About This Lesson
This lesson is part of the AFT’s Civic Fellows initiative. In addition to focusing on the important content knowledge and dispositions that are necessary for active participation in democracy, these lessons also emphasize key approaches to civic learning: Knowledge with skills; the power of deliberation and controversy; equitable civics, and teaching through Inquiry Learning. This particular lesson emphasizes deliberation and controversy through its discussion of what level of government most impacts people’s lives, Inquiry Learning through its open-ended nature, and equitable civics through its culturally relevant reading.