In May 2020, Dr. Jackson and 500 CPS students, teachers, and four student moderators welcomed Eric Liu! Eric, inspiring champion of democracy and a primary source in our Participate Civics Course, joined us to share his thinking about what civic life means today, and how we can participate while living apart.

Oh, and also the President and Mrs. Obama dropped by!

Here are some instructional tools to for using the CPS Civic Life Town Hall from last week with students. Check out the Town Hall Debrief and Reflection Guide for Educators offers ways you can utilize in your classroom:

• Before Watching: If your students were not able to tune into the Civic Life Town Hall live, consider having them complete these preparation activities before watching the video.
• Watch: Check out a recording of the Civic Life Town Hall here.
• After Watching: Consider leveraging one or all the options to debrief the town hall here.

This town hall focused on principles of organizing for the census, and on hard to count communities and advocating remotely. This town hall features two panel discussions with elected leaders, community census organizers, and students and teachers working to ensure full census completion. Watch it with your students today!

Check out these examples of student-led actions to drive census completion in their communities:

• Orozco Academy engaged their families in the census during remote learning through informational videos. Watch their video in English here and in Spanish here.
• Foreman High School created a 2020 Census powerpoint students created and shared with their families!

Student-led CPS Civic Life Town Hall organized in partnership with the Chicago Board of Education regarding student experiences with remote learning and visioning for the 2020-2021 school year. Student participants have conducted focus groups with their peers on their remote learning experience and collectively reflected on the key themes and concepts they deem most important to share.

During the town hall, student participants engaged in a discussion of critical questions facing us as a District and share insights and ideas for a safe, engaging, and productive back to school in the fall, whether it be remote or in-school learning.

View the recording here.