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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.

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

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

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

Kristy Johnson

Posted on by icivics

Can you tell us a little about your work and how you first came across iCivics?

I have a Masters Degree in Education and Coaching, and over a decade of experience teaching K–12 and adult learners. I have taught in turn-around schools, schools where the PTA raised a million dollars a year, in-patient treatment centers, and prisons. I have also tutored a variety of standardized tests: ACT, SAT, ISEE, and PSAT, to name a few.

Currently, I teach adult education. There are two tests our country uses to measure High School Equivalency (HSE) and I teach both: the GED and the HISET. (The TASC was discontinued, but I taught that one as well.)

Civics and government make up 38% of the social studies portion of the HISET and 50% of the social studies portion of the GED. iCivics has some of the best worksheets I have found to teach this subject, and I love the general approach to nonpartisan education for all Americans. I’ve been using the worksheets for years.

What do you think explains civics making up such a significant portion of the high school equivalency tests?

I think the reason for this heavy emphasis on citizenship content is that the GED and HiSET are geared toward adult learners. Topics like the branches of government, voting, and the Bill of Rights are fundamental to a functioning democracy. The exam mirrors a citizenship exam, and I think that’s intentional to the demographic.

What do you see as one of the most important pieces of the kind of civic education you provide?

More than ever, students need to know how to find a reliable resource, and how to sift through fake news and AI-generated content to find what is true. My undergrad degree was in journalism, and we learned how to research: how to verify information, how to find a reliable resource, etc. I appreciate that iCivics resources do just that: teach students how to research and find what is true. This is the most important topic for a functioning society.

The majority of students are like, “Wait. I saw a video on that.” I push back and ask, “Where did the video come from? How do you know if it’s real?” Students often don’t care. “So what if it isn’t?”

To get students to care about the fact that their “news” (TikTok videos and such) might be fake, you have to start with topics that matter to them. I let students choose a topic they care about, and then we discuss how they would feel if they saw AI-generated content or fake news about that topic. What would they do? How would they feel? How would they verify or know what is true?

Some students truly believe we cannot know what is and isn’t true anymore. You have to walk students through the research process multiple times to prove that we can actually know what is true. Explore several articles on one event. Identify bias and leading language. Distill the facts. This helps students see that we CAN know what is true. We just have to be critical and careful consumers.

What challenges do you encounter in your teaching?

Distrust is a big one. Everybody comes into class with some kind of “Whose side are you teaching me?” mindset. Especially students coming from countries where the United States is considered untrustworthy, or students who have had court involvement or incarceration touch their home. I always say I’m not trying to teach you what to think, I’m trying to teach you how to think.

Equipping students with techniques to tell if something is true is essential, and then showing them that these techniques work and they CAN know what is and isn’t true.

About Kristy

Years as Educator: 10+

School/Organization: Adult and Community Learning Services, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)

Amanda Donley

Posted on by icivics

On Civic Education and the iCivics Youth Fellowship

I was fortunate to get one of the best civic educations possible when it comes to the iCivics Youth Fellowship and my 8th grade “We the People” class. As a result, I know my constitutional rights and I feel very prepared to vote and otherwise engage. 

But there were 200 other students in my grade level who opted out of civics, and I’m not sure a lot of my peers understand much about what is going on in government, how they are affected by it, and how they can affect it in return.

As part of the iCivics fellowship, I interviewed two groups of students—those who got the same classes I did those who did not.. The first group gave long, elaborate answers and there was open communication between the students. But when I interviewed kids who did not get this form of civic education, they gave one- or two- word answers, didn’t seem to really be familiar with the word “civics” or what it entailed, and didn’t really talk to each other. This exercise really put into perspective how even one single class can alter a person completely.

On the State of the Nation

It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when members of opposing political parties could “agree to disagree”—or even come together on certain issues. Today, it seems our elected officials are punished for working with members of another party, yet that’s the very foundation of the U.S. Constitution. As someone who is civically engaged, such actions don’t feel like serving the community—they feel antithetical to what they teach us in civics class.

When I think about what our nation could be, the word that springs to mind is “open.” Open to differences of opinion—not always having to be right. More open to listening to each other, and not always yelling.

On iCivics

With iCivics, it’s not just about supporting a program or a website. but actively supporting the next generation of this country. What iCivics does is amazing: it helps young people find the answers to questions they’re too afraid to ask. If “the next generation will “fix it,” then we need tools, knowledge, and support systems. We need the space to meet up a few times before figuring it all out and supporting programs that provide just this—a space to try, and mess up, and try again, and succeed—it fosters a true interest in our country.It’s about supporting an entire generation that can finally find its voice, and that will want to create a better world for all.

Saturnino Pajkos

Posted on by icivics

On the Youth Fellowship

I’ve always had a passion for helping people as well as a deep appreciation for education. My previous government teacher shared with me this opportunity to be a part of the iCivics Youth Fellowship, given we’d used iCivics materials before in class. So I applied… and got in! It’s been an honor and privilege to be a part of the movement for better civic education.

