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An important part of our mission as secondary educators is to prepare students for either post-secondary work and the workplace.

It is important to remember the break-down in financing, and therefore, where real power lies. If we want policy change, we need to know the most effective avenues for lobbying. We may think Obama sets the education policy agenda but the reality is, governors have a lot of power and persuasion in the field. For example, it always amazes me how different public higher education systems are, and this is because certain states have made it a priority to fund higher education greatly.

Each button at the top stands for one of the development goals. Each page contains video clips, a short web game (very simple) and information about what that goal is, what students around the world are doing to make a difference and suggestions for actions more students can take.

The "Add your voice" portion has a place where students can send in videos that they have made about the Millenium development goals. There's also a Youth Action Guide that you can download and print for your classes!

For each goal there is: * Information about the goal * Information on how much progress has been made towards that goal * Projects that other students have done * What still needs to be done * Links to more information This information is not particularly engaging but it is condensed in an easy to find location. It's certainly not a game or anything and kids won't be tricked into learning by any cool effects or anything.

Clearly, as it says here, the book is a work of fiction, which is why a web site like this, if one ever used the book to teach the Civil War, woould be incredibly uselful to supplementing the novel with factual information.

Daily 60 second podcast!

Also, you can search previous podcasts to find ones that have to do with your specific lesson. Listening to the Podcasts could be a "Do now" activity or an activity at a station students rotate through.

Daily 1 question civics quiz! These questions are not always about post Constitutional US. Some of the questions that I have seen had to do with Enlightenment thinking, the middle ages, ancient Greece, etc.

Mission Statement From the site: The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries. . . . The Center specializes in civic/citizenship education, law-related education, and international educational exchange programs for developing democracies. Programs focus on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights; American political traditions and institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; constitutionalism; civic participation; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

From the website: "Based in Providence, R.I., What Kids Can Do (WKCD) is a national nonprofit founded in January 2001 by an educator and journalist . . . they felt an urgent need to promote perceptions of young people as valued resources, not problems, and to advocate for learning that engages students as knowledge creators and not simply test takers. Just as urgent, they believed, was the need to bring youth voices to policy debates about school, society, and world affairs. Using the Internet, print, and broadcast media, WKCD presses before the broadest audience possible a dual message: the power of what young people can accomplish when given the opportunities and supports they need and what they can contribute when we take their voices and ideas seriously. The youth who concern WKCD most are those marginalized by poverty, race, and language. On this website, WKCD presents young people's lives, learning, and work, and their partnerships with adults both in and out of school. Our community of readers stretches from youth organizers in some of this country's toughest urban areas to policy makers at the national level. We believe that a good story well told crosses geographies, generations, class and race, and position. Our publishing arm, Next Generation Press, honors the power of youth as social documenters, knowledge creators, and advisors to educators, peers, and parents. WKCD is a grant maker, too, collaborating with youth on multimedia, curricula, and research that expand current views of what constitutes challenging learning and achievement. Starting in 2006, WKCD began working with youth worldwide. WKCD has become an international leader in bringing the promise of young people to the attention of the adults whose encouragement can make all the difference."

Here they have collected various articles about how youth around the country and around the globe have been actively involved in policy making and shaping. This may be great to get teachers and students started thinking about project ideas or to inspire students (and teachers!) that students really can make a difference.

ARG! My diigo isn't working at all. Very frustrating. I have to highlight stuff four times and then add the comments in on this page. Technology is not my friend this week.

So if you do a rad civics project with your students, students can then write an article about what they did and send it in to WKCD. They will then put it up on this cite and your students will have something to be uber proud of. This is another reason to make sure you photo document rad projects.