Newspaper Covers Mountlake Terrace High School’s Use of the Civic Mirror

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Civic Mirror

A huge round of applaus to Mr. Ryan Niman and his 9th Grade students at Mountlake Terrace High School. All year long they’ve been making headlines within the online Civic Mirror community, taking the program and their education to remarkable heights. It was just a matter of time before the buzz they’ve been generating in school caught the attention of The Enterprise Newspaper who sent a reporter out last week to cover the story! Congratulations Mountlake Terrace!

Read The Enterprise Newspaper’s full story!

Posted in CM News, From the CM Trenches | Tagged News | Comments Off

OPPORTUNITY! Submit a Video Response for the Upcoming Civic Mirror Intro Videos

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Civic Mirror Teachers, Students, Parents, and Curriculum Coordinators!

This summer Action-Ed will be working with a video production company to develop super cool Civic Mirror Intro Videos. We hope that these videos will better help teachers and students ‘get’ what the Civic Mirror is and how it works before their first time playing it. The finished products are going to be pretty awesome with scheduled video recordings of teachers and students from several schools across North America. We would like, however, to extend the opportunity to you.

WHAT YOU DO

It’s simple, answer the following 5 questions as best you can. We’re not looking for “best” answers, just open and honest feedback so we have lots of candid footage to help us spread the good word and help new users get started.

5 VIDEO QUESTIONS

1. How has the Civic Mirror helped you?

2. What have you learned since using the Civic Mirror?

3. Why should others use the Civic Mirror?

4. Is there anything else about your experience with the Civic Mirror that you think others should know?

5. What was your favorite Civic Mirror moment?

VIDEO RECORDING INSTRUCTIONS

When you record yourself answering the 5 Civic Mirror questions, please do the following:

• SHOOL SETTING > Ensure that the video recordings occur in either a classroom, library, or computer lab setting. We need this is for production consistency.

• INFO STATEMENT > When you press record, please wait a few seconds and then ask each person to say their name, school, city, course, and grade. Please do say this very clearly. This is important because the video production company is going to display this information and we need to make sure we get it right.

• CLEAR AUDIO > Make sure the sound in your recording is really, really clear. It would be awful if we couldn’t hear what you were saying and couldn’t use an otherwise great video. Having a bit of noise in the background is fine, but it’s crucial that the voices are well heard.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

When done, please submit your video to us in one of two ways.

1. YOUTUBE – upload your video to YouTube and send us the link (via the contact form)

2. MESSAGE – send us a message saying you have a video to submit; we’ll then reply with next steps.

If you are a student under the age of 18 years old, you’ll likely have to send us a parent-completed video permission form (especially if you do the first option), so you might want to get started by downloading it below.

Download Video Permission Form

Posted in CM News, From the CM Trenches, Student Reflections | Tagged Civic Mirror, Student Reflections, Video Reflection | Comments Off

Civic Mirror Country Continues Economic Debate

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Civic Mirror

On Tuesday May 11, The Civic Mirror Trenches posted an article about Ze Empire!’s,a grade 11 Civics class lead by instructor Paul Chafee at Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody, BC, economic hardships. Citizen Jason.K felt cheated when the government forced him to sell his hex for less then market value. The government argued back that they needed to buy the hexs cheaply to enable them to give units away for free, creating a national system. Arguments ensued, a trade embargo was threatened, and citizens feared the lack of trade would cause casualities throughout the country. Administrator Nathan.R commented on the embargo:

“Spreading your ideals in the means of killing others to prove a point. Perhaps a more diplomastic approach is needed rather than telling your fellow citizens to stop trading with the government causing more than 25 deaths in the country. If you calculate how many necessities the government holds, you have I think 13 food units, and 12 shelters. By refusing to trade with the government will condemn 25 people to death. Please everyone, by following a terrorist, it only makes a more violent conflict.”

Citizen Jason.K responded to the Administrator’s comments,

“The only reason we resemble a terrorist is only because of the government. I was a normal citzens untill the government threatend me to sell my develpoing hex for a price to nothing. Since i refuesed the government refuesed to trade. This is worst then resesmbling terrorism, it is terroism. By making me homeless, foodless, and giving me non of these, the government is going to take over everyone by threathening. Citizens who are satisfied with this system such as Kim, beware that one wrong step, government will turn on you.”

