DeBurgos
Name of the project: “Citizen Scholars: A Cross Curricular Approach to the Constitution”
●
Summarize in one sentence the specific purpose for which you are submitting for
the contest
Our goal for entering the Civic Literacy Contest is to improve Constitutional literacy within our
school community by fostering a cross curricular education rooted in the US Constitution to
produce citizen scholars.
Contest Application
● Background: Provide a brief description of your school and its mission.
Our school is named after, Julia De Burgos, a Puerto Rican poet who once said “la mente es una
interprete que traduce la fuerza en ideas que avanzan.” Roughly translated, “your mind is the
interpreter to translate ideas into action”. We believe in not only having big ideas but using all
of our resources available to put them into action.
Our current school mission “is to provide a high quality education that will exceed expectations
while empowering scholars to become life-long learners and responsible citizens. We believe
that all students are individuals that are capable of learning and achieving at advanced levels
given the right tools and through hard work, dedication, and application.” Anyone who has
walked into our school in the last three years remarks about how wonderfully welcoming and
academically focused our students are; it truly is a special place to be a student and a staff
member.
Julia de Burgos Elementary School is a K-8 school that takes up a whole city block in the “Little
Puerto Rico” section of West Kensington along Lehigh Ave. We have more than 800 students in
our building and maintain a well respected reputation in our learning network. Our student
population is predominantly English and Spanish-speaking first and second generation Puerto
Ricans and Dominicans, with about 15 percent of our students identifying as African-American
or mixed-ethnicity.
●
What are the needs and specific outcomes that you expect to achieve with the
project?
We have identified 3 significant needs for our school that can be addressed with this project:
1. Our students lack fundamental knowledge of the Constitution and Bill of Rights
2. We do not take advantage of the multitude of amazing local historical sites that we are
fortunate enough to have access to in Philadelphia.
3. Some members of our staff feel that our current curriculum does not provide enough time or
teaching strategies to teach the US Constitution to students of all reading levels.
We have three specific outcomes that we hope to see from this project:
1. Improve civic literacy for our K-4th and 5-8th graders. Students will have access to engaging
real-world activities in a cross curricular setting that will bring the Constitution to life.
2. Increase the utilization of our many local historical sites. By partnering with the National
Constitution Center for this Templeton grant, we will be able to develop a curriculum that not
only educates, but opens doors to our wonderful, historical city.
3. Provide more constitution based professional development support for our teaching staff.
Teachers will be offered the rigorous and implementable professional development required to
help implement our ambitious plans and ultimately be the creators of a multi-disciplinary
curriculum that can be adapted to fit other populations in the country that struggle with many of
the same concerns we have as a multilingual school.
●
State the target population that you plan to serve and how this population will
benefit from the project.
Our students are American citizens, but because Puerto Rico is not a state it is not uncommon for
a student in our school to not identify as an American as students born in one of the fifty states
might do. As a result many students do not even realize the full extent of rights and
responsibilities afforded to them by the Constitution with their American Citizenship.
Furthermore, as non-native English speakers who live in an insulated neighborhood of people
who are also Puerto Rican, this can create a limited cross-cultural dialogue and can pose a barrier
for our students and their families. Our aim in providing a strong Constitutional curriculum
hopes to correct that disconnect by encouraging cross-cultural, nonpartisans dialogues around the
rights of all American citizens
We would like to target all of our students in this project, but heavily focus on the fifth through
eighth grade population at our school. We feel this age group would be most able to
independently develop and participate in the detailed discussions and thought provoking debates
that result from studying the Constitution. The Interactive Constitution website will be adaptable
for our middle year students and utilize many of the nonfiction text strategies that we are
studying in these grades. We believe that the Interactive Constitution will be a great vehicle for
both improving non fiction literacy skills but also allowing students to examine their rights and
responsibilities as citizens. K-4th grade students can be expected to study basic concepts and
ideas related to the Constitution, such as who our President is and how we choose our leaders.
We think this approach will ensure that students enter our middle years with the knowledge of
how our government is structured and then we can build on that information to develop deeper
discussions about the roles those rights and rules play in our everyday lives. Each year we
anticipate building upon the previous year's work as we reflect on our successes. Like the elastic
clause of the Constitution, we anticipate the need to be flexible and to make the necessary and
proper adjustments to our program as the years progress.
●
Proposed staffing plan for the project, include both external and internal team
members to fulfill the project.
