Month: September 2021

New Documentary Recounts the Life of iCivics Founder Sandra Day O’Connor

Posted on by icivics

Today—Sept. 21, 2021— marks the 40th anniversary of the unanimous confirmation of Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.

A new documentary just released by American Experience, “Sandra Day O’Connor: The First,” provides new insights into this pioneering woman, recounting a life that reflected and shaped an era. Justice O’Connor forged a legal career at a time when few women did, serving in all three branches of Arizona state government before becoming the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, where she spent nearly 25 years before retiring in 2006.

Her public service didn’t end after retirement, however. Over the course of her career, Justice O’Connor had become increasingly concerned about the growing lack of understanding regarding the system of government in the United States and disengagement from civic life.

“I’ve seen first-hand how vital it is for all citizens to understand our Constitution and unique system of government, and participate actively in their communities,” she wrote in a 2018 public letter announcing her stepping back from public life. “I made a commitment to myself, my family, and my country that I would use whatever years I had left to advance civic learning and engagement.”

So, in 2009, Justice O’Connor founded iCivics to ensure all Americans have the knowledge and will to participate in our unique experiment in self-government by transforming civic education with innovative, truly engaging games and resources. Of all her accomplishments, Justice O’Connor considers iCivics to be her most important work and greatest legacy.

“There is no more important work than deepening young people’s engagement in our nation.” – Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

Since its founding, iCivics has grown and evolved rapidly, becoming the nation’s premier nonprofit civic education provider of high-quality, nonpartisan, engaging, and free resources to more than 7.6 million students annually. We are proud to be a successful, high-impact, and scalable resource solution, as well as the sector leader driving systemic change, with the capacity and strategic ambition to fulfill and sustain Justice O’Connor’s ambitious vision. Day in and day out, we are guided by her wisdom, humor, and determination—all of which are showcased in the documentary.

Much has changed in our world since 1981, but the need for equitable, nonpartisan civic education may be even greater and more urgent today than when Justice O’Connor joined the highest court in the land. We are proud to continue fulfilling her most important work: to provide every student in the United States with high-quality civic education.

Hispanic Heritage Month 2021: Courage, Integrity and Commitment

Posted on by Luke O'Connor

I started my 20th year in education in the second year of a global pandemic. Teachers, doctors, nurses, and countless other medical and educational personnel are exhausted, drained physically and emotionally—and yet they keep showing up to do the job.

As I listen to the academic conversations in my classroom, I can’t help but remember how emotionally and physically exhausted my students must be, too, yet they keep showing up to do the job.

I think of those in this amazing country that, despite a global pandemic, continue showing up to fight for justice, for peace and for recognition.

As a Latina, entering Hispanic Heritage Month always fills me with pride. I can’t help but be grateful for the commitment, the courage, and the integrity of those that lobbied for Hispanic Heritage Week to be created in 1968—and even more so for those that continued the fight into 1988, which led to the Hispanic Heritage Month we celebrate today.

As a Spanish/English Dual Language teacher, I am so thankful for those that had the courage to fight for equality of education for English Learners. Cases like Lau v. Nichols paved the way for an incredible shift in education for our ELs. I think of Dr. Antonia Pantoja who founded ASPIRA and fought endlessly for educational access for the disadvantaged Latinx students in New York. Thanks to her efforts, and the efforts of those who supported her, the ASPIRA Consent Decree is now the foundation for many EL Programs across the country!

And finally, I think of Justice Sonia Sotomayor who, after overcoming her own insurmountable obstacles, became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice! In 2015, she became a board member of iCivics and her mission was to make sure that the games and support materials were accessible to all learners, especially English learners. In 2017, Do I Have A Right? became the first game with supports for English and multilingual learners and a Spanish version, ¿Tengo algún derecho?. It’s also the first game I ever used in my Dual Language classroom! I love how it not only allows my students to learn about their rights in this country, but their parents can, too! Thanks to Justice Sotomayor’s efforts to ensure a civic education for everyone, I am able to provide educational support to my Spanish-speaking EL students through iCivics’ ELL resources.

iCivics continued to provide support to our ELs during the pandemic. They teamed up with Kami to provide additional support to students learning online. Online learning proved to be difficult for many of our ELs who learn best by working together, hearing language spoken, and applying language. Thankfully, Kami provided an opportunity for students to continue to interact with language by providing ways to record verbal responses, as well as written responses in both languages. The typing capability and highlighting features allowed students to interact with the language depending on the tasks provided by the teacher.

So during this Hispanic Heritage Month, take time to remember those who demonstrated, and continue to demonstrate courage, integrity and commitment by fighting to level the playing field for our Latinx students!

How will you share stories of courage with your students?

Other iCivics Resources for Teaching English and Multilingual Learners:

Written by Verónica Schmidt-Gómez, MEd

Verónica Schmidt-Gómez teaches Dual Language World History, Dual Language Civics, and Dual Language U.S. History at Turner Bartels K-8 School in Tampa, FL. She has been a member of the iCivics Educator Network since 2020. Follow her on Twitter at: @SraGomezDual.

I ❤️ Support: My Time Helping Teachers as an iCivics Intern

Posted on by Luke O'Connor

Hello there! My name is Jerry Vogel, and I am currently an intern at iCivics. I’ve been working here since the end of May, and it’s been a crazy ride all the way through. But let me tell you, it’s been fun. Allow me to tell you the abridged version of my life as a part of the iCivics family.

