This blogger is conscious that he has served up rather
lengthy postings in his last two offerings.
So, this one should be a bit shorter.
It is very short. As a matter of
fact, it is only a couple of word processor pages long and meant to further introduce
an instructional concern. Specifically,
it will further develop an instructional approach the blog introduced in the posting,
“A Definite Crisis.”[1]
That approach calls on civics
teachers to do two things: have students
engage in historical dialogue relevant to a state of affairs that offends
federalist values and, based on that dialogue, plan and implement an action project. That earlier posting called this approach,
historical dialogue-to-action.
To give an overview of what HD-to-A
calls on students to do, the following model is offered, and a subsequent
posting will further describe and explain what this model is promoting. Here is the model:
Phase One: Reflect on one’s
interests and concerns relating to an “anti” federalist condition within one’s
polity. That could be one of various topics
(for example this blog has highlighted the opioid crisis, tort law, and foreign
trade’s effect on job availability).
Phase Two: Investigate how that
issue/topic/problem area is experienced locally.
Phase Three: Identify local agents
(government officials, media personnel, victims or perceived victims of the
concern).
Phase Four: Set up appropriate
information gathering protocol such as interview sessions of affected people or
identify relevant recorded information sources (literatures, recorded testimonies,
media reportage, etc.).
Phase Five: Gather information.
Phase Six: Review various action
options (this blog has listed such options[2])
as a final work product, e.g., canvasing
an area to gather signatures in support or against bills or other initiatives or organizing and running meetings of interested parties
and citizens.
Phase Seven: Coalesce information in
a report that can include written materials, tapings (such as interviews,
visitations to relevant sites, or of the action taken), and a set of recommendations
for further action.
Phase Eight: Submit a report over
the action taken and be able to describe, explain, and defend its findings in
terms of how comprehensive it is and what it advocates.
As can be noted, the
model is not that far from a logical progression that any citizen could
intuitively devise when considering an active role within a polity. Actual use of the model would probably not be
so sequential as phases might overlap – that’s just how people operate their
affairs.
[1] See posting, “A Definite Crisis,” Gravitas:
A Voice for Civics (June 15, 2018), accessed March 5, 2019, https://gravitascivics.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-definite-crisis.html
.
[2] See “The Action Part of the Deal,” Gravitas:
A Voice for Civics, October 6, 2017, accessed March 5, 2019, https://gravitascivics.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-action-part-of-deal.html
.
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