Civic Education: Conversations Ramping Up in Texas
by Rachel Ross Communications Department Coordinator Fort Bend ISD
The charge for schools and districts is to help students think critically and to build citizens who contribute to their local communities. Civics education is an integral part of this comprehensive education. Among his priorities for the 87th legislative session, Gov. Greg Abbott listed increased civics education for students as a focus area, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle quickly filed bills for consideration. They all sought to establish professional development for teachers, provide students with simulations of democracy in actions and teach media literacy. Civic engagement is a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors that connect citizens to their community and encompasses a variety of the social studies themes included in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), established by the State Board of Education. Student awareness brings the real world into the classroom With students now consuming more media, the events of the past year have made their way into the classroom. Teachers and school staff have had to grapple with not only the stress of the ongoing pandemic but also the current events, which have a personal impression on their students. Chassidy Olainu-Alade, the community and civic engagement coordinator for Fort Bend ISD, believes that in these instances, teachers serve best as facilitators to foster healthy discussion and expression. She was a teacher for several years before administration and says the classroom is where students first learn to be engaged citizens. "The classroom should be the setting for structured conversations and academic discourse, where the teacher is a facilitator whose purpose is to clarify misconceptions and offer counter perspectives free from
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Summer 2021 | www.TSPRA.org