I started off working as a standard tech intern. I tested code and a few programs, sifted through databases for various pieces of information, and performed other simple—but useful—tasks. It wasn’t much, but it was honest work. However, the real fun began in June. Our dearly beloved Curriculum Associate Molly Launceford announced that she was leaving the company to pursue a law degree and needed someone to take her spot as a member of the Support staff. She trained me on how to respond to inquiries from our educators, fill out the weekly report, and warned me that while the job may feel easy, work would soon ramp up. Not much happened in June or July with Support. Occasionally, a teacher reached out to ask about data privacy. Some questions about games came in and other pretty tame stuff. But then… the back to school season rolled around.

August has been a crazy month here at iCivics as the school year kicks off and teachers head back to the classroom – and begin using iCivics! As many of you may know, we released new features on our website! As a member of the Tech team, I worked on what we called the “site migration.” It’s tech speak for an upgrade. I helped make sure certain parts of our analytics worked correctly, but my main task was monitoring support inquiries from educators. And as soon as we migrated the site, the tickets started coming in. 

I could have never expected the rush that I’ve experienced as a part of the Support team. It’s been crazy! We’ve had a lot of teachers asking us for help and direction. And I have LOVED it. It’s been so much fun. I really feel like I’m making a difference to our users. Whenever I press send on a response detailing how to sync a Google Classroom class or a response telling someone that their bug has been resolved, I feel a twinge of happiness. It’s wonderful to be able to help so many people all from the comfort of my big desk chair. Knowing that what I am doing is not only helping the person I am responding to but many others experiencing the same issue brings a big smile to my face.

This is far from the end of my time at iCivics. My internship will be extending into December, and I’m looking forward to continuing my work here. Support does not end with back to school! I’m excited to see what comes of my time with the Support team. Then of course there’s programming—my true speciality. I’m looking forward to seeing what sorts of programs I will get to work on for iCivics. All I know is that whatever I do, it’s going to be a good time for me. And of course, it’ll make the experience of everyone who reads this better. We’re always looking to make iCivics as amazing as possible. I’m happy to do my part.

Written by Jerry Vogel

Jerry Vogel is a Computer Science student at Northeastern University currently working on the Tech and Support teams at iCivics. He loves to listen to music, cook, and watch videos of cute animals.

Teaching Tips: Customizing your Game Sandwich

Posted on by Luke O'Connor

In a recent blog post (Meet the iCivics Extension Pack), we talked about the iCivics “Game Sandwich.” As you bite into that dish, here are some ways to add a bit more flavor.

Customize Your Game Sandwich

✔️ The best part of the Game Sandwich is that you can pick and choose which activities and slides you’d like to use. It allows for flexibility, and the amount of time you spend is up to you. Activities progress from quick comprehension checks to open-ended activities where students are asked to dig deeper.

✔️ Introducing a large amount of content like the amendments in Do I Have A Right? or the responsibilities of the three branches in Branches of Power at one time can be overwhelming for some students. We recommend limiting the amount of slides from the Extension Pack that you teach in a single day. We also suggest having pairs ask and answer questions about the slides to get them talking. 

✔️ For vocabulary building, provide students with a list of words to know and practice. You can use the Glossary of Game Terms from the Extension Packs.

✔️ ELL tip: Have students share terms that are relevant in their native language.

✔️ When teaching English and multilingual learners, it’s a good idea to address the four language domains: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The games provide listening and reading practice, and the Extension packs cover the other skills.

Do you want fries with that?

As a “side item”, we offer additional game-related resources. Most games have an illustrated guide (available as a downloadable PDF in English or Spanish). Each one has a different title, such as the Amendment Guide, (Do I Have A Right?), SCOTUS path (Argument Wars), Isley City Fact Sheet (Cast Your Vote), Classic Dept Guide (Counties Work). These guides can be used to:

✔️ Preview the game as an advance organizer

✔️ Introduce the content before playing so that students can become familiar with the main concepts. For example, the Amendment guide is a way to teach the amendments before playing and highlight the illustrations and color-coding in the game.

 

✔️ Review the game after playing.

Each game also has a Game Guide which is a PDF that explains how the game works and gives some useful tips for playing. This comes in handy when a student turns to you asking questions beyond the content. It gives you immediate boss-level insights.

Where can you find these resources?

You can find these game-specific guides by going to the game page (while logged into your teacher account) and clicking the “DOWNLOAD RESOURCES” button.

For more information about the Extension Packs and the “Game Sandwich,” check out this blog. 

More tips & tricks:

Find more articles about how to best use iCivics resources below.

Using Games to Drive Student Engagement in a Remote Classroom

Adding My Voice to iCivics Material: Tips and Tricks for Making Online Learning Accessible and Engaging with Kami by Andrew Swan

iCivics in Dual Language Teaching: How to Utilize iCivics Resources to Engage English and Multilingual Learners by Verónica Schmidt-Gómez, MEd

Written by Kristen Chapron

Kristen Chapron is Senior Editor of Digital Learning and ELL at iCivics. As a leading “chef” for the iCivics “game sandwich,” Kristen has been serving up and guiding the direction of Extension Packs for more than four years.