Every Voice Counts: Activating Youth Voices
Geoff Foster, Director of Organizing and Policy, UTEC and
Mike Neagle, teacher & 2019 Massachusetts Social Studies Teacher of the Year
This webinar took place on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.
A recording of the Every Voice Counts: Activating Youth Voices webinar is available.
In 1971, the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age in local, state, and federal elections from 21 to 18. Recently, movements across the country, including in Massachusetts, have advocated for additional lowering of the voting age using the arguments that 16- and 17-year-olds hold jobs, pay taxes, and have drivers’ licenses. Mr. Foster will share his work with UTEC students and their “VOTE 17” initiative to enfranchise Lowell’s 17-year-olds in school and city council elections. Mr. Neagle will discuss how he engages his 8th-graders in civics activities outside the classroom through Generation Citizen and Discovering Justice.
Remote Learning Modules: Document Collections
With these primary source collections, companions questions, and writing prompts, high school students take an in-depth look at a topic, analyze documents, draw conclusions, and find relevance. These modules fit right into Google Classroom, or any learning management system, so teachers can collect students' work.
Youth Voices for Political Change
This webinar addresses the following standards from the new MA Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks:
- Topic 5.2. Explain the historical context and significance of changes in the Constitution, including key amendments. Examples of amendments include the:
- c. 26th Amendment (1971): lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 in federal elections
- Topic 5.6. Research, analyze, and report orally or in writing on one area in which Supreme Court decisions have made significant changes over time in citizens’ lives.
- a. Interpretations of freedoms of religion, assembly, press, petition, and speech under the First Amendment (cases in which youth sued for protection of free speech in schools)