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What is CIVICS?
Curriculum
Resources
Special Projects
Teacher Training
Meeting State Requirements
Bring CIVICS to Your School

 
What is CIVICS?

CIVICS helps 5th-8th grade teachers in the classroom by bringing Harvard undergraduates to work with school children to better understand the U.S. government and to critically think about their rights and responsibilities as citizens. We show students that they can and should play an active role in government because it directly affects their lives.

CIVICS is staffed, organized, and run by Harvard undergraduates. Volunteers work in teams of two or three to present the curriculum through a combination of discussions and hands-on activities. Each undergraduate team typically teaches one class per week for seven weeks each semester. Most classes last 45 minutes to 1 hour.

CIVICS is currently in three Cambridge schools: Baldwin School, Graham and Parks Alternative School, and Kennedy-Longfellow School; and in two Boston schools: Boston Renaissance Charter School, and Maurice J. Tobin School.

The Curriculum

The CIVICS curriculum teaches school children the structure of United States government and the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of being a U.S. citizen. While the lessons teach the mechanics of the political process, we also emphasize the importance of personal involvement.

The CIVICS curriculum is divided thematically according to the two semesters. The fall semester focuses on understanding federal government. The spring semester focuses understanding citizenship.

Resources

CIVICS is co-sponsored by the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics (www.iop.harvard.edu), which also sponsors such undergraduate programs as citizenship tutoring, policy discussion groups, the Fellows program and the prestigious forum; and the Phillips Brooks House Association (www.pbha.org), the Harvard community service umbrella organization. These organizations not only fund CIVICS, but also provide us with important connections to policy makers and the local community leaders that we utilize to benefit our students.
 

Special Projects

CIVICS is able to arrange guest visits by prominent officials and newsmakers through our partnerships with the IOP and PBHA. Many visiting Fellows to the Kennedy School visit CIVICS classes. Past guests include Adam Nagourney, the chief political correspondent for the New York Times, and Jeanne Shaheen, former New Hampshire Governor. We have also arranged visits by policy makers, including U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano. We make our best effort to have one such prominent visitor in each of our classes every semester.

At the end of the spring semester, we organize year-end projects. Past field trips have included visits to the JFK Presidential Library, the Massachusetts State House, and hearings at Boston and Cambridge courthouses. We are now placing an increasing emphasis on projects that allow students to learn about making change within their communities, including visits by public officials who will respond to students' letters and questions and presentations to school officials about a problem at the school.

Teacher Training

All volunteer teachers are Harvard undergraduates with an interest in government and an aptitude for working with children. Our volunteer retention rate is high, and volunteers tend to be exceptionally dedicated. We also have an apprentice system so that new volunteers always work alongside an experienced teacher.

At the beginning of each semester, we have a mandatory training session designed to introduce volunteers to each other and to the curriculum, to give them background information on the schools where they will be working, and to provide them with basic teaching strategies. We subsequently hold mandatory meetings every other week that are structured as workshops in which volunteers learn and build particular skills, such as running effective classroom discussions. We also critique mock discussions and activities.

There is continual assessment of our volunteers through evaluations by CIVICS students, classroom teachers, and fellow volunteers.

CIVICS and Massachusetts State Requirements

In addition to the inherent pedagogical and civic value of learning about the purpose and operation of American government, the material taught by the Harvard CIVICS program assists students in meeting the curricular objectives mandated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Fifth Grade

For 5th grade students, CIVICS addresses the following learning standards laid out in the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework. By learning about these topics, students will undoubtedly perform better on the MCAS test in history and social sciences which will be administered at the end of the 5th grade.

    * 5.23

    * 5.24

    * 5.25

    * 5.26

    * 5.27

Middle School

For middle school students, CIVICS touches on the following learning standards in the MHSSCF for US History I. Students will be tested on this material at the end of either the 10th or 11th grade depending upon the schedule adopted by individual schools.

    * USI.2

    * USI.7

    * USI.8

    * USI.9

    * USI.11

    * USI.12

    * USI.13

    * USI.14

    * USI.15

    * USI.16

    * USI.17

    * USI.18

    * USI.19

    * USI.20

    * USI.21

The CIVICS program understands that class time is valuable, particularly given the increasing prominence of tests like the MCAS. We are more than willing to work with principals and teachers to ensure that the CIVICS curriculum benefits schools.

Bring CIVICS into Your Classrooms

An unfortunate reality in our society is that young people often feel disenchanted and alienated from the very democratic processes and institutions that were designed to serve them. Using engaging, interactive lessons, CIVICS seeks to fill a void in students' education and to affirm that they can be active participants in government.

We know that your day is full and that it might be difficult to schedule CIVICS for your students, but classroom teachers tell us they are happy they did. We are flexible in our scheduling and are happy to accommodate your schedule and your needs when arranging to volunteer in your classrooms.

We hope that you will consider having CIVICS volunteers teach in your classroom and will be happy to meet with you at your convenience to discuss implementing CIVICS in your school. Should you desire more information about the CIVICS program or want to schedule a meeting, please feel free to contact us:

IOP co-chair: Jeff Howard

Email: jwhoward@fas.harvard.edu

PBHA co-chair: Allison Frost

Email: afrost@fas.harvard.edu