In the first year of this grant we plan on utilizing 6 teachers on campus to help implement this
project and develop the curriculum, including at least one ESOL teacher to help with language
access. Furthermore we will work with team members from the Historic Fairhill Society, an
independent group of volunteers that we partnered with previously and have already helped to
revitalize our school library, provide reading support for K-4 students and develop our
Community Garden program. We also plan to utilize the immense expertise of the staff at the
Constitution Center to provide professional development training and educational field trips for
our students. Over subsequent years we will expand or condense these roles to fit the changing
needs of our school population. Additionally, we will bring in external members from other
organizations such as National History Day, the Archives, Need Indeed and Gilder Lehrman for
opportunities to offer professional development.
●
Any additional information you want us to know about the timing of your project:
Although this grant is projected for 5 years, we hope that it will leave our staff members with the
training and procedures for carrying it out indefinitely.
Narrative
1. Program Approach - Please describe your program approach for the contest. (250
Words) *
Our program will use a thematic approach to teach the Constitution.
Our first theme is “Rule of Law”, focusing on the how the roles that government officials and
individuals play in the Constitution have been defined. In particular, we can look at how citizens
work together and with government officials to improve their community. This theme is the
cornerstone of our service learning component of the program. The learning outcomes of this
theme are that students will identify, plan and implement service learning plans that will benefit
our school and neighborhood to promote the general welfare for ourselves and our posterity.
When possible, local officials and members of the government will be included in the
community service portion.
The theme of “Separation of Powers” how the branches interact with each other. This allows
students to explore the historical origins of our system of government as well as understand
where our laws come from and who enforces them. Field trips to the National Constitution
Center, Independence Hall and the Quaker Meeting House, can help students to trace the
influence of early American governments on our Constitution. The learning outcomes of this
theme are that students will determine the historical roots of the Constitution and how the events
of the past shaped the three branch system of government that we have.
“Individual Rights” will focus on individual freedoms as guaranteed by the Amendments of the
Constitution. Students will use this theme as an opportunity to research and study current and
past events involving the exercising and violating of citizenship rights. The essays from the
Interactive Constitution online tool will be instrumental in helping the students developing a
deeper understanding of the rights guaranteed to individuals through the Amendments and why
they are so important. Learning outcomes include not only being able to identify the individual
rights spelled out in the amendments, but also the historical context in which the rights were
conceived.
“Necessary and Proper?” examines how the court and lawmakers continue to interpret the US
Constitution as our country evolves. This theme will evoke our highest levels of critical thinking
as students examine, research, and debate what the original intentions of the “Elastic Clause”
were, and how that debate has existed from the inception of the US Constitution. Learning
outcomes for this theme will see the students use this theme for researching modern American
policy, resulting in students who are able develop opinions and debate issues that affect our
country today.
2. Impact of Instructional Materials on Student Body. Please describe how the instructional
materials will be designed to affect the greatest percentage of students in a school: *
We recognize that one of the biggest barriers to Constitutional literacy for teens is the often
verbose and difficult language that can be hard for even the strongest readers to decode. As a
middle schoolers, the students will rely on lessons that can help accommodate the language so
that they can better understand the deeper meanings of the text. Additional barriers such as
specific learning disabilities and English language learner status further widen the gap between
content and understanding. According to the US Department of Education in 2014, 9.3% of
students in America (approximately 4.5 million students) were identified as English Language
Learners. As a school, our rate is 22%, more than twice the national average. Our students are
working hard to learn English and often face many difficulties when presented with a
challenging document such as the US Constitution. Any lessons or curriculum that we develop
could be used to help the other 4.5 million students living in America under the laws of the
Constitution, and struggling to understand such difficult and nuanced ideas.
Our 7th and 8th grade classes are fortunate to have access to many half carts of Chromebooks as
well as a Blended Learning model of instruction. As a result of this, teachers will be trained on
how to access and implement the National Constitution Center’s Interactive Constitution as well
as the resources and interpretations available online. We will also create many lessons that
utilize the Interactive Constitution app, which students will have downloaded onto their school
devices. Students who download the app to their phones will also have the opportunity to access
the document from anywhere and complete assignments for class. With our Blended Learning
model, we can differentiate our instruction to fit the needs of our small groups. Using grant
funding we will purchase more Chromebook carts to expand the Blended Learning model to
accommodate 5th and 6th grade classes.
We will create a scope and sequence aligned to instructional materials and resources for grades
5-8 that will be given to every teacher of those grades. Copies of all lessons and appropriate
resources will be loaded digitally and placed in our curriculum library so that all staff and
students can have access. Additionally, since we have a high population of ESOL students we
will utilize our Spanish-speaking staff members to help create scaffolded supports as well as
translated copies of documents for equal access for all students.
3. Assessment. Describe how student learning will be measured and how that measurement
will inform implementation after the first year of the program: *
Like our own government requires of new citizens, we will require a citizenship test to be given
at the beginning of each school year for students in grades 5-8, and again at the end of the year.
