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by Clinton Mathewson, Civic Mentor for Peoria County Clinton has taught U.S. Government and Civics, AP U.S. Government and Politics, Geography, World History, Economics, Consumer Economics, and, Psychology over his ten-year career. He is a member of the National Council for the Social Studies. Clinton earned his Master’s Degree from Eastern Illinois University in Educational Administration and his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University. Here are some of Clint’s thoughts on his role as civic mentor for Peoria County. I have taught Civics & Government for most of my teaching career and can truly say I am extremely passionate about my students recognizing the importance of being active lifelong citizens in our society. Being able to observe that “Ah-Ha” moment when a student figures out the complexities of federalism or an effective electoral campaign strategy, makes teaching all worthwhile. When I saw there was an opening for the Civics mentorship, I was the one now ...

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Lead Teacher Mentor In my role as Lead Teacher Mentor for the Robert R. McCormick Foundation , I have traversed the state several times over this year in what I call my LOL (Land of Lincoln) tour of Illinois. One of my constant companions on the road has been civics-related podcasts. I have grown in my content knowledge and understanding of current and controversial issues through such thinkers as noted author Malcolm Gladwell , Jeffrey Rosen , the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center , as well as  Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Pearson . While shrinking school budgets provide limited access to in-person conferences featuring noted experts, teachers can join the 67 million Americans listening to podcasts on at least a monthly basis. According to an article published by Forbes titled, “ Why Podcasts are So Popular (and Four Content Lessons to Learn from Them) ” by Jayson DeMers, podcasts enjoyed an eleven percent surge in 2017, giving li...

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Lead Teacher Mentor This morning I awoke to a troubling Facebook post by a colleague of mine from the east coast. My friend is a well-respected, veteran educator who teaches high school social studies. He shared how there had been a fire drill the day before and in response, he froze. He directed his students to stay in their seats to make sure it was not a false alarm. One of his students responded, “yea, to make sure this ain’t like Florida.” It was not a false alarm and eventually, the fire drill was completed. But, this teacher’s response, and the response of his students was not an isolated event. Streams of educators throughout the nation responded to his post that they too experienced similar events in their school in the past week. One elementary teacher lamented that she told her 3rd graders that they were staying put until further confirmation during a fire safety exercise and one 8-year-old quickly agreed, “Yes because if an intruder pulled it, ...

by Benjamin P. Marcus, Religious Literacy Specialist for the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute For the past weeks, Shawn and Mary Ellen have addressed political polarization and classroom practice in a series of blog posts that examined what we can do as educators to bridge the seemingly cavernous fracture in the heart of our democracy. While political difference looms largely in current and controversial issue discussions , another point of polarization is religion. How can we promote classroom dialogue and understanding about some of our deepest differences in society? In this guest blog post, Benjamin Marcus highlights how the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum can support teachers with strategies that embrace the inquiry arc of the Illinois Social Studies standards . Do you feel confident teaching about religion? Are you familiar with the concepts and tools used by religious studies scholars? What is the difference between teaching religion to encourage ...

by Shawn P. Healy, PhD, Democracy Program Director In the first three posts of this four part series, Shawn profiled the political typologies of educators , examined the promise of controversial issues discussions in classrooms to mitigate political polarization’s long-term, deleterious effects, and explored polarization itself , determining the extent to which it is a mass or elite-driven phenomenon. Mary Ellen followed with applicable classroom resources , and we conclude today with a collaborative piece responding to contemporary challenges of classroom practice. Last month, our Illinois Civics Teacher Mentors gathered for their midyear touchpoint in Champaign and political polarization was in the air. Specifically, what can teachers themselves do to mitigate it? Three questions that surfaced are listed below, followed by our preliminary responses. 1. I teach in a politically polarized community and fear that one misstep on my part will draw the ire of parents. How do I protect my...

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Lead Teacher Mentor For the past few weeks, Shawn has shared his insights on political polarization and classroom practice, addressing the political typologies of educators , how to mitigate polarization’s harmful effects and fissures among elites and the masses . Throughout this series of blog posts, Shawn has documented how the use of current and controversial issues discussions in the classroom can “bridge this seemingly cavernous fracture at in the heart of our democracy.” The use of controversy in the classroom can be daunting for many educators. In an article for the November 2014 edition of Educational Leadership titled, “ Debates and Conversations: From the Ground Up ,” Dr. Diana Hess and Dr. Paula McAvoy from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, state that many teachers avoid student to student exchanges because, “Some teachers worry that students don’t know how to talk to one another productively about issues. Others believe that students do...

by Shawn P. Healy, PhD, Democracy Program Director In the first two posts of this four part series, I profiled the political typologies of educators and examined the promise of controversial issues discussions in classrooms to mitigate political polarization’s long-term, deleterious effects. Today, we’ll examine polarization itself and discuss the extent to which it is a mass or elite-driven phenomenon. Conventional wisdom suggests that polarization is a mass phenomenon, but there is significant scholarly debate about the extent to which it is merely a byproduct of political elites. The latter is the long-standing claim on political scientist Morris Fiorina, updated in his recent book titled Unstable Majorities . The parties are certainly more polarized than any time since the turn of the 20th Century, resulting in bi-polar choices for an electorate that isn’t as energized on the ideological margins. Fiorina claims that a long line of Democratic (Gore, Kerry, Obama, and Clinton) and...