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Tools and Strategies

Strengthening Our Democracy High School Civics Curriculum

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Overview

Strengthening Our Democracy: Civic Participation in the 21st Century is a comprehensive and flexible one-semester curriculum for high school students. Educators can use the curriculum to help students explore their civic engagement and examine complex topics through an anti-bias lens.

A selection of lessons are featured here now. The full curriculum is coming soon! Check back again for updates.

Why Our Civics Curriculum

ADL brings a unique perspective to the civics classroom that focuses on the values of diversity, respectful dialogue and active participation as essential for a democratic society. ADL’s approach to civic learning is informed by a rich history of providing anti-bias education and advocating for civil rights.

Strengthening Our Democracy is designed to deepen students’ civic participation by building skills for understanding and challenging the biases that perpetuate social injustice. The goals of the curriculum are to support productive discussion and examination of controversial and difficult civics topics, while enabling students to define their civic engagement and reflect on their civic identity through an anti-bias and social justice lens.

Anti-Bias Approach to Civics

Why combine anti-bias and civics education?

When the ultimate purpose of civic learning is for students to promote democratic ideals and create a more just world at every level of society, ADL believes that introducing anti-bias education supports teachers and students in reaching that goal.

ADL’s anti-bias education engages students in actively challenging prejudice, stereotyping and all forms of discrimination and fosters an equitable school climate that is safe, inclusive and respectful—a learning environment in which all community members, including students, seek to understand and appreciate diverse experiences and perspectives. ADL views these principles and practices as foundational to developing empathy and a civic disposition that is open to the experiences and viewpoints of others, and essential in a world that is both increasingly diverse and divided.

ADL believes civic learning should:

  • Enable students to build civic knowledge of government structures and processes in a global context.
  • Incorporate SEL to inspire a civic disposition characterized by empathy and a sense of civic responsibility.
  • Develop essential civic skills including critical thinking, research, media literacy and communication to enable
  • informed civic participation and advocacy for our founding principles of democracy, freedom and equity.

ADL integrates civic learning with anti-bias principles and practices to:

  • Explore the complexity of individual and group identity.
  • Interpret differences through the lenses of language and culture. 
  • Examine and challenge bias.
  • Understand power, privilege and systemic discrimination.
  • Take action that fosters equity and social justice.

How to Use the Curriculum

Our curriculum includes a collection of timely lesson plans that engage students in understanding how government works and their role in improving society through civic participation.

Educators can teach this curriculum in the following ways:

  1. Teach the entire curriculum (80+ lessons) over a semester. We encourage you to teach the units sequentially, especially if you are teaching a civics class over a semester. By progressing through the units in this way, students will gain skills and knowledge in a scaffolded and comprehensive way.
  2. Choose individual lesson plans. Educators may find it useful to use a specific lesson or lessons from a particular unit to support ongoing curricular content.

Unit 1. A Civic Mindset

The capacity for students to communicate their perspectives and remain open to the possibility of changing their minds cultivates empathy and skills that are foundational to civic life and global citizenship.

Students will be able to:

  • Create a brave space for themselves and others.
  • Participate in civil discourse.
  • Identify components of social emotional learning.
  • Identify implicit bias.

Unit 2. Constitution

Key to students’ civic knowledge and skills is understanding the Constitution and how to exercise their own rights to propose amendments that address important issues of the day and create positive changes in their communities.

Students will be able to:

  • Analyze the Constitution and its Amendments.
  • Identify the rights and responsibilities detailed in the Constitution and its Amendments.
  • Learn the process of bill writing and passing a bill through legislation.

Unit 3. Government

The way the U.S. government works is extraordinary and powerful but the actual day-to-day operations are complex and potentially confusing. Civic participation depends on understanding how local, state, federal and tribal governments work.

Students will be able to:

  • Describe various forms of governments.
  • Explain how a representative democracy works.
  • Distinguish among the different powers of government.
  • Interpret the Rule of Law.

Unit 4. Participation in Democracy

Interpretation of the Constitution is still evolving. Examining civic issues raised by current events provides opportunities for students to connect knowledge of the Constitution and the democratic process to their day-to-day lives.

Students will be able to:

  • Examine various ways of participating in civic action.
  • Recognize the ways in which people have participated in civic action throughout history to today.
  • Analyze how identity and bias can shape thinking and behavior.

Unit 5. Identity & Membership

Exploring how people experience the immigration and citizenship process is key to grasping issues of identity and membership that arise when we talk about U.S. citizenship and anti-immigrant bias.

Students will be able to:

  • Differentiate the various ways people can enter the U.S.
  • Argue for a specific immigration policy.

Unit 6. Media Literacy

We process an astonishing and overwhelming quantity of information daily. Analyzing media sources and recognizing the role of bias in media challenges students to think critically about how they can influence civil life and initiate change.

Students will be able to:

  • Evaluate various forms of media, including digital and non-digital sources.
  • Examine algorithmic and media bias.
  • Analyze picture messaging.