Frustrated Citizen Ayrton.S added to the argument,

” But what i meant was that sure its great right now but soon enough things will go down hill and lives will be lost and then i will ask you was it worth all the lives that were lost? couldn’t this have been avoided if you had just restored our country into a proper democracy? and then what can you say?”

In response to messages posted between Citizen AdamO and Citizen Jason.L, Administrator Nathan.R posted,

“It’s obvious now of your plans and that you are conspiring with Jason who owns the hex turning into an EI one. This is morally wrong and illegal, if you would only see the governments point of view, the argument would be resolved. Most people agree that since we are doing everything in our power to ensure the country succeeds, why stop that? It only prevents/slows the progression of this country in the name of good and you should stop before things get out of hand.”

After some more back and forth and namcalling, Citizen Allison.K stepped in as a mediator of sorts,

“okay I uderstand where everyone is coming from but I find that we need to calm down and well talk like civil human being. The government should know that they have lost some of the classes trust and should work to earn that back.

They lost this trust either due to some of the bills they have passed or just they way they came to power and are not having the citizens involved when it comes to the bills. Also (in my opion) they should explain any of the new bills or things they do so that we know why instead of just asuming that what they are doing is for their own personal gain.”

The argument ensues, pulling in more citizens to comment. When one citizen comments that the CM is just a game, other citizens jump to remind the class that the game is meant to simulate real life and thus taken seriously. Interestingly, a citizen from another country, Citizen Gurkanwar of Supermanistan, joins into the debate to add his or her two cents,

“i know that as a foreigner, i should just keep out of other’s businesses, but this debate seems to be quite powerful. just to clear things up here (PS. i do not know where you guys are from, who you people are, and who is the assumed good guy/bad guy, therefore all my opinions will be unbiased) our history teacher had said that communism/dictatorship at its fullest is actually good… but the thing is it has yet to bloom to its fullest, therefore what you see is only the negative part of it, not the good effects (because those are the parts that are delayed) and also, not to burst any bubbles here, but either someone here is trying to achieve their hidden agenda, or the gov’t is pretty darn smart and well planned out. anyways, i would personally recommend that Aryton, stand strong on your point but instead of opposing the gov’t, go with the flow for a while, try and see what they’re really like, because the way it sounds, for now, it seems that the gov’t is doing what it can to stabilize the economy. why deal with 2 issues at once (stabilizing the country and trying to deal with the gov’t) when you can deal with them one by one (first lets stabilize the country and then when thats out of the way lets deal with the gov’t) and if they do something that prevents the stabilization then you can hold that against them as a proof of their corruption and you will be able to get some support from your fellow citizens. again, i do not know anyone from your classroom, i do not know where you guys are from, therefore i am not supporting either side (neither do i have a reason to do so). the debate seemed to be quite intriguing to me therefore i decided to drop off my personal opinion. and again, i suggest your country should worry about the matter at hand before worrying about the matters you might have to deal with in the future. also, if all goes well and they ARE a communist/dictatorship party (again, i am not saying they are, just saying IF they are) then who knows, maybe they turn out to be the ones that can bloom the effects of communism/dictatorship to its fullest”

When the postings peter out, there is not real agreement but both sides have certainly been able to vent their frustrations. Has your country had any heated debates? Reply to this post or send us an email so we can share your story with the Civic Mirror Community!

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged dictator, economics, government, social studies | Comments Off

Kidnapping in Tropjia: A CTU Investigation part 3

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Civic Mirror

On May 4, 2010 we presented the second installment of our series: Kidnapping in Tropjia: A CTU Investigation. The citizens of Tropiji, a country under the oversight of Instructor Warren Bezuidenhout at Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee have been working fervently to find Mr. East before it was too late. Tragically, the case took at turn for the worst. According to Molly, founder of the Counter Terrorist Unit:

Breaking News!
27 year old Luke Smith’s body was found in his apartment in NYC. Police found him early this morning, Wednesday April 21, 2010. The cause of death was seemingly suicide by strangulation, though no note was found. Autopsy confirms that there are no other marks on Mr. Smith’s corpse other than rope burns around his neck.What do we make of this new information?
Who do you believe is behind the disappearance of Arthur East?
What do you believe is said person’s motive?
What relation do you believe this event has with the Special Ops Team: Black Cobra?
What information do you believe is missing that would be key to the investigation?
What do you believe about Mr. Smith’s alleged suicide?

