Lesson Plan:
Lesson-Specific Standards
This lesson addresses the national standards listed below.
From the Center for Civic Education's National Standards for Civics
and Government:
What are the distinctive characteristics of American society?
Students will be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on:
- The importance of volunteerism in American society.
- The contemporary role of organized groups in American social and
political life.
What is American political culture?
Students will be able to explain the importance of shared political and
civic beliefs and values to the maintenance of constitutional democracy
in an increasingly diverse American society.
How are state and local governments organized and what do they do?
Students will be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues
regarding the relationships between state and local governments, and citizen
access to those governments.
How does the American political system provide for choice and opportunities
for participation?
Students will be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about:
- How the public agenda is set.
- The formation and implementation of public policy.
What are the responsibilities of citizens?
Students will be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues
regarding the personal and civic responsibilities of citizens in American
constitutional democracy.
What civic dispositions or traits of private and public character are
important to the presentation and improvement of American constitutional
democracy?
Students will be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on the importance
to American constitutional democracy of dispositions that facilitate thoughtful
and effective participation in public affairs.
How can citizens take part in civic life?
Students will be able to:
- Evaluate, take, and defend positions about the means that citizens
should use to monitor and influence the formation and implementation
of public policy.
- Explain the importance of knowledge to competent and responsible
participation in American democracy.
From the National Council for the Social Studies's Expectations of
Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (1994)
- Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for
the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority,
and governance.
- Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for
the study of ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic
republic.
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