Professional Learning

Democracy in Action: Teaching about the 2024 Election & Educating for Civic Participation

This six-part learning series examines the health of our democracy, voting and elections, and the pivotal role of young people’s civic participation.

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August 22, 2024 - September 26, 2024

Virtual

Cost: Free

Multi-Session

Our multi-session professional learning series are designed for in-depth exploration of themes and topics that help educators strengthen their skills and competencies. Session information is included in the event details.

Instructor-Led

This professional learning event will be led by Facing History staff. When you register, you will receive instructions for how to attend the event.

This event qualifies for Certificate of Completion.

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Civics & Citizenship

Democracy & Civic Engagement

Civic Education

As the United States enters the 2024 election season, join us for a series of online webinars and workshops that examine the health of democracy, voting and elections, and the pivotal influence of young people’s civic participation. Educators will explore 6^th-12^th grade appropriate lessons, activities, blogs, and webinars to help educate students about the importance of participation in our democracy during an election season and beyond. Participants will leave the learning series with classroom resources and teaching ideas necessary to create lesson plans to teach the 2024 election.

Series At-a-Glance Details

Audience: This learning series is for middle and high school educators interested in resources and methods for teaching and guiding students’ understanding of the election season. The opening webinar, The Role of K-12 Schools in Teaching About Voting & Civic Participation, is open to the public.

Cost: Free. The registration and event fees for this online series have been waived thanks to generous funding from Facing History and Ourselves donors and supporters.

Duration: The series includes six events (1 to 2 hours each in Zoom) taking place from late August through September 2024. Participants can choose to join all the sessions or individual sessions that are most relevant to their work. Except where noted below, the sessions will not be recorded, so please plan to join live. Materials will be made available afterward.

The Role of K-12 Schools in Teaching About Voting & Civic Participation with CIRCLE

August 22, 2024 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm EDT

This webinar is open to the public. It will be recorded and made available on-demand. To kick off our learning series on Teaching about the 2024 Election, we will be joined by scholars from CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. They will share recent data on youth voting and dispel common misconceptions about youth civic engagement. We will discuss the important role that schools and educators play in educating for informed and equitable voting and growing voters over time. In addition, we will highlight key considerations for this work in this polarized climate when schools are under increasing political pressure.
Structuring Democratic Dialogue in the Classroom (for educators)

August 27, 2024 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT

In this session, educators will explore resources to help them get started in building a classroom community structured for democratic dialogue and teaching about elections. They will experience teaching strategies designed to help students learn to listen respectfully to different opinions and experiences, try out ideas and positions, and give—and get—constructive feedback without fear or intimidation, the essential skills for civic participation and democratic dialogue.
Voting Rights and Political Access with Dr. Carol Anderson (for educators)

September 05, 2024 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT

The first portion of this event, with Dr. Anderson, will be recorded and made available on-demand. Despite federal protections guaranteeing the right to vote to all eligible citizens, laws in some states have disproportionately restricted the ability of poor and minority voters to participate in the democratic process despite their eligibility. With special guest Dr. Carol Anderson, participants will examine the history of suffrage in the US and how political access has been both restricted and obtained. Participants will also explore resources that can deepen students’ understanding of voting rights and political access in history and today.
Teaching about Current Events and Navigating the Media Landscape with KQED (for educators)

September 12, 2024 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm EDT

We live in a time when it can be difficult to identify reliable news sources. Misinformation and disinformation clouds our information landscape, especially around a national election. This session with KQED and Facing History prepares educators and students to take stock of their media choices, explore media bias, explore tools for differentiating fact from opinion, and think about what healthy news habits they want to adopt.
Youth Voice as Civic Action with KQED (for educators)

September 19, 2024 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm EDT

How can young people see themselves as an active part of civic society? Join KQED and Facing History for an interactive online workshop exploring the pivotal role of young people in civic engagement during an election season and beyond. Educators will explore classroom ready resources, activities and tools designed to help students harness the power of civic action, and audio storytelling to share their stories and viewpoints on a range of issues with their peers and wider community.
The Results are In: Teaching Before and After the Votes are Tallied (for educators)

