Date:9/21/

16

Name: Kaitlyn Hamlin

Class/Subject: EDTL 2760

MR Title(s): Beyond Personally Responsible

MR Source(s):
Patterson, N., Doppen, F., & Misco, T. (2012). Beyond personally responsible: A study
of teacher conceptualization of citizenship education. Education, Citizenship, and Social
Justice, 191-206. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
Page #

The Text Says

Notes (key concepts, direct quotes,
etc.)

I Say
My notes, commentary

Page 204

The personally responsible teachers in

this study situated citizen action in voting
rights and local community service. They
gave little attention to critical inquiry;
rather they focused on participating
responsibly within the system. They
valued knowledge for knowledges sake
by focusing on rules and laws, and ceding
much of this work to the government
classes. Disregarding citizenship
education, they predominantly framed
teaching history in terms of mastering
content required for high school
graduation test rather than preparing
active and informed citizens.

There are 3 forms of teachers; the personally

responsible teacher as mentioned on the left,
the participatory teachers, and the justiceoriented teachers. I would rather not mimic
the personally responsible teacher because it
seems as though that those teachers arent
entirely concerned with teaching students to
be better citizens. The participatory and
justice-oriented teachers are similar in that
they believe in teaching students on all social
studies levels how it is applicable to being a
good citizen. Personally, I see myself in the
category of the participatory teacher.

Page 205

If effective social studies teaching

includes infusing citizenship education
across the social studies curriculum, then
schools and colleges of education need to

Teachers should make it a point to expand

their beliefs and attitudes towards the subject
they are teaching. If a teacher is stuck in
his/her way of teaching then there will be no

attend to the three elements of teachers

beliefs about citizenship that emerged
from this study that can in fact pose
tangible boundary maintenance issue for
teachers.
Page 205

Activities could include think pieces that

ask students to justify their location along
the citizenship continuum, and modeled
lessons that connect the critical questions
of history to citizen agency to the
present.

growth and the students may suffer as a

result. In order to be sure that citizenship is
infused in an effective manor teachers must
be aware of their own elements of teaching
and continue to find a balance through
educating themselves first.
To properly introduce citizenship in classrooms
its important to let students interact with the
ideas of voting, volunteering, and staying
informed. Activities are important (especially
in social studies) because they engage
students in a new way and make information
relative to them. Perhaps mimicking a small
government or practicing writing letters to a
cause would help students understand what
citizenship is about. Students should be aware
of their ability to participate in the education
system.

Connections to previous MR:

So far we have taken a look into why kids dont typically like social studies, what social studies is, and
why it is important to our futures. This week we were able to read about social studies teachers and
engaging the topic of citizenship inside the classroom. As teachers we must be aware of our belief on
citizenship and how we are going to teach it in our classrooms. Teachers have the responsibility to be
aware of their beliefs and challenging them in regards to citizenship education. How can we help our
students connect content to real life application? We know that we are doing our jobs right, as
educators, when our students start to see why their k-12 social studies classes are in fact relevant to
them. This study brings good news to educators, the more knowledge we have the better prepared we
can be. If we can make students understand their role in citizenship and guide them through application
then we will be setting the future up for positivity. We must learn new ways to interact with citizenship
just as our students will be doing.