International Issue: Global Hunger
As part of civics class, students are required to create a presidential platform for student council elections at the end of the year. Many students want to learn about poverty and world hunger in order to address the topic in their platforms. Students are introduced to the topic with a "cookie activity." Students are broken up into groups with unequal numbers of students, and given a specific amount of cookie (see Hunger Crisis to the right). Each group represents a different country around the world, with a different percentage of "food insecure" citizens. Groups with more people and less cookies represented countries with high levels of food insecurity. After this activity, we delve into the deeper issues of hunger around the world, and in the U.S.
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International Issue: Our Global Environment
At the end of the year, my 7th grade students prepare for Student Council elections. Our elections are run through my civics class, comprised of campaign speeches, primary elections, debates, and final elections. Students are required to include at least one international issue on their platform. Students always feel passionately about including environmental issues in their platform, so we complete a unit about our global environment in class. Students look in depth at environmental issues around the world (see first attachment to the right), and then participate in a simulation in which a mining company is threatening the environmental health of a small Bolivian town (see second attachment to the right).
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Quaker Culture & PacifismIn this individual lesson, students studied the beliefs of the Quaker community in the colonies. Students used primary sources to explore Quaker ideas, and deliberated the benefits and drawbacks of pacifism. Students were asked to think about how two opposing values, military strength and peace, can coexist in our society today.
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Information about the Quaker Tapestry Project can be found at www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk
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"Create-A-Colony" ProjectThis was a long-term project in which students worked in groups to complete most of the elements of the project. During this project, students chose a location for their colony, created a constitution, chose occupations for their settlers, deliberated pacifism, and took on the roles of individuals effected by colonization. Students practiced critical thinking skills, public speaking, cooperative learning skills, document analysis and writing skills. Elements of differentiated instruction include mixed-ability student groupings, student autonomy within assignments, and inclusive discussion.
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