• Lesson value
• Curriculum context
• Using various methodologies
• Teaching challenges
• Worksheets
• Questioning
• Learning challenges
• Signs of success for the lesson
• Cooperative learning
• Groups
• Lessons learned
• Hands-on learning and civic engagement
• His response to the lesson
• Salient legal issues
• Teaching about controversial topics
• His background
• Using textbooks
• Professional development
• Modeling democratic principles
• Challenges to civic education
• Signs of success for civics

Matt Johnson: Prior to becoming a teacher, I worked as a legislative researcher for a law firm and enjoyed that quite a bit, but really felt like I wanted to do something where I was in charge of my day-to-day work. I thought nothing could be better than teaching where I really have my own little corporation, so to speak.

Having worked in the private sector before becoming a teacher, and especially working for a law firm, I had an appreciation for what goes on in the legal field and paid a lot of attention to matters on Capitol Hill. So I brought to the classroom a practical understanding and knowledge of those two fields. As far as civic education goes, I have been a big fan of teaching kids the importance of being involved in our society and in the political process.

When I first began teaching, I think I fell into the trap of a lot of new teachers. It was teacher-centered: "Look at me, I'm in charge. I'm the expert. You guys will take notes and you'll learn from my wisdom." That took awhile to lose as a teaching practice--[which I did] on the job, watching other teachers and letting go. Once you start to let go, it makes a big difference. You realize that it's a very successful approach. I think the point I realized it was time to change wasn't the overwhelming snoring sound I heard when I would lecture, but certain lessons I knew were not getting across to the kids. I could tell by test results. We would prepare for a mock trial my first year and we did horribly. I wasn't letting the kids get into the material enough. I was trying to tell them how everything should look and arguments that they should make. I started to realize that this group of kids really has a lot of ability and you've just got to let them go to the material and they'll do some amazing things with it.

One of the things I did was think back to when I was a high school student. I started to reflect on what I remembered from my four years of high school and it was when we as students had been given an opportunity to create something. I started to say, “That's what I want kids to remember down the road, a couple of years from now.” I thought that I had to come up with simulations. There were lessons already out there, so I just started putting things together myself and immediately I enjoyed teaching more and I think the kids enjoyed the class more. That made a big difference.