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2 iCivics Games are GEE! Award Finalists

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

Two iCivics Games are finalists in the 2025 GEE! Learning Game Awards. Uncovering Loyalties and the yet-to-be-released game, Investigation Declaration, have both been recognized as finalists in the Formal Learning category. 

“We are honored to be a finalist in the GEE! Awards again,” said game creator and iCivics’ Senior Director of Digital Learning Carrie Ray-Hill. “This organization really champions educational video games, and we are grateful to be among such innovative competitors.”

Uncovering Loyalties helps young learners in grades 3–5 understand the tensions of pre-revolutionary Williamsburg and encourages them to learn how people from different backgrounds brought unique perspectives to American history.

Investigation Declaration challenges middle and high school students to track how Enlightenment ideas and themes from the Declaration of Independence influenced rights and freedoms for a century. Investigation Declaration will be released in August! 

“It’s exciting to see our two newest games get recognized for excellence in game design,” Ray-Hill said. “We always put students at the forefront of our designs, and we challenged ourselves to find new, engaging ways to immerse them in the games.”

The GEE! Awards recognize excellence in educational game design. Finalists showcase their games during the Play Make Learn conference, which “is a place for collaboration and discovery in the design, research and practice of playful learning, games for learning and positive social impact, making and makerspaces, STEAM education, and arts in education.”

Both games are also in the running for the People’s Choice Award, which recognizes the game people are most excited about. Voting is open now and ends at midnight on August 21.

GEE! winners will be announced live at Play Make Learn on August 21.

Jennifer Jewell

Posted on by icivics

 Jennifer joined iCivics as Chief Financial Officer in June 2025, bringing more than 20 years of nonprofit financial leadership to the organization. In this role, she is responsible for providing strategic oversight of iCivics’ finance and operations functions. Jennifer collaborates closely with the CEO, Executive Leadership Team, Board of Directors, and senior staff to drive the organization’s financial growth and operational excellence.

Prior to joining iCivics, Jennifer served as Chief Financial Officer at JVS Boston, a prominent workforce development organization. During her nine-year tenure, she played a pivotal role in driving the organization’s financial growth and diversifying its funding model, which contributed to a doubling of its annual budget to $30 million.

Jennifer’s experience spans several national nonprofit organizations. As Managing Director of Finance and Operations at the National Center on Time and Learning, she led financial and operational functions across four related education reform organizations. Additionally, Jennifer served as Senior Director of Finance and Regional Operations at KIPP Massachusetts, where she supported the growth of the network from one to five schools. Earlier in her career, Jennifer held the position of Director of Accounting Operations at City Year, Inc., where she designed scalable systems to support the expansion of multiple sites nationwide.

Jennifer holds a B.A. in Business Administration – Management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Master of Public Administration, with a concentration in Nonprofit Administration, from San Francisco State University. She is also an alumna of the 2010 Lead Boston cohort.

Outside of her professional work, Jennifer is deeply committed to community service. She resides north of Boston with her husband and son and actively volunteers with several organizations. 

Posted in Bio

Tyce Henry

Posted on by icivics

Tyce Henry is a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal.

In his prior role, he was a leader in Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Education & Employment practice and in BCGU, a BCG business unit that develops and delivers high-impact learning and development experiences for clients.

During his 20-year career with BCG, Henry drove transformative change with clients including education technology firms, curriculum and assessment providers, universities, K-12 school systems, and private equity investors.

Henry specializes in growth strategy; turnaround and restructuring efforts; investment due diligence and portfolio strategy; and scale up of change efforts through client enablement and training.

Posted in Bio

CivxNow Hill Day: Civic Education Advocacy in Action

Posted on by Maria Owens

On May 4th, I was engaged with educators in a conference room at the National
Constitution Center in Philadelphia. I listened to a conversation about something called “Hill Day.” I tried to piece together what I heard. “CivxNow Coalition . . . lobbying Congress . . . If you are interested, speak with . . .” Oh! I was interested! But who am I to lobby Congress? Thankfully, I found the courage to “speak with . . .”

Eighteen days later, I entered another conference room in Washington D.C. As soon as I said, “Hi my name is . . .”, advocates and Coalition partners from across the country engaged me in conversation and filled me with confidence. They convinced me that my voice was worthy, not simply because I was a citizen, but because I was an educator of citizens.