Tests will be tailored to fit the instructional objectives of each particular year and can help
teachers to guide their instruction. By analyzing that data we will be able to see the strengths
and weaknesses of our program and reevaluate our direction.
Additionally, we will give pre and post surveys regarding the impact of our initiatives to the
students, faculty, families and neighbors of our school. We will be looking to see if the students
service learning projects and research had a noticeable impact on the greater school community.
For example, if the students sponsor a trash clean up in our littered neighborhood, we would ask
neighbors if they saw a visible improvement in the days and weeks after our students project.
Were people more or less likely to clean up after themselves because they saw the student put in
effort? If the results indicate that our community is benefitting from the involvement of our
students locally we will use that data to branch out in our subsequent years to larger projects.
We can also use our data to reach out to local business owners for partnerships as well as involve
local organizations such as Congresso, a nonprofit organization founded to strengthen the Latino
community.
We may also discover that our work did not have as large an impact as intended and we can
make the necessary changes upon reflection. Furthermore, we believe that if our students as a
whole are more engaged in the school community, we will see a noticeable drop in out of school
suspensions and an increase in student attendance. We will track that data as well using our
District monitoring tools on SchoolNet. The School District has already offered us the use of the
Research and Testing Department to help us implement all of our assessment needs.
4. Instruction. Describe how students will experience high-quality civics instruction within
the proposed program:
A high quality civics program is one that goes beyond reading packets and answering questions.
We believe in the power of hands on, collaborative, authentic learning experiences that model
the ideals of citizenship as set forth by the US Constitution. We expect students to experience
mock trials where teams reenact or recreate historical debates such as in Plessy v. Ferguson or
Brown v. Board of Education. Using technology, students could also create documentaries about
local and global issues that affect their futures and the future of our community. Every election
season we will set up up simulated campaigns and school wide voting booths for our students to
practice voting. Students will be encouraged and supported in the development of National
History Day projects that will help to improve their research skills.
Outside of the Social Studies classroom, students will still be expected to learn about the
Constitution and its applications for their lives. For example, in science students studying DNA
can also learn about the legal arguments surrounding current event issues such as GMO’s in
order to form their own opinions. The Interactive Constitution essays can be used in guided
reading groups to help strengthen non-fiction text skills in English class. In Math, statistics and
analysis can be taught using data that measures voting and election results. Art teachers can
sponsor projects inspired the freedoms guaranteed to citizenship. Music teachers can help
students craft rap battles modeled after Broadway’s Hamilton to discuss the debates that took
place between Federalists and Democratic Republicans.
We will also be using the funding to take field trips to Washington DC with the intent of visiting
the various branches of our government, so students can experience first hand the inner workings
and impact of our Constitution. Argumentative essays and research projects will not only
contribute to Constitutional literacy, but also develop higher-level Common Core standards and
critical thinking skills. As the years progress we will also support our students in writing essays
for various local and national contests that relate to the Constitutional issues discussed in our
classes. Attention will be paid especially to those contests that offer scholarship rewards that
will provide the motive and means our students need to consider academic life beyond high
school.
Outside of the regular school hours we will also sponsor a student government club so that
students can run their own representative democracy on campus using the ideals found in the US
Constitution.
5. Documented Impact on Student Understanding. Describe how the program will gather
and document understanding throughout the school: *
At the end of every quarter we will be looking to document our school-wide success. We want
teachers to use a portfolio or Interactive Notebook format for tracking long term student learning
in the classroom. We also will have digital access to student understanding located on our
Google Classroom pages that can track learning outcomes for individual students and classes.
Teachers who are working to develop and implement curriculum will be checking in with each
other on a monthly basis to discuss the evolution of the program. Classroom teachers will be
asked to gather and share specific data at quarterly intervals. Assessment data will be monitored
and tracked digitally as well to see the impact that the program is having on our school. We will
also send home surveys and questionnaires for students and parents to determine any impact of
the program outside of school hours.
6. Professional Development. Describe the programs professional development plan and
strategies: *
A significant need we have identified is our lack of Social Studies Professional Development that
is offered to our teachers. As a result, a large portion of our funding would be going towards
professional development. When speaking with many colleagues there is a sense of pressure to
teach just the standardized tested subjects of reading and math. Coupled with the fact that many
K-6 educators do not have a background in historical or civic education, many feel that they do
not know what or how to effectively teach the Constitution. Others feel as if the materials that
are currently provided tell an oversimplified version of the Constitution that glosses over the
debates and arguments that can be found in the various interpretations of the Articles and
Amendments. As a result, many teachers simply choose not to teach about the Constitution, or
choose to do so in a way that does not actively engage students.
