While developed in conjunction with community college faculty and students, the modular aspect of Civil Discourse allows for easy adaptation and use in secondary classrooms. Out of the box, the resources are strongly aligned with U.S. history and government courses.

Through a robust inquiry model, students activate conceptual knowledge of a topic such as factions, segregation, compromise, and membership. They build background knowledge and generate questions using podcasts, videos, and varied whole-group and small-group activities. Supported by close reading strategies, they deepen their knowledge through multiple reviews of primary sources and prepare for one or more discourse models.

After participating in civil discourses, students reflect on their new understandings—both of constitutional history and principles, as well as of their fellow students. There are also opportunities to extend students’ learning individually and with their peers. Indeed, individual learners, looking to deepen their own knowledge, will also find many uses for the toolkit.

For support in using the toolkit and implementing the civil discourse models, please view the recorded demonstrations modeling each step of the lesson and discourses. These are contained in the how-to guides below.