Reflection & Connection

The Civic Mirror requires educators to let go of “the classroom reigns,” to have faith in their students and the experience, and to capitalize on the endless teachable moments it provides. The instructor’s most important role is to observe what’s happening and to connect the experience to her students’ lives and the curriculum. Simply put, the CM educator ideally helps her students understand what can and cannot be done, and helps them foresee the possible consequences of the various options. But she will NOT tell her students what “should” be done.

This video shows several clips of what I call student free flow. These scenes may seem rather innocuous (clips of students chattering), but there are stories of student learning behind each and every one them. For example, pay attention to the clip of the boy sulking in his chair in the computer lab. With a bit of prompting and encouragement on my (the teacher’s) part, the adversity he faced in The Civic Mirror was turned into a powerful – and maybe life-changing – learning experience (as you’ll see in the last video of this series).

There are also several clips of teacher coaching, mentoring, and interrupting in order to educate either small groups of students or the whole class. The Civic Mirror completely changes the classroom dynamics, providing a rich, student-centered learning environment, and an environment that frees up teachers so they can more meaningfully interact with their students.

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ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT THE CIVIC MIRROR IS?
Basically it’s a government and economics simulation that turns classrooms into countries and students into citizens. Far more than just a game, The Civic Mirror is a fully comprehensive civic education program that turns the old rules of teaching and learning on their head. Students actively assume real-world citizenship roles – both in the classroom and online – and work as individuals to provide for imaginary families and achieve hidden agendas, while working together to build a strong, democratic nation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT CIVICMIRROR.COM.

FOR THE COMPLETE CIVIC MIRROR EVENT SUMMARY, CLICK HERE .

Performance-Based Self-Assessment

This video shows students learning how they will be evaluated throughout The Civic Mirror. Basically, at the end of every simulated year, students complete a self-evaluation rubric where they have to evaluate their ‘in-game’ performance in four areas that count equally. Then the instructor reviews the self-evaluation, cross-marks if needed, and records the mark. The four areas of evaluation are:

1. Success in the Simulation: encourages students to earn Status Points by achieving their Hidden Agendas or by providing well for the imaginary families.
2. Involvement & Attitude: encourages students to treat the simulated learning process with respect and view it as an experience that they can learn valuable lessons from.
3. Initiative: encourages students to take action and ownership of their learning and start things that add value to simulated experience.
4. Incorporation of Learning: encourages students to incorporate course material into their Civic Mirror experience.

The Civic Mirror utilizes well-researched and highly effective assessment methods (i.e. authentic, formative, and performance-based). The Instructors Manual explains this process in great detail, providing helpful tips for teachers too.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS CIVIC MIRROR VIDEO TUTORIAL?
Please leave them below and join the discussion!

ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT THE CIVIC MIRROR IS?
Basically it’s a government and economics simulation that turns classrooms into countries and students into citizens. Far more than just a game, The Civic Mirror is a fully comprehensive civic education program that turns the old rules of teaching and learning on their head. Students actively assume real-world citizenship roles – both in the classroom and online – and work as individuals to provide for imaginary families and achieve hidden agendas, while working together to build a strong, democratic nation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT CIVICMIRROR.COM.

FOR THE COMPLETE CIVIC MIRROR EVENT SUMMARY, CLICK HERE .

Learning the Constitution

When The Civic Mirror begins, students – like people of any state or community – will inevitably ask questions like:

“Can he do that?”
“Would I be able to get away with … ?”
“What’s legal? What’s forbidden? And who says so?”

The Civic Mirror Manuals include modified versions of the U.S. Constitution or the Canadian Charter (depending on the module), and these modified documents literally become the students’ book of fundamental laws for their own country.

This “Constitutional Jigsaw” activity is optional (time permitting), but it has two primary objectives:

1. For students to become familiar with their simulated nation’s constitution by paraphrasing sections of it in groups and evaluating one another’s work, and
2. For students to become more familiar with the U.S. Constitution or Canadian Charter, with the hope of becoming more informed and well-equipped citizens in the real world.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS CIVIC MIRROR VIDEO TUTORIAL?
Please leave them below and join the discussion!

ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT THE CIVIC MIRROR IS?
Basically it’s a government and economics simulation that turns classrooms into countries and students into citizens. Far more than just a game, The Civic Mirror is a fully comprehensive civic education program that turns the old rules of teaching and learning on their head. Students actively assume real-world citizenship roles – both in the classroom and online – and work as individuals to provide for imaginary families and achieve hidden agendas, while working together to build a strong, democratic nation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT CIVICMIRROR.COM.

FOR THE COMPLETE CIVIC MIRROR EVENT SUMMARY, CLICK HERE .

Civic Mirror's Built-In Rewards

The Civic Mirror provides teachers with a variety of reward mechanisms that encourage students to complete in-class work. Students will know that before they receive their Citizen Profiles, their attitude, participation, and work-completion marks will be used to decide who gets what hidden agendas and how much money at the start of the game. Afterwards, they will know that their continued hard work may be rewarded with either CM$$ and/or Well-Being Pts (given by you), or Status Points Steals (described in the Civic Mirror Manuals). These methods work wonders to increase interest, motivation, and work-completion rates.

This video shows students receiving cash rewards based on their in-class effort and performance after several weeks of monitoring. It’s easy to see how excited (and motivated) the students become. To quote one student from that class, “Yo! You mean we get paid to do our schoolwork?”

For more information on how to effectively cover your curriculum with Civic Mirror rewards and incentives, visit the ever-growing list of Civic Mirror Course Packs and Unit Plans and/or the forthcoming CM Library.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS CIVIC MIRROR VIDEO TUTORIAL?
Please leave them below and join the discussion!

ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT THE CIVIC MIRROR IS?
Basically it’s a government and economics simulation that turns classrooms into countries and students into citizens. Far more than just a game, The Civic Mirror is a fully comprehensive civic education program that turns the old rules of teaching and learning on their head. Students actively assume real-world citizenship roles – both in the classroom and online – and work as individuals to provide for imaginary families and achieve hidden agendas, while working together to build a strong, democratic nation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT CIVICMIRROR.COM.

FOR THE COMPLETE CIVIC MIRROR EVENT SUMMARY, CLICK HERE .