of our country and its next generation of citizens.
"Coming from Tucson the trip was all worth it! I enjoyed the first part presentation and the introduction to the Educating for American Democracy site and curriculum. I am looking forward to read it and put it into action."
-Workshop Participant
