• Civic involvement
• Methodology
• Connecting constructivism and citizenship
• Teaching challenges
• Building consensus and closure
• Student challenges
• Informal assessment
• Getting started
• Forming groups
• Students' presentations
• Lessons learned
• Advice to other teachers
• Newark mayoral campaign
• Remaining neutral
• His background

Jose Velazquez: I know things are on track when I see the students’ comfort levels [and they begin] to talk about what the issues are and feel comfortable in expressing them without thinking “Do I have it right? Is this what Mr. Velazquez wants to hear?” I try to tell them, “It’s not what I want to hear, it’s what they want to say.” When I see them participating and being open and honest about their strengths and weaknesses, I think that’s where we want [the lesson] to go.

[At the end of the lesson], as they were congratulating each other for the work they did, I was listening closely to a lot of the words that were being thrown out by the students. That really brought a lot of joy to me because I could see that they were not only happy with the end product but they were happy with the process in which they accomplished the end product.