From Reflection to Action: A Choosing to Participate Toolkit

From Reflection to Action: A Choosing to Participate Toolkit includes a flexible collection of activities, readings, lessons, and strategies that teachers can use to develop a civic action experience that meets their classroom’s specific curriculum objectives, grade level, and available time.

The resources in this guide are infused with the understanding that effective “action civics” depends not only on providing civic education—grounded in the study of history and literature—that nurtures students’ capacity for reflection and action, but also on supporting these essential practices:

• Civic education begins in learner-centered classrooms that value students’ identities.
• Civic education must confront bias and develop a sense of the common good.
• Civic education must engage with the complexities of history.
• Civic education must introduce current events and controversial issues.

This guide also contains sample projects and assignments that illustrate how teachers can structure their Facing History unit to meet the growing requirement for civic action projects in a way that leads to meaningful and long-lasting experiences for students. For more information on planning a civic action project, view our Project Planning Tool.