PA Civics now collects resources for civic holidays throughout the year

While you get ready for the 2025 PA Civics Educator Forum on Nov. 13 in Scranton, civic holidays are a great reason to incorporate civic learning into classrooms across grade levels and subjects. PA Civics partners are excited to offer excellent programs and materials for every civic holiday.

Each month, PA Civics will share new resources from our partners for major civic holidays. Stay up-to-date with these holidays by requesting a Civic Calendar from the National Constitution Center. The Committee of Seventy also shares new lesson plans for different civic holidays each month.

For November: Election Day in Pennsylvania is November 4, 2025! Explore resources from our partners for teaching elections.

Commemorating NLM's "Year of Assembly"

Ahead of the National Liberty Museum’s forthcoming “Year of Assembly,” explore how freedom of assembly has been enacted or restricted over time—especially in the lives of young people.

NLM's education team is partnering with the Philadelphia Writing Project at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education to offer this program on Monday, Nov. 3 starting at 4 pm that brings together primary sources from the Library of Congress, civic argument writing resources from the National Writing Project, and an upcoming exhibition at NLM.

Learn more and register here. 

Can We Talk? college dialogue on mental health

For the college students in your network: Drexel University is hosting an intercampus student dialogue sponsored on Thurs, Nov. 6 from 7-9 pm on campus and on zoom. This event is open to any college student anywhere in North America. 

Students will get to talk with their peers about topics such as anxiety, depression, pressure to perform, pressure to fit in, social media, phone addiction, and what they think about the behavioral health services and supports on their campus. On the registration form, students are invited to suggest topics they're most interested in.

Can We Talk? is an ongoing dialogue initiative of the Committee of Seventy. This event is made possible by a grant from the Scattergood Foundation.

Rendell Center Teacher's Workshop

On November 14, from 8:30 to 4 pm, at the Supreme Court Chambers in Harrisburg, the Rendell Center is offering a transformative one-day workshop, titled "Constitution and First Amendment Workshop," with follow-up webinars dedicated to exploring the intricacies of the First Amendment.

Designed for educators, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the complexities of the First Amendment. This event promises to enlighten, engage, and empower.

This workshop is free to all K-12 teachers in public, parochial, and charter schools.

Learn more and register here by Oct. 25.

The "Perception Gap" from More Like US

More Like US offers a free and modifiable lesson plan about the Perception Gap, a finding that Americans have overly negative distortions of each other across the political spectrum. The lesson aims to reduce polarization, while supporting classroom civil discourse, media literacy, and understanding of public opinion surveys. It is designed for 1 block / 2 regular class periods, especially in high school social studies classes. 

Georgetown University's Civic Education Research Lab is testing the lesson plan's effectiveness. The first 15 teachers will receive $100 each who have at least 15 students complete Georgetown's pre- and post-surveys by November 7. The two teachers with the most student responses will each earn an additional $200. (Surveys are included in the lesson plan.) Georgetown and More Like US will present aggregated, anonymous findings at the National Council for the Social Studies conference this December.

If interested in using the lesson plan with surveys, please fill out this Google Form so we can notify and compensate you. More information can be found here, and feel free to send questions to More Like US Executive Director James Coan (james@morelikeus.org).