Teaching History, Learning Citizenship: Tools for Civic Engagement

Learn how to design history lessons that foster students’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for civic engagement. Each section of this practical resource introduces a key element of civic engagement, such as defending the rights of others, advocating for change, taking action when problems are observed, compromising to promote reform, and working with others to achieve common goals. Primary and secondary sources are provided for lessons on diverse topics such as the Alice Paul and the Silent Sentinels, Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor, Harriet Tubman, Reagan and Gorbachev’s unlikely friendship, and Lincoln’s plan for Reconstructing the Union. With Teaching History, Learning Citizenship, teachers can show students how to apply historical thinking skills to real world problems and to act on civic dispositions to make positive changes in their communities.

“Teachers will appreciate the adaptability of the unscripted lessons in this book. Each lesson provides background historical context for the teacher and the resources to expose students to themes of civic engagement that cut across historical time periods and current events. With the case studies, ideas, and sources in this book, teachers can instill students with the dispositions of democratic citizens.”
—From the Foreword by Laura Wakefield, interim executive director, National Council for History Education

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