Social Emotional Learning Meets Civic Engagement
Policy shapes our world. Learning about issues and how our government functions strikes various emotions in students. In order to help them be more civically engaged it's important to embrace social emotional learning so students are best equipped to explore issues, tolerate perspectives, and make good decisions.
Use this book to:
- Be a more effective communicator
- Develop strategies that promote consensus-building
- Manage egos so we can take ideas further
- Facilitate tough conversations
- Make collaboration a norm
- Support youth to speak up, step in, and get involved
What You'll Get
Preventing Polarization provides strategies and ideas to support young people with the skills needed to shape their world. This book is full of activities to spark a sense of civic-mindedness in every student.
- Practice Sense-Making - Equip students with strategies to question their world and their roles in it
- Keep Asking Questions - Keep curiosity alive for critical and deep thinking
- Cultivate Humility - Prevent ego from breaking down dialogue
- Consume Information Mindfully - Create savvy consumers of information with all forms of media and communication
- Avoid Censorship - Produce critical thinkers through a variety of outlets, voices, and materials
- Embrace Complexity - Stop oversimplifying difficult issues
- Promote Collective Leadership - Help students uncover their unique roles in contributing to areas greater than themselves
- Fight Apathy - Encourage students to think and feel from multiple perspectives through empathy
- Engage in Moral Ambiguity - Ditch the good guy versus bad guy outlook
- Inspire Changemakers - Equip students with constructive ways to take on and understand different pathways to action
About the Authors
Michelle Blanchet
Michelle is an educational consultant that infuses startup strategies into professional learning so that teachers are empowered to bring changemaking, social innovation, and SDGs into their work. After teaching social studies in both the U.S. and Switzerland, she founded the Educators’ Lab, which supports teacher-driven solutions to educational challenges. Michelle is the co-author of The Startup Teacher Playbook, and Preventing Polarization (2023). She has worked with organizations like PBS Education and Ashoka, and occasionally blogs for Edutopia. A graduate of IE University in Madrid, she is a part of the Global Shaper Community of the World Economic Forum and has presented at numerous events, including SXSWedu and TEDxLausanne.
Brian Deters
Brian Deters has been in education for twenty-seven years teaching social studies and coaching varsity soccer in the U.S. and abroad. Brian, a co-host of the 4 A Better Tomorrow Podcast, flew back and forth from Switzerland to run in the 2018 election as a U.S. Congressional primary candidate from the 18th District of Illinois. Brian holds a Bachelor’s in Secondary Education from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign as well as a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from Illinois State University where he also served as an adjunct professor working in the field with student teachers in 2018 and 2019. He currently teaches sociology and civics at Morton High School in Morton, IL.