As I rode to our first meeting, memories of hundreds of citizens I had educated flooded me – filled me with inspiration. I imagined them saying to me a version of what I had said to them. “Use your voice, Mr. Uplinger! It’s your unalienable right!” It was as if all those students and I locked hands and cleared security together.

At the first Representative’s office, we were greeted by a young woman who looked just like a student I had taught. But she had been a student of other teachers. . . and my goodness, they had educated her well! While people swirled around us, she listened attentively to every word and asked questions to clarify and gather more information. And her eyes only left the conversation to record notes.

That pattern repeated in every office we entered. Every young woman or man we
spoke to looked like a student of mine. But still other teachers had inspired them to do the essential work of Democracy: to sincerely consider a constituent’s concern; to faithfully relay those concerns to elected representatives; to follow-up and continue the civil discourse with gratitude. I pray those other teachers know how well they have done their essential work.

As I waited for my train back to New Jersey, I reflected on the spiritual nature of civic advocacy in a journal:

I lobbied today with dedicated educators. Most directly, we asked for federal
funding for civic education. We offered metrics and numbers that measure the
benefit of that. But in a larger sense, I learned that every positive moment I
experienced today started with civic education. It is the seed that, when
nurtured and fed, can produce infinite growth in a democracy. There is no
earthly metric or number large enough to measure the true worth of civic
education – or measure the harm if it is lost. ‘Who am I to lobby Congress?’ I
am a citizen who educates citizens. . . and no advocate is more important and
essential to a democracy.

Written by Craig Uplinger

Craig Uplinger taught Honors United States History, Street Law, and We the People: the Citizen and the Constitution at Marlboro High School in Marlboro, New Jersey. Currently, he serves as the Associate Director for the New Jersey Center for Civic Education. In that role, Craig provides mentorship, professional development, and curricular resources for New Jersey K-12 educators. He also serves as the New Jersey coordinator for the We the People and Project Citizen curriculums. Craig received a M.A. in United States History in 2015; was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate Scholar by Monmouth University; and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Freehold Regional High School District in 2017. In addition, he is a James Madison Fellow and a member of the Phi Alpha Theta National Historical Honor Society. Craig’s passion is to strengthen civic relationships, first between students and their teachers in the classroom, then within every community they all will inhabit throughout their lives. 

On the iCivics Educator Blog, multiple perspectives contribute to the public conversation about civic education in the United States. Each contributor represents their ownopinion. We welcome this diversity of perspectives.

Shari Conditt

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

The 2000 presidential race was the first election veteran teacher Shari Conditt taught about, and she’s learned a lot since then. In her more than 25 years of teaching, Shari has taught through seven presidential elections, six midterms, and many local elections.

“Elections are always tricky,” Shari said. “It doesn’t matter which election we’re talking about, really. Even midterms are tricky. With that said, I think presidential elections tend to feel a bit more divisive—and not just on sort of a regional level like you might feel when you’re talking about a local election or the House of Representatives, but rather sort of on the national level because of the amount of media attention that’s garnered through the election. And because of that, there’s a domino effect, and it trickles down to students.”

Last year, with political tension high and the country once again divided, Shari and her team of tight-knit social studies teachers at Woodland High School decided to approach election instruction with a plan, and iCivics was at the heart of it.

“I need to be really thoughtful about how I maneuver through students’ questions by maintaining a nonpartisan, neutral lens and ensuring that I’m providing the resources that students need in order to come up with their own opinions, without necessarily indicating where I might stand on any sort of issue. And iCivics helps me do that.”

The team curated a set of nonpartisan resources, lesson plans, and talking points not just for their own classrooms but for educators across the school and even in their middle school. They gave all teachers these materials because they knew students would have questions about the election in places outside of their social studies classrooms.

At the center of this toolkit were iCivics materials like the Popular vs. President lesson, which helps students understand the relationship between the electoral vote and the popular vote. They also made use of iCivics games like Win the White House to engage students in learning about the election process through interactive simulations.

One of the most powerful aspects of iCivics for Shari is the peace of mind it brings. “iCivics allows me the opportunity and materials to live in a nonpartisan place. There’s nothing about them that opens the door to a political agenda or to policy issues, and they really focus on the things that I, and we, want fidelity to: sustaining our democracy.”

Shari zeroed in on systems thinking: electoral processes, media literacy, and constitutional frameworks. She made it clear that she operates from a party-neutral position and provides high-quality, nonpartisan resources. Focusing on the structures, she says, gives students an opportunity to lean in without feeling divided by political opinion.

