Extension Ideas

 

If you would like to students to explore more civic and political issues you can also reference the following resources below.

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• Refer to resources around Parkland through Youth in Front.

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• Consult the National Writing Project's Conversation and Activities sparked by the film American Creed.​

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• Watch Stepping Up, a short video series produced by KQED featuring four young people working for change in their communities. Your students can also submit their own video, audio or written piece about taking action.

 

• Watch #Black Twitter After #Ferguson (Brent McDonald & John Woo, The New York Times, 6 min): “On the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, three prominent activists read their tweets from the past year and reflect on the challenges and legacy of the Black Lives Matter movement.”  

  • After watching, reflect on and reconsider the opportunities and challenges question above in light of the examples and ideas shared in this video.

 

• Browse the GenForward Project surveys which report information about the civic and political perspectives and behaviors of a racially and ethnically diverse sample of US youth. For example, the New Data on Race, Young Adults and the 2020 Election survey gauges people’s perspectives on the state of the nation after the 2020 election. Filter by age, race, income, gender, and political party to observe the trends in the respondents’ beliefs.

  • Consider how the topics and views covered in the report are similar to and different from what you saw when you looked at the topics and views represented in your online networks.

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• Explore the political typology quiz provided by the Pew Research Center to find out about different political typologies in the US. After taking the quiz, read the report about the political typology that best fits you, and consider its accuracy. Do the results align with your beliefs? To get more exposure to political typologies and related ideologies visit the 2022 political quiz.

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• Read the article “18 Activities of Civic Engagement Activities,” which details some of the ways young people can participate and engage with their communities in response to issues that they see as troubling. Then consider which activities students have already done or could imagine doing. You can also consider which activities students think would be most impactful depending on the issue they are focusing on.