by: Julie B., League Librarian
This review is on The American Promise. Like many of you, I was teaching my children about citizenship and the US Government. I hated how dry the material was in our text until I discovered this wonderful program. It was like a breath of fresh air. Unlike many other programs that I've "worked in" to our studies over the years, this program was far from being an added complication. Instead, it worked to simplify the material and present it in a way that made my kids ask for more. By involving the student in discussion and decision making, it keeps interest high. It's flexible. It can be used in a very structured way, or in a more relaxed manner. Use it separately, as a curriculum of it's own, or as a compliment to your current curriculum.
The lessons are broken down into nine short "acts". Each act explores one of the nine themes presented in the program: Freedom, Responsibility, Participation, Hard Choices, Information, Opportunity, Leverage, Deliberation, and Common Ground -- with a section on Service Learning added for extra benefit.
There are two VHS tapes which use thought provoking stories to involve the student in discussions of each act, and a large notebook containing a complete guide which suggests ways to capitalize on the video's teaching potential. It features exercises and activities that are designed to capture your students' attention, and to stimulate the student to think. The notebook is set up in catalog-style so that you can choose the activities and exercises that work for you. You don't have to use everything if you don't feel it meets your needs. The sections are interchangeable and work with whatever your class is learning on the subject of citizenship at the time.
This is a summary quoted from Introduction of the guide:
"Most of us can explain the balance of powers, .... and how a bill becomes a law. But few of us know how to respond to the increase in neighborhood crime or .... how to make our opinions felt in city council, or how to influence the county zoning board. At a more basic level, we don't know how to take responsibility for ourselves in a democracy, to participate in the discussions that shape our community, and to be part of the process......
If we taught driver's education in the same fashion we teach citizenship education, the course would be composed of equal parts of physics of combustion, technological and social history of the automobile, and theory of highway design.......
Because the goal of this program is to help young people to act like citizens, we have designed a special section on service learning. In that section you will find a four-step model for turning classroom discussion of democratic ideals into projects in which students practice democratic skills and problem solving."
I hope this review has been helpful to you. If The American Promise sounds like something you'd like to try, you can call me at the number listed in the newsletter. I'll be happy to meet with you so that you can take a better look at, or check out, this or any other item from the library.
Julie B., WFHESL Librarian.