Describes several classrooms where children learn to use their literacy to take part in the governance of their communities. Demonstrates how reading and writing can be brought together around issues of civics in the elementary and middle school grades. (SR)

Describes the overlooked ethical dimensions of academic writing. Offers a conceptual framework for examining and teaching the moral principles and ethical constraints entailed by academic research and writing. Suggests several reasons why academic writing should be viewed as a moral as well as a cognitive phenomenon. (HB)

This collection of essays offers a new approach to strengthening the development of students' civic identity through the teaching of reading, writing, speech, and literature. A foreword by Richard L. Larson and an introduction by Sandra Stotsky are followed by the following essays: (1) The Decline of a Civic Ethic" (Sandra Stotsky); (2) "Reading…

Brookline High School in the suburban Boston, Massachusetts area has been long recognized as having a reputation for academic excellence; its social studies department, for example, has been highly praised for the diverse range of courses it has offered. This paper recounts what happened to Brookline High school's social studies department in the…

The motivation for monitoring public affairs and for taking part responsibly in the civic process depends on a person's "civic identity," defined as a sense of kinship with and responsibility toward others in the community. Currently civic education is the province of social studies teachers, but English and language arts teachers could…

This essay shows how the construction of literature curricula and the study of literature can contribute to civic education. The paper describes the anti-civic forces now at work in literature programs in U.S. schools and explains why these forces exist. The report suggests how literature programs can strengthen the underpinnings of a…

Civic writing is an intellectual skill that is needed for effective and responsible participation in civil society and government. This Digest examines the concept of civic writing, identifies its purposes in democratic citizenship, and discusses how to teach it. Civic writing includes formal legal writing (speeches, petitions, resolutions),…

The purpose of this report is: (1) To point out the features of a number of manipulative supplemental resources for history and social studies teachers; and (2) to show how similarly manipulative professional development workshops propagate the distorted content and recommended teaching practices of such materials to teachers and their…

Views the 1994 national civics standards document as a challenging frame of vital themes and questions for school curricula in the humanities and social sciences. The author considers why this set of standards may be the most important one for schools and why they may be the most difficult to implement, even by motivated school administrators. (GR)

There are few curricular programs or activities in the schools which help students develop skills that enable them to participate actively in voluntary civic or political activities. Literacy, and especially civic writing, is critical for participation in the civic process. But teaching civic writing, which is distinguished by its purposes,…

The contexts and purposes for civic writing may influence the composition process as well as text features, and an analysis of the purposes and audiences for civic writing might yield an insight into the way that such writing stimulates the personal and moral development of both its readers and writers. An examination of two related pieces written…

It's unsettling to hear of credentialed school teachers who--ignorant of our principles and of so much more--are seduced by, and pass on, ludicrous and even subversive accounts of our history. Sandra Stotsky tells of curricula that equate white Americans with Nazis and of officials who discredit the Constitution as a license for slavery. She…