Local Look and Colorado's municipalities...A good match!
The Colorado Municipal League, in a joint effort with Colorado Counties,
Inc., the Colorado Association of School Boards and the Special District
Association of Colorado, is proud to announce the completion of the Local
Look civics curriculum.
Local Look is an integrated civics curriculum that teaches kids
in grades K-12 what local government is, why it is important to them personally
and how they can become involved in local government in meaningful ways.
And after several years of planning, pilot projects and revisions, complimentary
copies of Local Look were mailed to every school district superintendent
in the state. District superintendents and curriculum specialists will now
be able to add Local Look to the limited list of local government teaching
resources available to K-12 teachers.
To order Local Look,
click here. You can
e-mail the League for more information about Local Look.
Local Look, which can be used voluntarily, includes numerous practical
activities for each grade level, essential background material for teachers,
worksheets and standard checklists. In addition, the activities in Local
Look are targeted specifically to the newly adopted Colorado Model Content
Standards in civics.
Why is this curriculum important to Colorado's local governments?
Of the three major levels of government in the United States¤federal,
state and local¤none affects citizens more directly than local government.
However, most citizens lack a basic understanding of how local governments
are structured, how they function, or even what services they provide. Local
Look was designed with long-term benefits in mind. CML hopes that in the
process of gaining a better understanding about civics, students and their
parents will also strengthen local government through participation and trust.
To help ensure that Local Look is successful, municipal officials
and staff must be available to assist teachers with questions or provide
them with additional resources. The curriculum encourages classroom visits
from local government staff and officials. It highlights the importance of
students visiting public facilities so that they can understand how local
governments function. Additionally, many of the curriculum activities depend
on the students interviewing local elected officials and staff.
Of course, you don't have to wait for a teacher or student to contact
you or the town hall. Feel free to contact your local school district to
encourage them to use Local Look in their classrooms and offer to assist
with any Local Look activities. The idea behind Local Look is to build on
your existing relationships with schools and students, and in the process
leave a lasting impression of how people view and understand the role of
local government.
