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Webinar: We Can Teach Hard Things, Like Civil Rights
The growing political divide in our communities has made conversations about civil rights feel especially complex—and at times daunting—for educators. Yet civil rights are foundational to understanding our democracy and our shared civic responsibilities. Students deserve opportunities to explore how the United States has defined, expanded, challenged, and debated civil rights from the nation’s founding to the present day.
In this edWebinar, iCivics will invite educators to engage in a thoughtful, practical discussion about teaching civil rights across U.S. history. This session goes beyond a single era or movement, examining how civil rights have been addressed through the Constitution, landmark amendments, court cases, legislation, and ongoing civic debates. Together, we’ll explore how questions of rights, liberty, and plurality have evolved, and why those conversations still matter in classrooms today.
You’ll hear from educators working across political, geographic, and socioeconomic contexts who are navigating similar challenges and uncertainties. Learn strategies for fostering civil dialogue, grounding instruction in historical evidence, and helping students grapple with complex issues. Leave with classroom-ready tools, renewed confidence, and the reassurance that you are not alone in teaching these essential civic concepts. This edWebinar will be of interest to K-12 teachers, librarians, school leaders, and district leaders.
Shari Conditt is a 26-year teaching veteran, serving as a Social Studies Teacher and Instructional Coach at Woodland High School in Woodland, Washington. Shari has served as a member of the iCivics EdNet for five years. She is the recipient of the Sandra Day O’Connor Prize for Excellence in Teaching Civics and was the 2024 Bill of Rights Institute National Civics Teacher of the Year. Outside of school, she serves as an Adjunct Professor at Washington State University Vancouver, teaching the Social Studies/History Methods course to pre-service teachers. Shari’s work is guided by the belief that civic virtue and civic engagement create opportunities for advocacy and change. To that end, she works with students, colleagues, and her community so that they, too, can become catalysts in our American democracy.
Marc Turner is an iCivics EdNet member who teaches U.S. History, U.S. Government, and Macroeconomics at the AP, Honors, and College Prep levels at Spring Hill High School in Chapin, South Carolina. He serves as the K-12 Representative on the National Council for the Social Studies Board of Directors. He is the Immediate Past President of the South Carolina Council for Social Studies and the Chair of the South Carolina Council for History Education.
Dr. Emma Humphries is the Chief Education Officer for iCivics, where she leads their organizational research agenda, serves as a leading brand ambassador, and ensures the academic integrity of all instructional materials.
Emeka Barclay is a Curriculum Associate at iCivics with more than 25 years in education. She served as a teacher, a standards and curriculum writer, a Dynamic Learning Project technology and learning coach, a coordinator, a diversity and equity trainer, a district teacher leader, a standards coach, a dean of students, and performed other duties as assigned. Believing that education was just a foundational support to help children and families, she also served for several years as a court-appointed juvenile advocate and language tutor. Her desire to be an educator stems from a long history of witnessing educators serve the community.