I just attended a two day conference in Europe entitled "The 8th International Conference on Education for Civil Society" in Bratislava, Slovakia (February 10 - 11, 2010).  The over arching theme of this conference was "Dimensions of Citizenship and Education". The 40 participants were university professors, secondary/primary teachers,  administrators and members of NGOS. They came from a variety of different countries in Central and Eastern Europe:  Latvia, Poland, Russia and Slovakia.  Most delivered research papers (based on action research) on some aspect of citizenship education (European citizenship, multiculturalism, curricular trends, ...).  Thanks to the skilled translators at the conference, I was able to follow these talks with ease.  At the end of the day, we gathered in a large circle with wine/vodka in hand and toasted one another.  It was an amazing experience - and I was honored to be part of it.

At this conference, I conducted a hands-on workshop called "Civics, curriculum drama and young adolescents:  Using a social constructivist approach to engage students with civics".  As an entry point, I had the participants work in small groups and discuss what topics of societal concern they would like to raise within their own municipalities.  Participants identified and discussed such topics as:  immigration, infrastructure, school reform, urban development.  Each group then shared the key points of their discussion with the entire workshop.

I then used that experience as a hook for how to create participatory experiences in civic education within the middle school classroom.  I showed them a video clip of a legislative curriculum drama, where students as senators were holding a legislative hearing on an environmental bill that a committee of students had constructed.

Along the way, I discussed the power of working with students to transform the classroom environment to different ways of being and interacting with others.   Rather than the textbook (or teacher) being the focal point, the extended classroom experience became the "text". Rather than the teacher making decisions, the students were the ones deciding how they wanted to shape the emerging drama. I explained how this then served as a useful approach to begin to explore the concept of democracy and its various dimensions/complexities.

Based on their workshop engagement, the participants appeared to be intrigued by this approach to teaching/learning. What an experience! 

Best.

Professor Catherine Franklin