10) Social Studies teachers should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide
instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of Civic Ideals and Practices.
Describe and provide examples of how you have planned, organized and evaluated learning experiences for the
study of Civic Ideals and Practices. Critically evaluate the extent to which you feel you were successful in
addressing Civic Ideals and Practices as a social studies teacher. How will you continue to incorporate this theme
within your teaching?
Civics/Econ
Civic Duties vs Civic Responsibilities, Path to Citizenship, Voting, Analysis of
the Pledge of Allegiance (Early Field Internship)
Final Exam Question 10 Response
Civic Ideals and Practices is a theme that I have not really had much practice
with during my early field internship and my student teaching. I have built lessons
around Civic Ideals and Practices. One mini lesson that I created during my early
field internship was to break down the Pledge of Allegiance. My co-op teacher told
me that a lot of students were asking her why the Pledge of Allegiance was
important. So I decided that it would be really interesting to break down the Pledge
of Allegiance so that students could see why it was important.
For this lesson I organized the lesson on the notion that students did not
understand the purpose of the Pledge of Allegiance. I then asked myself why do
they not know the purpose of the Pledge of Allegiance. I thought that by breaking
down the Pledge of Allegiance and then discussing each word as a class that they
might have a better understanding of the pledge.
Lessons that deal with Civic Ideals and Practices should be connected to the
students. The question “Why?” is asked a lot with topics that concern Civic Ideals
and Practices. This question is something to take into consideration when crafting a
lesson on Civic Ideals and Practices. Why is the Pledge of Allegiance is important?
Why is voting important? Why are debates in Congress important?
As a teacher when dealing with a topic around this theme it is important to
connect the topic to the student. One student asked me during my student teaching,
“Why are debates important in Congress?” I responded that without debates then
all sides would not be able to voice their opinion that true dialogue is important
when making important decisions that affect everyone. I asked how would you feel
if there was one person in Congress making all the decisions.
When creating lesson on Civil Ideals and Practices it is important to answer
the question “Why?” or provide students with a forum to discuss the question
“Why?” This is really the first and only step. Possible methods for discussing the
notion of “Why?” is to create a Just Do It! And Wrap Up Activity where you have
students talk about the importance of the topic and etc. Answering the question
“Why?” is something I believe is very important when crafting a lesson around
Civil Ideals and Practices. The important thing is that you allow multiple
perspectives and that you generate dialogue with students to answer “Why?”