September 26, 2024 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT

How can educators create a space for students to engage in reflective and critical conversations about the results of the 2024 election? How can we talk about things that matter? The divisive rhetoric of the United States’ election process and the aftermath have shown us that we must figure out how to talk—and listen—with civility and respect. These skills are vital to the health of civil society and the future of democracy. This session explores teaching strategies and resources to prepare educators and students to process the results of the election intellectually, emotionally, and ethically. In addition, we will discuss the importance of educating for civic participation beyond elections.

Noorya Hayat

Senior Researcher, CIRCLE (Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), Tufts University

Noorya Hayat has been a Senior Researcher at CIRCLE since 2016. She works on projects that help promote civic learning and engagement in the K-12 education system and beyond, and she is interested in the intersection of education, both in formal and informal settings, and civic learning and awareness in youth, particularly from marginalized and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Noorya has experience working in the U.S. and abroad in teaching and educational research.

Ruby Belle Booth

Elections Coordinator, CIRCLE (Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), Tufts University

Ruby Belle Booth started at CIRCLE as a Diverse Democracy Fellow in the summer of 2020 and is now CIRCLE’s Election Coordinator. She graduated from Tufts University in 2021 with a BA in History and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. At CIRCLE, she has worked on a range of projects including the CIRCLE Growing Voters report, and she is coordinating CIRCLE’s 2022 election work.

Dr. Carol Anderson

Charles Howard Candler Professor and Chair of African American Studies, Emory University

Carol Anderson is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of African American Studies at Emory University.

She is the author of five books. Eyes Off the Prize: The United Nations and the African-American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944-1955, which was awarded both the Gustavus Myers and Myrna Bernath Book Awards. Next, Bourgeois Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941-1960, was published by Cambridge.

Her third book, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of our Racial Divide, won the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.

Her fourth book, One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying our Democracy, was Long-listed for the National Book Award in Non-Fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Book Award in Non-Fiction.

Her fifth book, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, was a New York Times Editor’s pick, Best Social Science Books of 2021 by Library Journal, and one of Writer’s Bone, Best Books of 2021.

She has been elected into the Society of American Historians, named a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and elected to the American Philosophical Society.

In addition to numerous teaching awards, her research has garnered fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Ford Foundation, National Humanities Center, Harvard University’s Charles Warren Center, the University of Connecticut’s Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, the University of Chicago’s Pozen Center for Human Rights, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

She’s been awarded the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize from Brandeis University. She also was honored with the James W. C. Pennington Award from Heidelberg University (Germany).

Anderson has also been selected as a Presidential Scholar at Amherst College. In 2023 she was honored with the Ella Baker Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hurston/Wright Foundation.

Professor Anderson was a member of the U.S. State Department’s Historical Advisory Committee; the Pulitzer Prize Committee for History; and the National Book Awards Committee in Non-fiction.

She earned her Ph.D. in history from The Ohio State University.

Certificate of Completion

The events in this series qualify for Certificates of Completion.

At the conclusion of each session, participants will receive a Certificate of Completion for 1-2 hour(s) of attendance, according to the length of the session. Certificates may be submitted for a school’s or district’s approval towards professional development credits. Requirements for professional development credits vary by state. It is the participant’s responsibility to ensure that they are meeting the requirements of their school, organization, and/or state.

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Democracy in Action: Teaching about the 2024 Election & Educating for Civic Participation

About this event:

Series Schedule

The Role of K-12 Schools in Teaching About Voting & Civic Participation with CIRCLE

Structuring Democratic Dialogue in the Classroom (for educators)

Voting Rights and Political Access with Dr. Carol Anderson (for educators)

Teaching about Current Events and Navigating the Media Landscape with KQED (for educators)

Youth Voice as Civic Action with KQED (for educators)

The Results are In: Teaching Before and After the Votes are Tallied (for educators)