“The goal was to talk about systems and continuity. So I was less interested in digging in on the political issues that differentiated the candidates and was more interested in talking about the structural nature of elections, so that my students could see how the Constitution supported elections or the role of citizenry in elections. Because regardless of political differentiation or whatever policy area that might be hot in this election versus four years from now, the structures that underlie or act as the foundation of the election should be consistent over time, and that is the takeaway I want them to have.”

The results? More civil dialogue. More curiosity. Less chaos.

“I find that it tempers a bit if I’m able to live in that structural way of thinking. And it keeps things a little more calm and, maybe in a weird way, more engaging because it doesn’t turn off or dissuade students who think differently.”

Understanding the structures of government and being able to have civil discourse has taken Shari’s students beyond the classroom. They’re attending city council meetings. They’re hosting public events about zoning regulations. They’re paying attention to social media and leaning into their communities.

“At the end of the day, I just want my students to be engaged citizens in a democracy, and I want to give them the tools to do that. They’re going to do amazing things. I know they will. They already know how to practice civil dialogue. They already see the structures and the importance of them, and they know how to set political opinions aside and work with the person as a human in front of them. And because they have practiced these things here, they’re going to be able to make this a better place for us. All of us.”

About Shari

Teaching experience: 20+ years—high school social studies, including AP U.S. History, AP Government, economics, etc.

School/Organization: Woodland High School

Select Awards:

  • 2024 National Civics Teacher of the Year, Bill of Rights Institute
  • Runner-Up Washington History Teacher of the Year, Sons of the American Revolution
  • 2016 Washington State History Teacher of the Year
  • 2015 Regional Teacher of the Year
  • 2013 Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award—awarded by the American History Association to honor teachers who have inspired students in a way that’s changed their lives
  • 2009 James Madison Fellow

How to Ask for Professional Learning (Plus a Ready-to-Use Template!)

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

We all know the feeling: that spark of inspiration from a new teaching strategy, the desire to deepen our understanding of a subject, or the need to implement a new curriculum effectively. Professional learning opportunities and collaboration with fellow educators, like the Collaborative Learning Pathway offered by iCivics, can be the fuel that keeps our passion for education burning bright and directly impacts the learning experiences we provide for our students.

But often, the cost of high-quality professional learning can feel like a personal hurdle. While funding from your district or school for the entire staff may be limited. That is why advocating for your own professional learning and development can be a game-changer for your growth and, ultimately, your students’ success.

But what does it look like to advocate for yourself, and how should you get started?

Before you submit your request, take a moment to reflect on why your district should invest in this specific professional learning opportunity for you. Consider these points:

  • Improved student outcomes: How will this learning directly translate to a better learning experience and improved outcomes for your students? Be specific! Will it help you implement more engaging strategies? Address learning gaps? Enhance critical thinking skills?
  • Alignment with district initiatives: Does the professional learning opportunity align with current district-wide goals or initiatives? For example, if your district is focusing on inquiry-based learning, highlighting an offering on that topic strengthens your case.
  • Enhanced teaching practice: How will this learning enhance your instructional skills, classroom management, or assessment strategies?
  • Leadership potential and collaboration: Will this learning equip you to be a better resource for your colleagues or take on leadership roles within the school?
  • Staying current and innovative: Education is constantly evolving. Professional learning ensures you stay up-to-date on best practices and innovative approaches.

Your Advocacy Toolkit

  1. Do your research: Identify specific professional learning opportunities that align with your needs and school goals. Be prepared to provide details about the content, duration, cost, and potential impact.
  2. Connect to the curriculum: Clearly articulate how the professional learning will enhance your ability to deliver the curriculum effectively and meet learning standards.
  3. Highlight the benefits for students: Always bring it back to the students. Explain how your enhanced skills and knowledge will directly benefit their learning journey.
  4. Be specific and concise: Clearly state the professional learning opportunity you’re interested in and why you believe it’s a valuable investment.
  5. Offer to share: Suggest sharing your learnings with colleagues through a write-up for the school or district newsletter or blog, a presentation, or informal discussions, demonstrating a return on the district’s investment beyond your own classroom.
  6. Be professional and respectful: Approach your administration with a well-thought-out and respectful request.
  7. Follow school and district procedures: Understand the proper channels for submitting professional development requests.

