Resources

Listening Tour Findings

Throughout 2022, MiCivics Coalition members began a series of 8 listening tours through Upper and Lower Michigan. Future plans are to expand the scope in order to hear from all Michiganders about their preferred civic futures.

Preliminary Data & Outcomes – Pathways for the Future of Civic Education These trends emerged which provide opportunities to operationalize the needs of Michiganders.

The 5 Emerging Themes:

Greater emphasis and resources for teaching state, local, and community civics and provide more local civic engagement opportunities.

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Greater investment in K-8, especially K-5 civic knowledge. Reimagine embedding all other disciplines through a strong civics lens.

Greater emphasis on place based and experiential learning to bring civics to life and to demystify political participation.

Greater breadth and depth of teacher, administrator, and community civics knowledge, practices, and engagement.

Significantly greater financial investment in civic education and civic communities with a focus on those areas identified here.

Civic Education Web Resources for Teachers

Web Links

American Bar Association (Division for Public Education)

Annenberg Classroom

Ashbrook Center (TeachingAmericanHistory.org)

Bill of Rights Institute

Center for Civic Education

Choices Program (Brown University)

CIRCLE (Tisch College of Civic Life)

Civics for All of US (National Archives)

Close Up Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF)

C-SPAN Classroom

DocsTeach (National Archives)

Facing History & Ourselves

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

iCivics

Kids Voting USA

Learning for Justice

Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy

Library of Congress (Teachers Page)

Michigan Center for Civic Education (MCCE)

Mikva Challenge

National Constitution Center

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

National Endowment for the Humanities (EDSITEment)

New York Times Learning Network

PBS LearningMedia (The Democracy Project)

Street Law, Inc.

Youth Leadership Initiative (UVA Center for Politics)

Book Recommendations

Ages 4–6
  • Eggers, D. (2018). What can a citizen do? Chronicle Books.   
  • Shulman, M. (2020). I voted: Making a choice makes a difference. Holiday House.   
  • Cronin, D. (2004). Duck for president. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
  • DiPucchio, K. (2008). Grace for president. Hyperion Books for Children.   
  • Farrell, K. (2020). V is for voting. Henry Holt and Co.
  • Fritz, J. (1987). Shh! We’re writing the Constitution. Putnam.   
  • Beaty, A. (2019). Sofia Valdez, future prez. Abrams Books for Young Readers.   
  • St. George, J. (2000). So you want to be president? Philomel Books.   
  • Catrow, D. (2002). We the kids: The preamble to the Constitution of the United States. Dial Books.
  • Bandy, M. S. (2015). Granddaddy’s turn: A journey to the ballot box. Candlewick Press.
  • Foster, J. (2020). For which we stand: How our government works and why it matters. Scholastic Inc.   
  • Kennedy, K. (2020). The Constitution decoded: A guide to the document that shapes our nation. Workman Publishing Company.   
  • Levinson, C., & Levinson, S. (2017). Fault lines in the Constitution: The framers, their fights, and the flaws that affect us today. Peachtree Publishers.
  • Sobel, S. (2001). How the U.S. government works. Barron’s Educational Series.   
  • Chambers, V. (2020). Finish the fight!: The brave and revolutionary women who fought for the right to vote. Versify.
  • Lewis, J., Aydin, A., & Powell, N. (2013). March: Book one. Top Shelf Productions.
  • Bausum, A. (2006). With courage and cloth: Winning the fight for a woman’s right to vote. National Geographic Society.
  • Levinson, C., & Levinson, S. (2019). Fault lines in the Constitution: The framers, their fights, and the flaws that affect us today (Revised ed.). Peachtree Publishers.
  • Coy, J. (2011). Their names to live: What the monuments at Gettysburg tell us about their world—and ours. Calkins Creek.
  • Rusch, E. (2017). The Next President: The unexpected beginnings and unwritten future of America’s presidents. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
  • Jenkins, T. (2020). Drawing the vote: An illustrated guide to voting in America. Abrams ComicArts.
  • The Center for Cartoon Studies. (2019). This is what democracy looks like: A graphic guide to governance. The Center for Cartoon Studies.
  • Newman, D. G. (2020). Unrig: How to fix our broken democracy. World Citizen Comics.
  • Levinson, C., & Levinson, S. (2020). Fault lines in the Constitution: The graphic novel. First Second.
  • Feathers, B. (2021). Re: Constitutions: Connecting citizens with the rules of the game. World Citizen Comics.
  • Takei, G., Eisinger, J., & Scott, S. (2019). They called us enemy. Top Shelf Productions.
  • Baptiste, T. (2023). History comics: Rosa Parks & Claudette Colvin. First Second.
  • Miller, K. (2020). Act. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  • Lewis, J., & Aydin, A. (2021). Run: Book one. Abrams ComicArts.
  • Sheehan, B. (2020). OMG WTF does the Constitution actually say?: A non-boring guide to how our democracy is supposed to work. Black Dog & Leventhal.
  • Caitlin, N., & Goldstein, S. (2020). A user’s guide to democracy: How America works. Celadon Books.
  • Lytle, C. (2019). The infographic guide to American government: A visual reference for everything you need to know. Adams Media.
  • Misiroglu, G. (2018). The handy American government answer book: How Washington, politics, and elections work. Visible Ink Press.
  • Conrad, J. (2020). What you should know about politics… but don’t: A nonpartisan guide to the issues. Arcade Publishing.
  • Harper, T. (2024). The U.S. Constitution simplified: A plainspoken guide to the founding principles of the United States. DK.
  • Sears, K. (2016). American government 101: From the Continental Congress to the Iowa Caucus, everything you need to know about U.S. politics. Adams Media.
  • Levinson, C., & Levinson, S. (2017). Fault lines in the Constitution: The framers, their fights, and the flaws that affect us today. Peachtree Publishers.
  • Haass, R. N. (2023). The bill of obligations: The ten habits of good citizens. Penguin Press.
  • Litman, M. (2020). Run for something: A real-talk guide to fixing the system yourself. Atheneum.
  • Allen, D. (2004). Talking to strangers: Anesities of citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education. University of Chicago Press.
  • Fishkin, J. S. (2018). Democracy when the people are thinking: Deliberative democracy and public consultation. Oxford University Press.
  • Gutmann, A., & Thompson, D. (2004). Why deliberative democracy? Princeton University Press.
  • Haidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Pantheon.
  • Honig, B. (2017). Public things: Democracy in curricula. Fordham University Press.
  • Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Crown.
  • Mounk, Y. (2018). The people vs. democracy: Why our freedom is in danger and how to save it. Harvard University Press.
  • Nussbaum, M. C. (2010). Not for profit: Why democracy needs the humanities. Princeton University Press.
  • Pettit, P. (1997). Republicanism: A theory of freedom and government. Oxford University Press.
  • Sandel, M. J. (2020). The tyranny of merit: What’s become of the common good? Farrar, Straus and Giroux.