Chapter 3: Fostering Civic Efficacy and Action Through Fifth Graders’ Civic Zines

Jennifer “Jen” Cody loves to engage her students in discussions about current events. She believes that fifth grade is a pivotal year for students to develop awareness of social, ecological, and political issues in their spheres of existence,¹ a phrase Jen uses to describe the layers of public society—municipality, town, county, region, state—that students can influence and that can have an influence on students. A teacher with high expectations, Jen is confident that her students are capable of and willing to investigate complex civic questions such as: What social, ecological, and political injustices are happening in the world(s) around me? How might I have a role in creating social change?