Ready-to-Use Letter Template

To help you get started, we’ve created a customizable letter template you can adapt and send to your administrator. This template provides a solid framework for articulating your request effectively. We recommend updating the letter and benefits to fit the needs of your classroom and district.

Get the Letter Template

How to Integrate iCivics into the End-of-Year

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

As a high school teacher, the end of the school year is a pivotal time—especially for the seniors in my classroom. Between AP exams, final projects, and wrapping up the last quarter, it’s easy for both students and teachers to feel overwhelmed.

Adding to the pressure, assessments today go beyond rote memorization. Increasingly, end-of-year tests focus on higher-order thinking, requiring students to analyze, argue, and write in more sophisticated ways. On top of that, we educators want to ensure students leave our classrooms equipped with the skills they’ll need in college or next year’s courses.

It’s a lot to juggle. But iCivics offers a simple, effective solution—one that supports students’ learning while easing some of the pressure on teachers.

Gamify Review Sessions

While end-of-year study time is important, it can quickly become monotonous. One of my favorite ways to energize review days is by incorporating iCivics games. In my classroom, I often use Argument Wars, Branches of Power, and Constitutional Compromise to help students revisit key content like court cases, foundational principles, and the structure of government.

These games keep students actively engaged—and they’re more than just fun. Each one provides teachers with real-time data on student comprehension. That data can guide review sessions, helping us target the concepts students need to strengthen before final assessments.

Data-Informed Re-Teaching

Sometimes, the data from review sessions reveals topics that need to be revisited. That’s where the iCivics resource library becomes invaluable. With just a few clicks, you can find full lessons, videos, and activities covering everything from the Constitution to westward expansion to the civil rights movement.

My students especially love the civil rights unit. The engaging videos and interactive lessons help bring the material to life—and they’re a lifesaver when I need to quickly pull together a targeted review lesson based on student performance from the previous day.

Ending the Year with Meaning

The final days of the school year should be more than just a countdown—they should be a chance to reflect, reconnect, and celebrate all that students have accomplished. With iCivics, educators can spend less time scrambling to prepare and more time creating meaningful moments with their students.

Whether you’re reviewing content, identifying areas for reteaching, or planning engaging activities, iCivics provides high-quality resources that meet the moment. At a time when we’re all feeling the pressure, it’s a partner that helps us—and our students—finish strong.

Written by Jessica Mahoney

Jessica Mahoney is a third-year social studies educator who teaches Virginia and U.S. History at Norview High School in Norfolk, Virginia. She is a member of the iCivics Educator Network, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s Teacher Advisory Council, and a teacher ambassador for Retro Report. Jessica also serves as an at-large board member of the Maryland Civic Education Coalition, the Legislative and Advocacy Liaison for the Virginia Council for the Social Studies, and an educator consultant for the Center for Civic Education. She is passionate about engaging students in history and civic life through hands-on, inquiry-based learning and advocates for elevating teachers’ and students’ voices in education policy at both the local and national levels.

Through the iCivics Educator Network, the perspectives of teachers across the country contribute to the public conversation about civic education in the United States. Each contributor represents their own opinion. We welcome this diversity of perspectives.

To Our Incredible Teachers: We Appreciate You

Posted on by Sian Park

I have a confession to make: I didn’t want to write this post. What can I possibly say to express the magnitude of my appreciation for you without acknowledging the current moment and thereby wading into the political—something I’m neither supposed to do, nor want to?

But that’s been true for everything I’ve written or recorded for you this year. Every single message has been so hard to compose. I’ve obsessed over every word.

This is not my norm. I rarely struggle to find my words, especially when talking to teachers. You are my people, and I’ve always found it easy and natural to communicate with you. This year is different, not because of you, but because of the extraordinary circumstances in which you find yourself trying to teach for the maintenance of our constitutional democracy.

But here we go…

I appreciate you. All of iCivics appreciates you: our staff, our board (including Justice Sotomayor!), and our donors appreciate you.

And even though she is no longer with us, and I wouldn’t dare to put words in her mouth, I’m certain Justice O’Connor is smiling down upon you with awe and appreciation. We are all so grateful.

As the Chief Education Officer at a nonprofit organization, I necessarily wear a lot of hats. I know you get it. You do too.

