MCN RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
A sampling of activities to actively engage students in civic learning both within their schools and their communities
National/Global Resources
Generation Citizen
https://generationcitizen.org/
Empowering youth in our democracy through community-based civics. Ideas, resources, and lesson plans for the learning of “civic responsibility” and skills through “action civics”.
iCivics
Mission: “to inspire life-long civic engagement by providing high-quality and engaging civics resources to teachers and students across our nation.” See “Teach with Civics” to access the first-of-its-kind civic library offering hundreds of free teaching resources, digital literacy tools, professional learning materials, and educational video games.
Educating for American Democracy
https://educatingforamericandemocracy.org
Well-planned learning units for all grade levels with lesson plans, materials, videos; designed to make civics instruction more hands-on and immediately relevant.
PBS Learning Media for Teachers
Rich multi-media learning and teaching resources focused on principles and structures of US government.
Teaching Civics: A Civic Education Project from Learning Law and Democracy
https://teachingcivics.org/find-lessons-3/
A variety of activities emphasizing civic skills and how they work in our democratic decision-making system; some are teacher-made materials.
EDC [Education Development Corporation]
Access to a broad range of resources and methods with worldwide application. See “Our Work” – “Learn” – “Vital Civic Empowerment”
Active Civics and Why It’s Important, Graham and Weingarten (AFT)
https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2018/graham_weingarten See resources embedded here.
Maine Resources
Maine League of Women Voters
Resources on voting, youth voting, elections tailored to Maine
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Maine League of Women Voters Encourages:
Educators and colleagues to subscribe to the monthly Maine Civic Digest All of our resources, curated lesson plans, important events and youth opportunities are in the Digest. We focus on election preparation and issues related to being an informed voter.
Students to join the LWVME Youth Council and apply for our paid and volunteer opportunites. Our Youth Council includes students from around the state and they are effective in mobilizing their peers.
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Your School Community in preparing for the election. We’re here to support you in this work! Examples of our resources include:
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Support and train students (a classroom, club, or small group) to hold a high school voter registration drive.
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Provide local volunteers to help with registration drives (e.g. deliver completed cards, support students, answer questions, provide supplies, etc.)
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Offer speakers to discuss election and civic topics (e.g. election anxiety, rank choice for President)
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Share our election engagement resources! (e.g. Make Vote Count Booklets, Voter Guides (online and paper), Rank Choice Voting Toolkit, Online Registration Guides and more.
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​​​​Youth Work Makes The Booth Work​
https://youthworkmakestheboothwork.org​
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Maine Department of Education: Office of Teaching and Learning
https://www.maine.gov/doe/index.php/teachingandlearning
Maine Online Open-Source Education (MOOSE)
Interdisciplinary Education: Maine Solutionaries Project
Other Resources
Initiatives for Civic Engagement, The Waynflete School, Portland
A hands-on opportunity for student teams from Maine schools to develop leadership skills that promote collaboration and civic responsibility in their schools and communities. Third Thought aspires to: 1) create, refine, and sustain a unique set of school-based initiatives that invite youth to reflect on their own experiences, learn from the perspectives of others, and take action on issues that matter to them. 2) share models for civic engagement that schools across the country may adopt. See also thirdthought.com