We aim to bridge this gap by providing comprehensive and compensated professional
development for our staff members. Our first phase will be a small group of teachers working
together in the first year to develop and determine the resources for this new approach to civic
literacy. Scope and sequence of the thematic curriculum development, service learning group
norms, program implementation and data analysis will be the focus. We anticipate that there will
be unexpected outcomes of this new approach to teaching and we are committed to working
together to ensure that we achieve our goals. For example, “Logistically, should the service
learning groups outline in the theme “A More Perfect Union” be during the school day, or as an
additional prep, or an after school club?” would be one such question that we are already
researching the implications of now. These opportunities are not just available to teachers of
social studies, our expectation is that all content area teachers are participating in bringing the
Constitution into their classrooms. Electives teachers are also expected to participate in
professional development opportunities so that the students see how the Constitution is truly a
part of all facets of life.
Our second phase will involve bringing together all teachers of 5-8th grades to be trained on our
new program. This will include teachers of our Elective classes such as Music, Dance, Spanish
and Art so that an interdisciplinary approach to the Constitution can be implemented throughout
the school. We will facilitate onsite professional development involving the four themes that we
have identified as well as strategies for implementing the service learning component of our
program. We will also bring outside professional development through various organizations
such as the National Constitution Center, the soon to be opened Museum of the American
Revolution, Need in Deed, Gilder Lehrman and the Army Heritage Museum. In particular we
want our teachers to feel confident working with the various features and texts of the Interactive
Constitution website. We will aim to improve teacher content knowledge of the Constitution as
well as more modern pedagogical approaches to civic literacy and engagement. Integrating
primary sources, utilizing the resources of Philadelphia and incorporating the best methods on
how to teach big Constitutional ideas to students who do not speak English proficiently, will all
be topics that are extensively covered in professional development sessions. We will also gather
feedback from staff regarding what they want to learn because it is our belief that staff will buyin to the approach when self-determination is valued and encouraged.
Our final phase will be to support staff members as they develop and propose their own civic
literacy lesson plans that they can present at state and national conferences and local PD’s for our
district. We will support teachers as they attend conferences such as the National Council for
History Education or summer development like the ones found through George Washington’s
Mount Vernon, Gilder Lehrman, or the Civil War Trust. These opportunities are usually not
utilized enough because of cost and/or time restrictions. Our grant funding will help to eliminate
those barriers.
7. Sustainability Describe how the program will be developed to be sustainable and your
school and be shared with other schools: *
Sustainability beyond the grant-funded period is built into our project’s design. Our hope is that
our holistic thematic approach to Constitution and Civic Literacy and adequate, relevant
professional development training, teachers will develop new strategies and implement programs
year after year. For example if we host a Professional Development meeting about
implementing National History Day in the classroom, teachers could strengthen and modify
those strategies over time. We also want to think of our small group of educators as mentor
teachers to new staff members. We can use our knowledge and expertise to present Professional
Development on our District Staff days since our administration is very supportive of teacherled PD programs.
As our students progress from 5th to 8th grade, they can expect to see the program build on their
previous year's work, deepening and cementing their understanding of the Constitution and how
it works for them. They too will help to ensure that this program is sustainable as they will also
be familiar with our service learning and community engagement approach to learning. The
excitement generated by our annual activities such as the National History Day conference, the
voting project, field trips and guest speakers will ensure that student engagement remains
consistent . With enthusiastic students, teachers will be more likely to want to continue these
approaches and activities and programs long after the grant has expired. Hopefully the data that
we gather will also yield improved student-learning outcomes, lowered rates of out-of-school
suspensions and more consistent attendance. All of these factors will ensure that staff, students
and families want to continue our program beyond our five-year plan.
8. Budget Provide a detailed budget to show the use of funds for the program: *
Onsite Staff Development
$20000
$40 an hour/500 hours over 5 years
Offsite Staff Development
National History Day
GLI Online Courses
Local Professors of History
Army Heritage Museum
NCHE Conference Attendance
$8000
Guest Speakers for Staff and Students
$5000
Student Trips to DC
Each Bus Charter $1600
2 Busses a year/5 years
$16000
Chromebook Carts
4 Carts/ $4000 each
$16000
Additional Related Field Trips
Local bus $250/ a trip
$10000
Student Government
$4000
Stipend for staff $700/ year for 5 years
Initial operating budget of $500
Instructional Materials
GLI Resources
Various Instructional texts
$5000
Classroom/School Supplies
Art Supplies for Projects
Paper for Lessons
Service Learning Group supplies
National History Day
Voting project 2016/2020
$6000
Additional Technology
Video Cameras
Laserjet Printers
Nearpod Headsets and Licenses
$5000
Library Books for Student Research
$5000
Total $100,000