You’re not just history or civics teachers. You’re counselors, coaches, club advisors, hallway monitors, test proctors, lunchroom attendants, and sometimes traffic directors. Every day when I drop my daughter off at school, I’m filled with both gratitude and cognitive dissonance when I see teachers with graduate degrees wearing professional clothing while blowing whistles and managing car lines in the south Georgia humidity.

That is insane. No other profession asks so much in the form of “other duties as assigned.”

My job description encapsulates many different things—important things, like academic integrity, impact research, youth engagement, and more. But my number one priority right now is supporting you in any way I can—not because you need my help, but because you need a friggin’ break.

So this is both a letter of appreciation and an invitation to HIT.ME.UP. Not to go to the club, although drinks are on me if we find ourselves in the same city. No, hit me up for what you need. How can I help? How can the team at iCivics make your job easier?

Because appreciation without action is like a terrible hug: hollow, unsatisfying, and oftentimes awkward.

We’re not here for that. We’re here for genuine, authentic appreciation—the kind that feels like a hug from your best friend after months or years apart.

Here’s what we’re doing at iCivics to put our appreciation into action:

  • We are LISTENING. As much as I want to delete all of my accounts, I continue to stay engaged on as many social media sites as possible to understand your daily struggles. The same is true for our marketing, product, and professional Learning teams. We’re also on a listening tour, scheduling 1:1 virtual meetings with educators.
  • We are CREATING. Every day, the award-winning product team at iCivics is researching, writing, revising, and uploading so that you have access to accurate, objective, engaging, and impactful resources.
  • We are ADVOCATING. Our Policy team is tracking bills, calling legislators, convening state-based commissions, and doing everything else in its power to ensure that states propose and pass bills that support civic education and civic educators.
  • We are PLANNING. We have our eyes on Constitution Day in September, NCSS in December, Civic Learning Week in March, and America250 from June 2025 to July 2026. We’re hard at work to make these special occasions and opportunities as meaningful as possible.

With that, I send you my biggest virtual hug—one that feels like a hug from veteran educator and iCivics Educator Network member Shannon Salter from Pennsylvania. Shannon gives the best hugs. They are whole-body, perfectly forceful, and just long enough for you to feel her affection without bystanders starting to wonder if something else is going on or if they should intervene. That’s the kind of hug I’m sending you.

With all of my gratitude,
Emma

P.S. We want to hear from you! Really, how can we help?
Here are some ideas that come to mind, but we are all ears for your specific suggestions:

Written by Emma Humphries

Dr. Emma Humphries, iCivics’ Chief Education Officer, brings extensive classroom experience teaching government, history, and economics, where she discovered the impact of engaging learning tools. With a deep commitment to empowering educators, she continues to champion innovative civic education resources and strategies.

Engaging Multilingual Students with the Help of iCivics

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

Seniors in my Government & Citizenship class engage with the class material in a variety of ways. Some days, they’re deeply analyzing political cartoons, revising bills based on party pressure and Congressional testimony, or organizing evidence to argue for and against impeachment during historic presidential scandals. Other days, they play games! For multilingual students, some of these activities can be especially challenging given the cultural components of understanding symbols in a political cartoon, for example. When there’s the opportunity for English language learners to deepen their learning without the roadblock of Google Translate, it makes such a big difference!

Recently, my students began the week by examining President Nixon’s resignation letter; it’s a single sentence, so every detail matters. I started to see the power that the brief document afforded multilingual students, since they could more easily access the material. Instead of spending a chunk of class time working to translate, they spent class time really addressing the purpose of the activity: WHY those words were there, rather than what the words were. While some of our classes are co-taught with an EL/ML instructor, we all know that there are never enough resources to go around, and unfortunately, our English Language Learners don’t have access to modified assignments that might better support them. If only there were more hours in the day to create these for my seniors!

The success of the Nixon primary source activity challenged me to search for additional ways to honor my English language learners. Thank goodness for iCivics! The iCivics site includes a “Pedagogy Tags” search option, including filters for EL/ML and Spanish lesson plans, games, infographics, and slideshows. The Convene the Council game and associated resources, created alongside the Council on Foreign Relations, enabled students to learn and demonstrate understanding in Spanish without the intermediary of a clunky translation tool. When I pointed out the “Jugar en Español” option, I saw the transformation in two of my Spanish-speaking students in one hour. Their body language changed, scooting their chairs towards their Chromebooks and bending over the screen to select the Spanish option. They built avatars that looked like them, and convened their National Security Council as iCivics shared fictional global crises to which they could respond and delegate.

