My Action Plan!

When I envision my classroom, I want an environment and atmosphere that promotes citizenship education. The worst citizen is an apathetic one, and as a teacher I will do my part to create graduates concerned with the world around them, knowing their rights and exercising them. To do this, my students need to be educated in a way that will make them want to make a difference. I believe that every student can become informed, caring individuals with intelligent and knowledgably formed opinions. This includes all students, regardless of their current GPA or background.
In my classroom, I’m dealing with some of the most apathetic students I’ve ever seen or heard of. Some of my students don’t care if they graduate high school, don’t care if they pass the class, don’t even care if they’re enjoying their day. I honestly didn’t even know there were teenagers like this, and this has become my biggest problem as a student teacher. I was prepared for the talking kids and the texting during class, but not students who will not even take out their book to get credit for the day. To get to these students, I’m trying to explain the world and their part in it in a way that encourages participation in society for its betterment; teaching them that they can make a difference, helping them decide on what kind of difference they want to make, and how to achieve their goals.
Logistically, this means allowing debates and discussions on different current events and topics. This also means asking those sometimes difficult questions to get them thinking, while creating an atmosphere where students feel safe to defend their issues, yet still hear another student out. In order to do this, I as the teacher must be informative, challenging and encouraging. I’d also like to create some type of service learning project. This way, students can see how they can truly change and affect their government. I also believe it will help those apathetic students get more excited about learning by relating the material to their personal worlds and providing an active learning environment.
More specifically, I’m thinking of implementing some kind of debate every Friday, loosely based on current events (when possible). This would be a concrete step to getting students thinking about their place in the world. I could also do a project where they have to at least attempt to change their world (think Pay It Forward, but not as extreme). I’m a little unsure of exactly how to go about doing this and implementing it, though. At the very least, I could require them to write their senator or something, but I’m hoping to create a project on a grander scale.
Ultimately, I just want my students to rise from apathy into passionate citizens! As I’m writing this, I’m starting to see the reality of the situation-that I’ll never reach every student- but I can hope and try, right???