To partake in CTU’s solving of Mr. East’s disappearance, you are required to answer the following questions after reading “Murder on Civic Mirror” part one and two. The more answers you get right (as graded by Molly Vogel) the more points you earn toward solving the case. Post answers as replies to this post.

Questions

Members of the task force sprang to action to answer the questions and solve the case. Taking her duties as country leader very seriously, President Madison was the first to answer:

Questions:
1. We now know that someone is going after the Black Cobra survivors probably.
2. I think Mr. Sergei Ardeth Daae behind it. If the fingerprint is Ms. Lillian Narsca’s fingerprint, then it’s not suprising because she is in a relationship with Arthur East.
Mr. Sergei Ardeth Daae, however, has a record, and he is smart enough and he has had experience in robberies and breaking in. He is smart enough to leave no fingerprints, or half of one. He is also taller than Arthur, so it would be easier for him to abduct Arthur more than someone else.
3. His motive is that h’s probably targeting the Black Storm survivors, and he was helping terrorists, so the terrorists might have been involved in the Black Storm thing.
4. This the Black Cobra is probably a motive for the kidnapper and murderer.
5. The whole fingerprint is missing, and a solid motive, and alibis for each person. Also more info about the Black Cobra would be useful.
6. I think Mr. Smith was murdered. The murderer probably made it look like a suicide by hanging. If he had rope burns on his neck, he probably had robe burns or fibers on his hands from tying the rope, but he doesn’t. He also didn’t have a note. If Mr. Smith didn’t have any other markings on his body, then he was probably not in a struggle with the murderer. The murderer might have had a gun and then tied Mr. Smith up around the neck an then hung him.

Maria posted similar findings: 1) I think that from this information we can make that the people want to destroy the Special Ops Team. Mr. Nyx has died and he was part of that group. Mr. Luke Smith was also part and now there is only one person left, or so we think, it is Mr. East.
3) I think that the said motive of Mr. Sergei is to destroy the Special Ops: Black Cobra because if he had criminal record, they could have done something bad to Mr. Sergei while he was in jail or tortured him and he wanted revenge. 5 out of 7 had died and then Mr. Smith “killed himself” and then Mr. East is gone and Mr. Nyx has been dead. . .I think that Mr. Smith did not kill himself, but was forced or threatened by Mr. Sergei.

Health Manager and Power Manager Jeffrey, Vice President Amanda and Citizen Alexandra all drew the same conclusions. It seems there is a consensus on the team, someone is trying to rid the world of the Black Ops team. What does this mean for Tropji and what action will the Counter Terrorist Unit take to rid the world of these criminals?

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged Crime, criminals, justice, motive, murder, punishment, response, terrorism | Comments Off

Civic Mirror Country Faces Economic Crisis

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Civic Mirror Country Ze Empire! citizens, a grade 11 Civics class lead by instructor Paul Chafee at Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody, BC, are facing what some see as an Economic Crisis and others understand as good management. The discussion began with Citizen Jason.K’s posting:

“This is outragous situation where every unit is free. History is repeating citizens, we have gone into dictatorship where it is exactly same as when Hitler ruled. We have Hitelr on our hands people, it’s time to act out! Take Down the Government! This event continues on and i can not watch and sit back, i am acting out as a citizen that this is ridiculous. When dictatorship came in act, people stayed strong. Now, people are falling under a influence that the government will solve everything. The corrupted government munipulated everyone and changed everyone. i am refusing to knee down to government’s corrupted and ridiculous laws.
Ladies and gentlemen, who are in need to speak. Act now”

Free Units! NathanR. responded to the Hitler comment,

“Hitler was a facist, he beleived in economic freedom which is exactly the opposite of what type of government we have now. Units are free for the sake of preventing starvation and homelessness in Ze Empire and if you cant comprehend that, then so be it. Ignorance is the root of all evils in my opinion, knowledge yourself on the situation before making rash accusation that can ruin and slow the political process down.”

