CREATE’s Summer Civic Learning Academy (SCLA) is open to MCS secondary teachers. In-person events will be held from June 5 to June 15 from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm at the Ball State University Student Center. Both Fridays, June 6th and June 16th, will be reserved to allow teachers to explore related themes and topics individually. The SCLA will include a pre- and post-orientation webinar. Teachers will develop an action plan and lesson plans related to their specific content areas.

Sessions will be held at the Ball State University Student Center. Meals and resources are included. The SCLA is a paid professional development opportunity.

To see a list of SCLA Presenters click HERE.

Day 1: Monday, June 5th

Session 1: Welcome Session

Presenter – David Roof
Time – 10 – 10:50 a.m.
Location – SC 301-2

Session 2: Breakout Sessions

2a.Middle School Mandate—all Middle School teachers
Presenters – Tim Kalgreen, David Roof, Eric Grim
Time – 11 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Location – SC 306

2b. Civics Across Content Areas—all High School teachers
Presenter – Trygve Throntveit
Time – 11 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – Civics is not just about U.S. history, government, and politics—it is about a certain approach to individual and collective learning that helps communities thrive. Moreover, history, government, politics, and other modes of learning and acting in public all have deep implications for other content areas, and vice versa. This workshop will explore a few pedagogical principles and techniques of civic learning that can be reinforced in classes on any subject and that simultaneously enhance student engagement with, retention of, critically creative attitudes toward subject matter.

Lunch 1-2pm

Session 3: We The People Curriculum

Presenter – Tim Kalgreen
Time – 2 – 3:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – We The People is a program to help teachers engage students more deeply in civics, government, and constitutional understanding, from textbook to content to assessment. This session will demonstrate how We The People helps teachers by bringing in inquiry-based content and an authentic assessment to let the students showcase their depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding. It also will review the available range and teaching resources of the Indiana Bar Foundation and additional professional development opportunities.

Day 2: Tuesday, June 6th

Session 1: Linking Content with Dispositions

Presenter – Trygve Throntveit
Time – 10 – 11:50 a.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – How can we ensure students “know the basics” without imposing our assumptions and conclusions on them? This workshop will explore ways to convey knowledge of U.S. history and government to students while also fostering their awareness of and capacity for their roles as civic agents: co-creators rather than mere receptacles of knowledge about their society and its implications for their present and future public lives.

Lunch 12-1pm

Session 2: Make As You Go

Presenter – Drew Shermeta
Time – 1 – 1:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – Based on years of reflections on the intentional design of a classroom that fosters civic skills such as freedom, responsibility, and productivity, this session weaves together aspects of democratic education, Universal Design for Learning, and Mind, Brain, and Education principles to empower students in all classrooms.

Session 3: Using Maps in the Classroom and Mapmaking with Google Maps and StepMap

Presenter – Melissa Gentry
Time – 2 – 3:50 p.m.
Location – Room 223 Bracken Library
Description – This session will demonstrate how to make custom online and traditional paper maps to enhance and complement K-12 civics and social studies lessons. Participants will create a map and print one large copy to start or build their cartography collection.

Day 3: Wednesday, June 7th

Session 1: Controversial Topics

Presenter – Trygve Throntveit
Time – 10 – 11:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – We all know that tricky questions open the widest fields for learning—but that’s only if you don’t have to cross a minefield first. This workshop will explore techniques for addressing controversial topics—those embedded in the curriculum and those students bring with them to class—in deep and meaningful ways, while protecting teachers and students from backlash.

Lunch 12-1pm

Session 2: Local History

Presenter – James Connolly
Time – 1 – 1:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – This session will examine two narratives of local history, one based on the city’s social and economic evolution and one derived from research on Muncie as “Middletown.” The tensions between these two narratives can help define the social and civic challenges confronting the citizens of Muncie and other, similarly situated cities.

Session 3: Bus Tour

Presenter – James Connolly
Time – 2 – 3:50 p.m.
Description – The bus tour will focus on sites along or near the White River, using the river corridor to explore important elements of Muncie’s past and present as well as connections between the community’s history and its natural environment. Stops may include West Side Park, Beech Grove Cemetery, Tuhey Pool, the Fieldhouse, Minnetrista, the Craddock Wetlands, and/or Kitselman Energy Park.

Day 4: Thursday, June 8th

Session 1: Restorative Justice and Community Building

Presenter – Sherry Wolfe
Time – 10 – 10:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – The roots of citizenship grow where children live and develop as human beings. This session will delve into the model of restorative practices in classrooms that unlock the potential for a thriving, dynamic, student-led community–the generator of self-governance and involved citizenship.

Session 2: Focus Group Discussion and Survey

Presenter – Jerrell Cassady
Time – 11 – 11:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2

Lunch 12-1pm

Session 3: Session Youth Voice to Action
Presenters – Stephanie Serriere, Elizabeth Osborn

Time – 1 – 2:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – The First Amendment provides us with all the tools needed to be active participants in the civic life of our nation. Do students have the freedom to use them? Participate in hands-on activities to explore these rights through primary source analysis and classroom activities that focus on current and historical examples of youth in action. Materials will be connected to both Indiana Standards and the C3 Framework.

