Citizens are people committed to being informed, being engaged, and being active in civic life, whether at the local, state, national, or international level.
What does it Mean to be a citizen?
Our Mission.
Be a Citizen’s mission is to create actionable opportunities for civic engagement through partnerships between communities and schools.
We believe in the fundamental idea that a democracy requires a participatory citizenry committed to its maintenance.
We believe the primary purpose of education is preparing students for their lives as citizens.* As such, schools must create opportunities for students to practice being responsible, informed, engaged participants in civic life.
We believe integrating the elements of civic education across disciplines better prepares students for their future in college, careers, and as citizens.
We emphasize civic application as a means to reinforce learning and demonstrate relevancy.
We believe addressing societal concerns requires collaborative solutions that bring together schools and communities as partners in order, building upon each other’s assets and strengths.
*We define citizens as all people engaged in civic life.
Being a citizen is open to all; not only for those with a legal national affiliation.
Our Values.
Our Goals.
- Create a new generation of informed, active citizens.
- Use the knowledge, skills, and experiences of communities and schools to address pressing civic challenges.
- Re-center real world application in learning outcomes.
- Find pathways across grade levels and subject areas for civic learning opportunities.
- Develop a civic culture committed to participation and informed decision-making.
- Support community-driven civic education experiences through community-school partnerships.
- Build sustainable relationships between communities and schools to create balanced partnerships that share resources and work collaboratively.
All of the Be a Citizen materials were designed and developed by Carly Muetterties, Ph.D. (see bio below), unless otherwise noted.
This work represents collaborations with Kentucky educators through professional developments, workshops, and other endeavors.
The materials hosted on beacitizen.org were added to help teachers and students’ civic engagement.
ABOUT US.
Terms of Use.
This work is licensed under a Materials are protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
Carly Muetterties is the Founder of CommonGoodEd, a learning design company that co-creates, curates, and customizes learning materials with communities.
She earned an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Education Sciences, with a focus on social studies curriculum and instruction. Her research interests are on integrating civic education across all subjects. Upon completion of her doctorate, she was Director of Curriculum Design at Gradient Learning and, later, Director of Learning Design at Newsela.
Before beginning her doctoral studies, Carly was a high school social studies teacher at Tates Creek High School in Lexington. She holds a bachelor’s degree in social studies education and three master’s degrees (history, German, and education).
As a teacher and returning student, she has worked on several projects with educational organizations, including the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the Southern Poverty Law Center, National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards, the Korean War Legacy Project, the Frazier History Museum, and many others.
BIO.
Carly was head writer and lead developer of the Kentucky Civic Seal Program, in partnership with the Kentucky Civic Education Coalition and Kentucky’s Secretary of State Office.
She served as the managing editor of C3Teachers.org, which hosts resources aligned with the C3 Framework for social studies state standards, adopted by the National Council for the Social Studies.
She is also the author of the children’s book, Bluegrass Bold: Stories of Kentucky Women.