Citizens who seem to be prospering under this system responded in kind,
KimB.:

“Last year I had a family member die. Thats not going to happen this year because the government made it so I could get everything I needed. Personally I think their doing a great job!”

Ze Empire Administrator Mark.P took offense to comments that his government was corrupt,

“How are we forceful? We made you an offer to buy your power plant at a very reasonable price, you denied. So we explained the situation, which was that we needed that power plant built for next year so less people would die. You then started ignoring us and playing the “I CAN’T HEAR YOU GAME” like a two year old would. So out only other option was to basically tell you to give it to us. And you then refused to accept our authority.

I think this was a logical line of action for us to take. And that you’re exaggerating the situation. A corrupt government would be taking all the gain for itself and ignoring the citizens. This year less citizens have died, and most of the one’s who did are part of this government… aka. We put the country before ourselves, which I think you’ll find is the exact opposite of corrupt”

Citizen Ayrton.S responded in agreement with the orginal post,

“With our current Government this Country is no longer ours its theirs to run however they want to. NOT the way the people want to once again even with them bringing back what they claim is “THE OLD HOUSE OF COMMONS” it doesn’t matter because we AS CITIZENS STILL DON’T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO VOTE IN MATTERS WITHIN THE GOVERNMENT. our new house of commons is nothing but a trick to make you ALL think that this is a fair government! its not like the last one were we can decide which party is the majority and which party is the MINORITY!!!!!!!!!
ONCE AGAIN YOU ALL SHOULD BE OUTRAGED!!!!!!”

A few back and forth arguments later (including calling one another terrorists) and it became clear that Jason.K felt the government refused to pay a fair price for his power plant hex leaving him destitute. In response, the government claimed his price of $5000 was not a fair price for the underdeveloped hex but that they would have given Jason.K food units but other citizens used too many of them. A trade embargo is threatened which would cut off units from many citizens. Will the citizens be able to work things out or will a trade embargo cause further death within the country?

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged corruption, economic crisis, history, manipulate, social studies | Comments Off

Latest on Civic Mirror Country Kidnapping

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Civic Mirror

On Thursday April 29, 2010 we presented the first installment of our series renamed Kidnapping in Tropjia: A CTU Investigation. (Our deepest apologies on any confusion based on the previous title Murder in Tropijia: An FBI Investigation) Tropijian (a country based Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee) citizen Molly informed the country that Mr. East was abducted from his home on Sunday April 18, 2010.

Citizen Molly sprang to action creating the CTU or Counter Terrorist Unit to solve the kidnapping, and possible murder, and offered payment to citizens willing to add their efforts to the cause. On April 21, details of the investigation were released to the public in hopes of catching the kidnappers:

“CTU has been newly formed by the government of Tropiji, enlisting Madison, Katie, Maria, Amanda, Isi, Alexandra, and Molly (aka Federal Agent Jack Bauer) to solve the dastardly disappearance of Vice President Amanda East’s brother, Arthur East.

The crime scene has been investigated and photographed. It appears as though Mr. East put up a struggle as he was abducted. The CSI has swept the entire room for prints, and only found half a thumb print that was not Mr. East’s. CTU then ran the print through their database, and came up with three possible matches. Mr. Sergei Ardeth Daae, Ms. Lillian Narsca, and Mr. Lurtz Draycott Nyx are the possible candidates to the mystery behind Mr. East’s abduction. Here are their backgrounds from the CTU files.

Ms. Lillian Narsca

Status: Alive
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5’2”
Age: 25
Occupation: Politician

Of German and French descent.
Born in Los Angeles, CA of Tropiji.
No criminal record
Was married to Walter Scott, until his death from cancer five years ago, upon which Ms. Narsca inherited a small fortune.
Currently in a relationship with Arthur East.
Currently resides in LA, CA.

