The 2008 We the People: Project Citizen National Showcase is the focus of this months podcast. The showcase, cosponsored by the Center for Civic Education and the National Conference of State Legislatures, was held in conjunction with NCSLs Legislative Summit in New Orleans. Kaci Patterson interviews Karl Kurtz, director of the Trust for Representative Democracy at the NCSL, who speaks about the how the NCSL and the Center collaborate to introduce policymakers to students making a difference through their Project Citizen portfolios. Patterson then speaks with Michael Fischer, director of Project Citizen, who discuss the importance and impact of Project Citizen. Carol Paola provides the perspective of a teacher successfully implementing the program with her students at WJ Quarles Elementary School in Long Beach, Mississippi. Don't forget to post a comment here or write a review and vote for the podcast at iTunes and Podcast Alley.
Center for Civic Education

Brian Schultz worked as a teacher at Richard E. Byrd Community Academy in Chicago, where in 2004 he led a predominantly African American class in an experiment in educational innovation. Using Project Citizen, his fifth-grade students took on the deplorable conditions of their school as an issue of public policy. Brian has recently written a book about his experience at Byrd Academy titled Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom . In this interview, Brian explains how his students took charge of their education, how they learned, and how he learned from them. Brian Schultz is currently an assistant professor of education and honors faculty at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.
Center for Civic Education

For Saul Garlick, participating in We the People was a life-changing experience. In 2001, while he was still in high school, he started a nonprofit organization called the Student Movement for Real Change, through which college students work on health and education projects in rural communities, primarily in Kenya and South Africa. Garlick participated in the We the People program during the 2000-2001 school year. His class at Denver's East High School placed second in the We the People national finals. Garlick discusses civic responsibility, civic virtue, the American spirit of voluntarism, and how being the son of South African immigrants affected his We the People experience. He also gives advice to students participating in simulated congressional hearings. This interview is the second in a new special series for the Education for Democracy Podcast: the We the People Alumni Spotlight. Garlick is our second guest for the series, which consists of interviews of former We the People students who talk about their experiences with the program, share their inspiring stories, and describe how We the People has affected their lives.
Center for Civic Education

The Civic Education Resources Inventory was introduced this summer during the 13th World Congress on Civic Education in Cape Town, South Africa. CERI is an online collection of 588 annotated citations provided by 38 contributors and derived from the civic education literature of 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Alden Craddock and Richard Nuccio discuss CERI and describe what the website provides to civic educators worldwide. Craddock is the former director of the International Democratic Education Institute of Bowling Green State University. Nuccio is the Director of Civitas International Programs. Funding to develop CERI was provided by the Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative and the United States Agency for International Development through Higher Education for Development. CERI can be found at http://ceri.civnet.org .
Center for Civic Education

This month we discuss the 12th World Congress on Civic Education, held this year
in Morocco in the cities of Casablanca and Ifrane. First we interview Rick Nuccio,
director of the Civic International Programs at the Center, to give us an idea of
what the World Congress was all about. Then we listen as Suzanne Soule, director
research and evaluation for the Center, interviews Zafarullah Khan, director of the
Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, and Mirshariff Tillah, president of the
Philippine Center for Civic Education and Democracy. We've added a new feature to
the podcast: the Question of the Month. Don't forget to write a review and vote for
the podcast at iTunes and Podcast Alley. Coming soon: Show Notes and the Conversations
on Civics Podcast.
Center for Civic Education

The bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, February 12, 2009, is a
good time to reflect on Lincoln and his contributions to American
constitutionalism and citizenship. It provides a particularly good
opportunity for high school teachers to introduce their students to
Lincoln's legacy. In this month's podcast, John J. Patrick, Professor
Emeritus of Education at Indiana University, describes Lincoln's legacy
as president during a troubled time in our nation's history. Professor
Patrick elaborates on the themes presented in his free lesson for high
school students, which can be found at http://Lincoln.civiced.org . He
discusses habeas corpus during the Lincoln era, presidential powers,
slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Lincoln's thoughts about the
Declaration of Independence, among other topics.

Length: 22 min 13 sec

File size: 20.3 mb

Show notes
Center for Civic Education

This month's podcast is devoted to a discussion of the We the People:
the Citizen and the Constitution program's unique method of getting
students engaged in learning about the Constitution---the simulated
congressional hearing. We the People Director Robert S. Leming describes
how simulated congressional hearings are used not only as a dynamic and
engaging way to assess student performance, but how they also allow
students to evaluate, take, and defend positions on relevant historical
and contemporary issues related to the Constitution.

Length: 20 min 20 sec

File size: 18.6 mb

Show notes
Center for Civic Education

This interview is the first in a new special series for the Education for Democracy Podcast: the We the People Alumni Spotlight. Megan Linford is our first guest for the series, which consists of interviews with former We the People students who talk about their experiences with the program, share their inspiring stories, and describe how We the People has affected their lives. Megan Linford competed in the We the People program during the 1997-98 school year. Her class at Centennial High School won the California state finals and advanced to the national finals. Linford speaks about what it was like to compete as a We the People student, what the program meant to her, and how it affected her career choice. She also offers advice to students competing in We the People national finals.
Center for Civic Education

In this episode, Ben Bohmfalk, a Project Citizen teacher at Colorado's Basalt High School, talks about the power of new media in the classroom. Ben shares his experiences using of new media with journalism professors and high school students in Egypt and with his Project Citizen class in Colorado. He explains some of the benefits of new media and warns about its potential pitfalls.
Center for Civic Education