Maine Civic Digest: December 2024

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Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Allyson Gardner
 
Volume 3, Edition 11
December 2024
Dear Friend,
 
With the election behind us, we're celebrating the work of multiple students and teachers leading civic activities in their schools. This work increases connection, benefits the social and learning environments and promotes civic leadership. This edition also provides several resources to support teachers and students in reflecting on the election and the results in their communities.
We love hearing from you!
Please reach out with any comments, suggestions or examples
you would like to share in future Digests.

Breanna Bellefontaine-Krupski, a Scarborough High School civics teacher, is this year's Teacher Leader Fellow in Civics at the Maine DOE's office of Teaching and Learning. She is compiling monthly resources and professional development opportunities from the best civics organizations.

Visit the Civics DOE Padlet for past professional development episodes, resource links and to sign up for Breanna's newsletter. She would love to hear from you at breanna.krupski@maine.gov! 

In this issue, we focus specifically on the varied opportunities and activities taking place within the LWVME Youth Council. Check out the updates below and share with your students who may want to become involved. 

Youth Council Action Evenings are back! Any student interested is welcome to join this virtual monthly meeting space where students find ways to take immediate action through projects, advocacy and other forms of changemaking. Register here.
Youth Council Internships now include NEW interns from all across Maine - Orono, South Portland, Maranacook, Yarmouth and Portland High Schools and Maine School of Science and Mathematics! These students are focused on hosting community conversations and developing tools to empower their peers. Updates on their activities will be included in future Digests. (Applications for Spring 2025 paid internships are due January 17.)
Youth Advocacy Team meets biweekly to track bills and proposed legislation, and take actions at the state house. They are currently working on a bill to lower the voting age to 16. Students are welcome to join and for more information should email allyson@lwvme.org. 
What is the LWVME Youth Council?
The LWVME Youth Council is a self-governing group of students ages 14-20 who are passionate about the importance of voting and civic involvement. They work on building leadership skills, encouraging their peers to register and vote, and take up other issues of interest to them. Know a student who might be interested? Check out the website here or better yet, print this pdf and post!  
 

Shane Gower from Maranacook Community High School is a Teacher Fellow with Educating for American Democracy (EAD) Teacher Leadership Task Force (TLTF). TLTF focuses on teacher-led strategies to build their leadership capacity and community.

This fall Shane, working with Maine Students Vote, held a school voter registration drive and mock election, and invited Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to speak with students about elections and voting.

Several students from Cape Elizabeth and Gorham High Schools were hosted by LWVME in an ELO Program and provided support to hold registration drives in their schools. Reach out to allyson@lwvme.org if you are interested in becoming an ELO or Internship Partner.
Can We? Project provides high school students the opportunity to learn and practice the skills of dialogue across political and other differences. Stay tuned for our January edition for more details on the project and its impact in participating schools across Maine. See three examples of this work below!
  • Yarmouth High students hosted two "Civil Teas" and discussed the election and the school's cell phone policy using a connection building activity, agreed norms for discussion and then a guided discussion. One student said a Civil Tea helps “to find the necessary balance between shying away from disagreement and engaging in a blindsided argument, neither of which is a productive way to bridge the ever-growing divide."
  • Efforts to expand civil dialogue also took place at Cape Elizabeth High with four ELO class students hosting a pre-election event to lower tensions and foster a greater sense of community. The students focused on contentious school policies and crafted a document with a discussion protocol. 
  • Piscataquis Community Secondary School used their dialogue and leadership training to formulate a plan to mentor students at the adjacent elementary school. A matching program assigns the mentor/student pair with mentors receiving community service hours. They are hoping this will catch on and that they will have 50 matches by the end of the year!
This month we are featuring material to support classroom discussion on the election results as well as including several interesting professional development opportunities.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

CLASSROOM RESOURCES

  • Discussing your town’s results: The Bangor Daily News provides a comprehensive report on Maine’s 2024 election results. This resource provides your students with details on how their town voted and how communities across Maine may have differed in their selections and referendums.
  • Keeping politics in the classroom civil: In today’s environment, having the opportunity to learn how to have a civil discussion with those who have opposing viewpoints provides an important teaching moment. Here are some tips as you plan a discussion of politics and/or recent election results:

Quality civic education has been defined as “the development of political knowledge and civic skills that leads individuals to participate as an active citizen of the United States” (Ballard Brief). 

Nationally, states vary in what is required or available to students to expand their knowledge of civics (Ballard Brief). For an excellent review of individual states, click on this iCivics map providing details on each state’s policies.

The Maine DOE held a public comment period on the proposed revisions to Rule Chapter 132: Social Studies, Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction). The comment period closed on December 6th, so stay tuned for the final revisions.

Start a Conversation in Your Classroom!

  1. Define Civic Education, then hold a classroom discussion on what students might gain from a high school civic education. And, what might be the impact of NOT having a civic education?
  2. Share this “Do You Know as Much as an 8th Grader About Civics?” simple quiz as a classroom activity and discuss the results. Any student with a perfect score gets a prize!!
We believe the promotion of democracy relies on organizations with similar goals working together to share ideas and resources. Each month we share opportunities for young people from LWVME and other great organizations. Download this PDF to print out and share with your students. 

Applications are open for a paid position on LWVME's Youth Council. The deadline for the spring semester positions is January 17, 2024. Share this link or, better yet, post this flyer so students can learn about the opportunity!

More Internship Opportunities! Does your school run an ELO or Internship program? We're happy to host! Reach out to allyson@lwvme.org to coordinate the details of your internship. 
JMJU's Indigenous Climate Advocacy Fund awards support to youth pursuing environment-related conferences, workshops, trainings and other leadership development opportunities related to climate, land and Indigenous justice. Learn more here.

The New England Youth Identity Summit workshop proposals are due January 10th! At NEYIS, high school students design and lead their own workshops with the support of an educator or mentor. To learn more or submit a proposal click here.

The Maine Women’s Lobby’s annual G*rls Day is now accepting nominations! Due to the overwhelming response to this program every year, participation is on a first come/first served basis and limited to two students from each school with a total of up to 100 participants. Nominations are due on February 16, 2024.
 
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