I know that these students would have been successful if the game had only been offered in English, but the Spanish option increased their enthusiasm and participation level. In fact, one student finished so much more quickly than usual that he thought he’d done it wrong! As he saw students around him still playing, he assumed that he must have missed something; he was used to being one of the last students to complete an assignment, not because of a lack of understanding but because of translation challenges. When I explained that he’d done a great job and played the game just right, the pride in his face reinforced how powerfully he connected to the activity. The next day (I promise I’m not making this up!), at the end of class, he came up to me to say thank you, giving me a piece of his favorite Colombian candy. It was a powerful moment: getting to access a class activity in an authentic way was so important to this student that he was still thinking about it the next day and felt compelled to show his gratitude.

Convene the Council is just one of hundreds of iCivics options that support multilingual students. I plan to use the “6 Roles of the President” Infographic next, as we deepen understanding of presidential responsibilities beyond our initial foreign policy focus. I hope these resources will help my Spanish-speaking students feel like accessing activities in their native language is part of our class culture rather than something that necessitates a show of gratitude. And it was some great candy!

Written by Megan Thompson

Megan Thompson is in her 20th year teaching social studies. She has worked with iCivics Educator Network, National Constitution Center’s Teacher Advisory Board, and Eastern State Penitentiary’s Justice Education Collaboratory. With the support of a James Madison Fellowship, she earned a master’s in political science and co-created her school’s dual enrollment program. She teaches Crime & Justice, Government, Dual Enrollment Government, and Dual Enrollment World History just outside of Minneapolis, and she leads professional development on the Supreme Court, Foundations of the American Revolution, media literacy resources, and mindfulness in the classroom. Megan’s passion is in developing rigorous and relevant classroom materials that connect the past and the present, and supporting teachers in their implementation.

Through the iCivics Educator Network, the perspectives of teachers across the country contribute to the public conversation about civic education in the United States. Each contributor represents their own opinion. We welcome this diversity of perspectives.

Don Jenkins

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

Since August 2024, Don Jenkins has traveled around Norway as a Fulbright Roving Scholar in American studies. In this capacity, he spends about three days at a given school teaching lower secondary students (ages 14–16) about U.S. history, government, culture, and current events. By the end of the school year, he will have taught approximately 6,000 students.

Don uses iCivics as part of the curriculum he’s developed for some of his workshops on topics like the Bill of Rights, how laws are passed, and the Civil Rights Movement. As a teacher for 30 years, Don is familiar with iCivics:

It’s been successful in my classroom back in the United States, so I kind of thought that it would be a good way for kids to learn more about the presidency, the separation of powers, and the checks and balances—important governmental ideas in the United States. I think kids really remember what they learn from playing games these days, and I thought it would be kind of a fun way to highlight and have them go deeper into the points that we were discussing from the activities earlier in the workshop.

Don’s most popular workshop is “So You Want To Be President?” which focuses on the role of the president and the unique process of choosing a president in the United States, including discussions about the Electoral College and the two-party system involving Republicans and Democrats. He ends the course by giving students time to play Win the White House and Executive Command.

As the “foundation of any democratic country,” Don notes that civic education is not just about “learning the basics of how governments work and how bills are turned into laws, but it can teach all the subjects. You can teach how to read. You can teach how to write.”

Case in point, Don highlighted the benefits of using iCivics games for helping students practice their English skills. One of the goals of the Fulbright program is for the students to practice their English with a native speaker. Don likes that Win the White House can be played on different levels, so the vocabulary can align with the Norwegian students’ English language abilities:

They can kind of adapt it to whatever they think would be the best language level for them. A lot of kids are not entirely confident with using English, so I think it also helps them build some confidence, and it’s also good because they can work in groups and talk about what’s going on.

“We spend about half an hour on the games and talking about them. We had lunch after one of the classes, and many of the kids were still playing the game,” Don said, explaining one of the ways he gauges the game’s impact and how they engage his students.

“Whenever people ask, like, ‘Hey, I’m stuck. How can I get kids excited about government?’ I’m always like, ‘Use iCivics! That’s a good way to get them hooked.’”

About Don

Teaching experience: 30+ years — Middle and high school social studies

School/Organization: Fulbright

Select Awards: 2019 Civic Engagement Champion (National Association of State Boards of Education)