Session 4: Liberty and Justice for All

Presenter – Denise Millben Williams
Time – 3 – 3:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – Civics must include correct information. People of color view Civics as an uninteresting and unattainable subject that begins and ends in our nation’s capital, not realizing that Civics begins with truth in our community and grows to become the truth we respect in our nation.

Day 5: Friday, June 9th
Individual Work Day
 
Day 6: Monday, June 12th

Session 1: TRUST ME: The Media Explained and Explored

Presenter – Kate Elliott
Time – 10 – 11:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – This session will explore how to access, analyze, and create media messages; reflect on the power of storytelling to create empathy, understanding, and action; and build and strengthen vital skills — like inquiry and self-expression — that lead to informed, engaged citizens.

Lunch 12-1pm

Session 2: Elected Officials Panel

Presenters – Delaware County Commissioner Sherry Riggin, Mayor Dan Ridenour, and State Representative Sue Errington
Time – 1 – 1:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – These public officials will discuss their experiences in their public service careers, including what prompted them to pursue public life, their jobs, insights into the campaign process, and their workdays. The panel also will discuss how elected officials and teachers can collaborate to improve civics education.

Session 3: Civics and Career Readiness

Presenter – David Roof
Time – 2 – 2:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301
Description – This session will explore the extent to which civic identities, skills, and dispositions are valued by employers, in both the public and private sectors. The National Association of Colleges and Employers Jobs Outlook 2022 survey found that nearly all employers surveyed ranked critical thinking, communication, and teamwork as “very” to “extremely” important qualities in new hires out of college. (Technological proficiency, though desired, was far lower on the NACE group’s scale of priorities.) Only around half of surveyed employers rated recent graduates “very” or “extremely” proficient critical thinkers and communicators. This session also seeks to engage teacher in a discussion on civic education in relation to career readiness. Examples of civic related skills relevant to employment are things like communication across different perspectives, the ability to interact with people who might have different perspectives, and how to work collaboratively with people from diverse populations. Examples of civic dispositions fostered through education would be things like how people become better consumers of news and participate in various forms of public service.-2

Session 4: Teacher Leadership

Presenter – Jill Bradley-Levine
Time – 3 – 3:50 pm
Location – SC 301-2
Description – Many teachers associate teacher leadership with positions such as instructional coach, department chair, PD lead, or mentor. However, the concept of teacher leadership is much broader than roles and responsibilities associated with these formal positions. This session will offer a broader view of the ways that teachers practice leadership through their daily interactions with students and colleagues and introduce ways that teacher leaders can influence other members of their school community to embrace civics education.

Day 7: Tuesday, June 13th

Session 1: Civics Solutions for the 21st Century

Presenter – Holly Korbey
Time – 10 – 11:50 am
Location – Forum Room, Room 237
Description – Why does civics education matters, and how do classrooms pull it off successfully? Social studies and civics education aren’t getting enough attention—and the consequences are serious. In this session, Korbey presents the case for why civics education is so crucial to a flourishing democracy. Building on research and her book Building Better Citizens, Korbey examines different civics programs in districts and schools around the country, highlighting how different programs work and what makes them so successful. Participants will explore how students improve history knowledge, how educators conduct conversations on controversial topics to improve student learning, why mock-legislature programs are so successful in creating more engaged citizens, why research-based media literacy programs are so critical, and more.

Lunch 12-1pm

Session2: Community of Philosophical Inquiry

Presenter – Sarah Vitale
Time – 1 – 2:50 p.m.
Location – Forum Room, Room 237
Description – “Community of Philosophy Inquiry” (CPI) is a method used by practitioners of the Philosophy for Children movement (P4C) to facilitate dialogue and participate in a CPI. In this session, participants will learn about the value of P4C, especially as it applies to civics education and the basics of CPI.

Session2: Preserving Democracy through Civics

Presenter – Julie Snider
Time – 3 – 3:50 p.m.
Location – Forum Room, Room 237
Description – This session discusses the current threat to public education and, therefore, the threat to our Democracy. Do we, as educators, have a responsibility to save both? How we can use civics education to save our Democracy and, at the same time, ensure public education survives this threat?

Day 8: Wednesday, June 14th

Session 1: People’s Planning Academy

Presenter – John West
Time – 10 – 11:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2

Lunch 12-1pm

Session 2: Collaboration Time for Teachers and Students
Facilitator – John West
Time – 1 – 3:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2

Day 9: Thursday, June 15th

Session 1: Afghan Students and Families
Presenter – Bibi Bahrami, Reza Paikar, Ken Holland, Jennifer Erickson
Time – 10 – 10:50 a.m.
Location – SC 301-2
Description – Panelists discuss how to best assist Afghans new to Muncie, including the knowledge needed, different teaching and engagement strategies, navigating cultural differences, and avoiding unintentional mistakes. Panelists also will use their experiences to discuss what does and does not work when engaging these students and their families.

Session 2: Survey and Focus Group

Presenter –
Time – 11 – 11:50 a.m.
Location – SC 301-2

Lunch 12-1pm

Collaboration Time for Teachers and Students

Facilitator – Jill Bradley-Levine
Time – 1 – 3:50 p.m.
Location – SC 301-2

Dinner and Recognitions

Presenter – David Roof
Time – 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Location – Student Center Music Lounge, Room 216

Please RSVP for the dinner by clicking HERE.

Day 10: Friday, June 16th
Individual Work Day