Fernando M. Reimers et al.

1. Curriculum integration—that is, opportunities to integrate the
project into civic education, language-arts instruction, mathemat—
ics, history, and other subject areas depending on the issue—should
be continually capitalized upon. The students should also recognize
the integration into and connections with other areas of learning.

2. Reflection on the project is necessary. Students should reflect on
both their progress and process continually throughout the project.
Students should always be encouraged to suggest project changes
based on their reflection. Reflection should be cognitively challeng—
ing (not simply journal writing).

3. The youth voice should be emphasized. This should be the students’
project. The skilled teacher will guide the students in the appropri—
ate directions and help them build the necessary partnerships and
relationships, but the students should have choices regarding the is—
sue and project. Often students are asked to engage in projects that
the teacher creates, which may have negative effects on the desired
civic outcomes.

4. The duration of this project is important. This project must be given
ample time. The duration of the experience is directly related to the
desired civic outcomes. A common pitfall is to not give students
enough time, in which case the project will have less of an impact or
the teacher will take on work that the students should be doing to
save time. Students should also be given the opportunity to build re—
lationships that could continue past the project duration. Also, there
should be an opportunity to redesign the project or to make further
plans based on its initial impact and on the students’ evaluation of it.

Resources
0 Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne’s “What Kind of Citizen?,”
which is essential reading

' http://engagestudiothinking.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/
threekindsofcitizenship_excerpt.pdf

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