Six Promising Approaches to Civic Engagement.

This article suggests several approaches which can be used to help students build civic knowledge skills, and attitudes at school. Certainly library media teachers (LMTS) systematically build resources to support civics, history, and government classes. Even more effective, co-curricular planning with the teachers responsible for these subjects can help an instructional team identify the common goals in California's disciplinary frameworks. When fixed library schedules limit collaboration time, realistic LMTS integrate classroom content by running a parallel curriculum in the library with minimal teacher cooperation. Moderated discussions of issues in school increase students' critical thinking communication skills, interest in politics, and even their discussion of current events outside school. When students' volunteering for local community groups and organizations is Integrated with school-organized service and core curriculum, students' civic attitudes and skills develop broadly. Participation in extracurricular high school activities builds knowledge of the First Amendment and correlates with adult citizenship behaviors.