Mr. Sergei Ardeth Daae

Status: Alive
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark brown
Height: 5’11”
Age: 45
Occupation: Analyst

Of Middle Eastern descent.
Born in Sangala.
Immigrated to America at the age of 8.
Criminal record:
Breaking and entering
Armed robbery
Accused of smuggling AK 47s out of America to known terrorist groups, never convicted.
No suspicious activity for the last 10 years.
Currently resides in LA, CA.

Mr. Lurtz Draycott Nyx

Status: Deceased
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6’2”
Age: (at time of death) 34
Occupation: (at time of death) Special Ops Team

Of Irish and Hungarian descent.
Born in Agoura Hills, CA in Tropiji.
No criminal record.
Was a part of Special Ops Team: Black Cobra, that was disbanded 3 years ago after a mission in Mexico went south. Five of the seven members killed in operation. Only known survivors are Mr. Arthur East and Mr. Luke Smith.

Also here is Mr. East and Mr. Smith’s file.

Mr. Arthur East

Status: Unknown
Hair: Light brown
Eyes: Green/Hazel
Height: 5’9”
Age: 23
Occupation: Politician

Of German and Dutch descent.
Born in Brentwood, TN in Tropiji.
No criminal record.
Was part of Special Ops Team: Black Cobra, that was disbanded 3 years ago after a mission in Mexico went south. Five of the seven members killed in operation. Only known survivors are Mr. Arthur East and Mr. Luke Smith.
Was seemingly abducted from his apartment on Sunday April 18, 2010 after Tropiji police department received his 911 call.

Mr. Luke Smith ”

Status: Alive
Hair: Black
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 5’8.5”
Age: 27
Occupation: NYPD

Of African descent.
Born in Franklin, TN in Tropiji.
No criminal record.
Was part of Special Ops Team: Black Cobra, that was disbanded 3 years ago after a mission in Mexico went south. Five of the seven members killed in operation. Only known survivors are Mr. Arthur East and Mr. Luke Smith.
Currently resides in New York City, New York.

Tropijians are working fingers to the bone to find Mr. East, hopefully still alive…

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged Counter terrorism unit, kidnapping, Mr. East, Politics, terrorism | Comments Off

Murder in Civic Mirror Country

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Civic Mirror

Just before eight am Tropijian (a country based Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee) Citizen Molley, posted this report:

“Last night at 5:05 pm, the Tropiji Police Department received a 911 call from a distressed citizen. Said person’s name is Mr. Arthur East, none other than the Vice President Amanda East’s brother. Mr. East said that there was someone breaking into his apartment. Here is the following 911 call:

“There’s someone banging on my front door. There’s this- this guy yelling at me! I think he’s got a weapon, please send someone over befo-”
And at this point, the call abruptly cut off. By the time our country’s police got to Mr. Arthur East’s apartment, the door had been broken down, and the where abouts of Mr. East were a mystery. The crime scene indicates that someone broke into the apartment, kidnapping Mr. East for unknown reasons. There was no ransom or note of any kind. Police are baffled.
Here is Vice President East’s reaction to the disappearance of her brother:
“I can’t believe that someone would take Arthur; he’s never done anything to anyone! I just dont understand…”

However, could it be that Mr. East was abducted as a terrorist threat in an attempt to control a person of power in our government? You decide.
Our government has yet to develop a FBI or investigator headquarters of any sort; they are now hiring private investigators to help recover Mr. East’s location. Please submit a resume to the government’s post “Jobs for the People” if you are interested.

With questions looming Tropjians are faced with trying to solve this crime. How will they manage? Find out through my new series: Murder in Tropjia: An FBI Investigation

Posted in From the CM Trenches | Tagged intrigue, murder, Politics, Scandal, terrorism | 1 Comment

Civic Mirror Teachers, Students, Parents, and Curriculum Coordinators!

WHAT YOU DO

5 VIDEO QUESTIONS

VIDEO RECORDING INSTRUCTIONS

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

ESD Clock Hours Available! Send Us a Message to Reserve Your Seat (click here)

DETAILS

Categories

ESD Clock Hours Available!
Send Us a Message to Reserve Your Seat (click here)