Citrus Ridge Civics Academy Grand Opening Celebration

I apologize for the delay in posting. Here at the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship, we have been swamped with work, and finding the time to write a few words has been tough, but I hope to get back on track! Let’s start with some excellent news.

As you are likely aware, Polk County has opened a new public K-8 school with a civics focus, called Citrus Ridge: A Civics Academy. The FJCC is excited to be playing a small part in the school, offering support to teachers, students, and administration. To some degree, the school was sponsored by Congressman Dennis Ross (R-FL 15th). In early December, the school had its official ‘Grand Opening’, and we were happy to be there.

Citrus Ridge Grand Opening Program

My own favorite part of the program involved student leaders across the grade levels reading their essays on good citizenship, such as the young elementary student below, who will, I think, go on to big things one day!

Congressman Ross himself arrived just in time to speak to the audience of students, staff, parents, and community members. He spoke highly of the importance of civic education and of civility, and how important it is that we understand each other as citizens. He also officially presented to the school principal, Kathy Conely, a wonderful gift. It features the flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in honor of Citrus Ridge, as well as Congressional documents and records announcing the creation of the school and its goals.

We also got a wonderful tour of the new school, led by students and the school administration, prior to a ribbon-cutting.

We are looking forward to continuing to work with Citrus Ridge and the great people there. You can see some much better pictures of the event at the Ledger! 

Integrating Civics across the Curriculum and Into Reading!

Tags

Florida, online, social studies education, Teachers

One of the most difficult tasks for a social studies teacher to do is to effectively integrate our content into alignment with the expectations of state reading standards. Here in Florida, we use the ‘Language Arts Florida Standards‘ (or LAFS), which are a modified version of ELA Common Core.  Over at Citrus Ridge, Polk County’s new K-8 Civics Academy, Ms. Heather Paden, who works as a special education and reading teacher for grades 6,7, and 8, has worked to provide her fellows, and their students, with support in reaching the civic mission of the school while still meeting the expectations of the LAFS benchmarks.

Using the short readings that are available through ‘Achieve 3000‘, Ms. Paden has developed guiding PowerPoints that help the students think through the reading using a civics lens. These activities prompt students to develop their civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions while also working to ensure growth in their reading, writing, and speaking proficiency.

For example, one of the weekly reading tasks involves using a reading from ‘Achieve 3000’ that concerns the plight of refugees who are fleeing oppression in Myanmar. In this reading, with features Angelina Jolie discussing her visit to a long-term refugee camp in Thailand, students are exposed (at least on a surface level) to what it might be like to be forced to live without a true home to call your own. Throughout the reading, vocabulary terms are hyperlinked to better ease students to an understanding.

In the accompanying PowerPoint, NO PLACE TO CALL HOME 9-6, Ms. Paden provides students with an overview question that will drive their thinking with this reading throughout the week. In this case, that question is ‘How can we help others whom are homeless?’. She then introduces students to terms and concepts, particularly ones that can be related to the discipline of civics, through a variety of reading and writing strategies.

For me, the acronym activity is particularly powerful and capable of provoking deeper thought. As the example here suggests, students can connect their background knowledge and their reading to civic dispositions through this model.

After working on reading strategies with the students, such as locating key details, she asks students to make a prediction (an important skill that is relevant both for ELA and for Social Studies!) that is rich in civic meaning:

This question is capable of prompting a great deal of discussion, and serves to really get students to think about consequences and how actions of governments may impact the individual.

Using both graphics and text, Ms. Paden then works on building student background knowledge and their personal vocabularies to facilitate reading.

Finally, she finishes up on at least three days with a ‘Civics Connection’, ensuring that she connects to the underlying purpose of this wonderful civics academy at Citrus Ridge: integrating civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions wherever and whenever possible.

These questions dive deep into the well of civic dispositions, having students consider ways in which they can facilitate change while connecting their classwork to their own lived experience!

Kudos to Ms. Paden for the work she has done and for her efforts on behalf of the students and teachers of Citrus Ridge. It is only with the hard work of teachers like her that the mission of Citrus Ridge, the creation of a strong generation of Florida citizens, will be realized.

If you or your school are doing excellent work in civic education, please shoot me an email or leave a comment. We would love to hear from you!

Citrus Ridge: A New PUBLIC SCHOOL Civics Academy in Florida

Tags

C3, Citrus Ridge, Civic Work, Florida

Over the past few months, the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship has worked with teachers, administrators, and district leaders in Polk County to help with the creation of a brand new public school, one dedicated to K-8 civic education: Citrus Ridge.

 

Citrus Ridge, created with the support of local Congressman Dennis Ross, is a K-8 institution that will embed civic learning and civic life throughout school governance, relationships, and curriculum.

Citrus Ridge’s very mission statement is centered around civics and the importance of civic life:

• Community
• Inclusion
• Variety
• Innovation
• Collaboration
• Success

Our own Valerie McVey and Peggy Renihan, as well as our Teacher Practioners in Residence, have been heavily involved in the planning and work with Citrus Ridge. Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the first leadership team meeting for the school, and it was a great joy to see these teachers and administrators hard at work in learning about and understanding how the emphasis on civic life makes Citrus Ridge a unique public school.

A heavy emphasis was placed on ensuring that school culture reflects that civic engagement and civic learning.

T.U.D.E aligns well with both the C3 Framework and with the Six Proven Practices of Civic Education, both of which will play a role in the curriculum and instruction of the school.

So what exactly is T.U.D.E? These principles draw on a number of sources for inspiration: the state of Florida’s civics benchmarks, the C3 Framework, the Six Proven Practices, and others. Take a look at them below. How do you see them reflecting the importance of civic knowledge, civic skills, and civic dispositions?

Most excitingly, we are in the process of finding ways to integrate the concept of action civics into the school and curriculum. It will involve students in addressing problems within their school and community, developing the skills of citizenship such as collaboration, critical thinking, deliberation, and discussion, and encourage students to ‘live’ their citizenship. Some examples are: providing towels for an animal shelter, discussing more recess time versus special area versus free choice, deliberating the school dress code, and thinking critically about the causes and effects of current event that effects our community, state, or nation. Indeed, our new action civics coordinator (reviewing applications now!) will spend a great deal of time at Citrus Ridge as we start to launch this school into the civic stratosphere.

There is so much more to say and do concerning Citrus Ridge: A Civics Academy. We will keep you updated as we get closer to the start of the year and into the new school year. FJCC is excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with some excellent people on this, and let me just thank all of the team that has worked so hard to get this off of the ground. It is a great step forward for civic education in Florida and, we hope, it will be a model for this state and the nation!