Being a part of the Fellowship had a profound impact on me. In my life, I haven’t met many people interested—dare I say passionate?—about government. Through the fellowship, I finally found a group of people to connect with. We had educated conversations and tried to resolve civics issues affecting us. 

I was surprised by the amount of engagement we had within our community. We weren’t just sitting there, saying what we already thought and knew. No, we actually interviewed our peers and gathered their many different viewpoints. Learning how to do that was so valuable to me. It helped me communicate better. It made our projects better. It helped the future of civics and our country.

The people in the Fellowship all had different backgrounds, opinions and career paths, yet we shared the common goal of improving civic education to promote these ideals to keep our Republic going. I found the others to be dedicated to this cause, and willing to put their political beliefs aside in order to work together. It was relieving to see, and makes me hopeful for the future.

On the Value of Civic Education

I think a lot of young people do care about what’s going on politically. I’ve had one-on-one conversations with people who are interested. But publicly, they don’t always express that. They fear the repercussions and the social effects. Part of that is just our age group—the social dynamics, the cliques in school…

There is a trend among some young people—they think, “Why bother?” Through media, they see little getting done, and constant bickering and fighting. However, I see that once young people get a proper civic education—once they sit down and make sense of how our government works, and why these systems are in place—they get a better sense of democracy as a system to uphold…one worth fighting for. Education plays a major role in evading crisis.

On Civic Education 

In Arizona, there is just one semester of a civics course; then you have to take the Arizona state-mandated civics test and receive a 70 or higher. It’s similar to the U.S. citizenship test. What’s become clear to me is your education depends on the quality of your teacher, given the teaching requirements are loose and open to interpretation. I was very lucky to have excellent teachers in government. But I also know students who didn’t have that. And realistically, you can only learn so much about a subject in six months.

For something like civic education, learning activities should be far more “hands-on.” It would certainly make it more interesting to more students. 

When you stop to think about it, civics is a set of skills that you use—and build on—for the rest of your life. We need practice. It’s learning how to be a savvy interpreter and user of media  It’s knowing how the judicial system works. It’s knowing what your rights are. It’s playing a role in your government and fulfilling your duties as a citizen. And it includes effective communication—how to convey different ideas between different people. Honestly, it’s part of the beauty of this country too—that we can speak openly in a class or debate setting.

I also think elected officials should be brought in more. It’s inspiring for students to have those who make the laws come in and talk to them. That has a major impact. Maybe classes could take trips down to their local town halls, or the courts, or even the legislature if you’re close enough to the state capital.

Games and hands-on simulations also definitely help. To have students doing the learning sticks with students more than traditional worksheets and reading.

On iCivics

The first time I used iCivics was in 8th grade. This is when we, in Arizona, start learning the basics about American history and government. My teacher mainly used the games, assigning us to play and then send her the results. 

Now I’ve always been passionate about government, but I saw how iCivics was even able to affect students who weren’t as interested in government or policymaking. It gave the teacher an opening to pique their interest. I saw how these games engaged us all. Soon, my classmates were picking up on new ideas about government, because the topics weren’t far-fetched. iCivics opened our eyes, bringing government down to a level we could understand and touching on things that concerned us. 

Civics, as a skill set, is not easy to learn. It’s an umbrella term for so much, and it’s unique to each individual. Yet it is such a key skill for us all to have in life.

iCivics tries to tackle this issue with hundreds and hundreds of resources for students to help understand how to address the world around them—knowing about government, policy, elected officials, how to check if a source is reliable, how to form a logical opinion, how to consider other opinions with respect. iCivics allows every voice to be heard. Its work will affect generations of Americans, and guide the course of our Republic.

Michael C. Martirone

Posted on by icivics

In 2016, I was a first-year government and politics teacher looking to connect with teachers who shared my interest and passion for civic education. A friend suggested I join the iCivics Educators Network and since then, my life hasn’t been the same.

The iCivics Educator Network not only helped me develop best practices for teaching civics and government, but has allowed me to collaborate with educators from across the country. I’ve had the opportunity to engage in meaningful pedagogical conversations, share civics resources, and seek new perspectives about my content matter—all of which has made me a better teacher for my students.

The iCivics Educator Network has provided me and my students with a platform like the youth fellowship to share our passion—and elevate the need—for equitable civic education throughout the country.

I have had speaking opportunities to explain why this is the time to fund civic education and give my perspective from the classroom on other topics, as well. The iCivics Educator Network has given me the opportunity not only to teach civics, but to become a part of it.

About Michael

Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey

Teaching experience: 16 years—​high school​ social studies including AP Government & Politics and World History. Over five years teaching Social Studies Education at Stockton University.

Select Awards: 

  • 2015, NJ Teacher of the Year, Finalist.
  • 2016, Princeton University Distinguished Teacher, Finalist.
  • 2020, NJ History Teacher of the Year