Making Civics the new STEM

It's Civics O'Clock in America: Carpe Diem!

I'm finding myself speaking a lot about civics education lately. I'm fielding questions about how it can be improved. What is next? What will it look like?

As long as people are asking what civics education needs to be, this is the framework: 

1. Start with inquiry. Always.  - Student voice has to drive learning.
2. Problem solve - Equip kids with the tools they need to research, gather evidence and make their claim. They will want to understand the structures and mechanisms of government if they have a need to know.
3. Value literacy beyond reading - When readers who struggle are empowered to make a difference, they find motivation to read and gather information from sources beyond the written word. Literacy is multidimensional. For many students who struggle to engage in school their interpersonal literacy and storytelling power is untapped potential.
4. Equity- Ensure every learner has what he or she needs to be successful by ensuring that they see diverse problem-solvers represented in current events and in history.
5. Cultural humility means admitting you aren't the expert on others' cultures or view of the world. Empower children to tell their story and use their own voice. Create a brave space where those voices are lifted up and heard. Teach empathy.
6. Ground learning in understanding - Read the world to read the words as Paulo Freire said. Build confidence in context and children will be motivated to want to know more. The desire to learn and wonder beyond the classroom natural follows. Those who wonder about problems beyond the classroom and learn to problem solve become civic-minded global citizens

I've even been asked if balanced civic education is  possible.
Of course it's possible!
If I can become the poster child for civics education, anything is possible. 
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It just takes the real world, creativity, and listening to kids.
All apologies to Mr. Palmer, my 12th grade social science survey teacher, but I never wanted anything to do with civics. I loved Mr. Palmer's survey class and it influenced the historian and teacher I became but I took the class to avoid senior-year civics. 
Cue 2011- My first teaching job was as a long-term substitute teaching early US history with a focus on government and civics. 
When confronted with a need to care about the structure of government, I found a way to care about it and make kids care

When our national politics became so frightening that currents events quizzes became anxiety-inducing, I knew that it was civics o'clock. Our children needed to be equipped with tools to tackle the problems they see in the world.
As a teacher my job is empower them to change the world.
Social studies teachers - it is time to seize the day. This is our moment.