Annotated Bibliography

"Our Proven Impact: Baylor University Study (2016)." icivics.org. Web. November 9, 2018

<https://www.icivics.org/our-impact>.

This study cited above was done by Baylor University and consisted of an Icivics summer

program for Fifth through ninth graders. These students played games and participated in various

civic engagement activities which tested their abilities when it comes to being civic participants.

The program aimed to test how their civic knowledge and motivation for engagement changed or

progressed by the end of the program. The results found that by the end of the program, students

felt like more active and informed citizens, had an increased ability to enact change whether it is

alone or with others, and felt like they developed a civic identity.

This is useful source due to its credibility of being an organization, in comparison to some other

sources in our bibliography which are not legitimate organizations dealing with this specific

topic of civic engagement. This source may be somewhat biased to favor iCivic’s products that

were used in this program, since they produce games for students to play. The goal of this source

is to look at the effect that practicing civic engagement can have on students and their view of

their personal abilities, and in this way, this source is effective in showing that relationship.

This source was helpful for our group’s research because it helped us show the relationship

between helping students practice civic engagement and an increase in young advocacy. It shows

this with the increase in civic identity that students felt after the program. This source helped us

in expanding our topic to civic engagement instead of the more broad topic of student advocacy.

It helped us to relate the two ideas in a concrete way.

Wyman, Jeff. "6 Benefits of Teaching Controversial Political Issues to Students." ProQuest

Share This Blog. "Mar 23, " 2017. Web. November 9, 2018

The source cited above explains benefits of “Teaching controversial Political issues in the

classroom” through six specific benefits. These benefits are 1) Engagement, 2) Political Literacy,

3) Tolerance, 4) Confidence, 5) Civil Discourse, and 6) Political Participation.

This source is useful due to its outlined benefits and direct correlation between talking about

controversial issues in the classroom and an increase in student engagement, political literacy,

tolerance, confidence, civil discourse, and political participation. In comparison to other sources

in our bibliography, this article speaks about controversial topics and utilizing these in the

classroom, and none of our other sources speak about that specific topic. This information may

not seem incredibly reliable due to the fact that it’s written on a personal blog; however,

throughout the article there is hard evidence that develops its argument. They mention ideas

from reputable books and surveys. The goal of this source is to end the myth that talking about

controversial topics in the classroom is a bad thing. It is beneficial, and that is their message.

This source was helpful to our research and presentation because it ensured to idea that student

advocacy in the classroom is beneficial. We took those six benefits and used them in our

presentation as a guideline to create lessons and advocacy practices in the classroom.

“College Affordability and Completion: Ensuring a Pathway to Opportunity.” U.S.

Department of Education Releases National Student Loan FY 2014 Cohort Default Rate |

U.S. Department of Education, US Department of Education (ED), www.ed.gov/college.

Less and less opportunity is being presented to students in the United States. As the years go on,

less money goes toward helping students obtain a college degree, especially for those who need

it. This article also touches on what efforts have been made to help with college affordability,

and why they have failed, and what has somewhat worked. It also shows a focus on student

success rather than debt and cost. This article is written for the U.S. Department of Education

and written in the past year.

This article, being that it is posted on the Department of Education website, is very credible. It is

biased towards affordable education and opportunity for all, and I agree with it. The goal of this

article is to educate the public on where our country is headed when thinking about education.

As the years goes by, prices increase, and therefore, opportunities decrease for many students.

We are using this article to show the truth in statistics about the future of college tuition costs,

and how daunting it is for up and coming college students, especially if they don’t have the

means to pay for it. There is a shock factor to the facts given in this article, and we use that to

show the scary truth, and to motivate students in our presentation to want to make a change,

therefore promoting student advocacy.

Hess, Diana, and Paula McAvoy. " The Political Classroom. " “2015”. Web. November 11,

2018 <http://thepoliticalclassroom.com>.

This books aims to talk about Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy’s arguments that “teachers will

make better professional judgements about these issues if they aim toward creating “political

classrooms.” Within this book are specific cases of teachers practicing outlined methods in

creating a political classroom. They aim to promote a non-partisan political education and

“improve the quality of classroom deliberations.”

This source is useful in its specificity in the classroom. Many time it is hard to find research

done on the topic of politics in the classroom that has specific examples and cases. In

comparison to our other sources, this is one that has that. This information is reliable because it

is first and information from Hess and McAvoy. They are stories and true cases that they have

seen and heard, and this makes it incredible reliable. The goal of this source is to show true

examples of a political classroom and how beneficial it can be.

This source was helpful for our research because we were able to see specific cases in a real

world setting instead of just broad statements and speculations. It helped our argument of bring

advocacy into the classroom because a lot of the time, advocacy is about politics. We can use

this in our research project by using it to give specific instances of using these techniques, and

showing evidence of this to our audience.

NBC News. “11-Year-Old Naomi Wadler's Speech at the March for our Lives (Full) | NBC

News.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, “Mar 24, 2018”. Web. November 11,

2018.

This video was essential in our presentation due to its argument of 11 year old Naomi Wadler

that she is not too young to have her own thoughts and advocate for a change. She creates a

speech that speaks of the injustices of underrepresentation of black women in the media, and

how they aren’t just numbers and percentages, but real people. She lets her audience know that

some people may think she is too young to have these thoughts on her own, but she says, “but

I’m not.” She argues that no one is too young to fight for what they believe to be right.

This source was useful to us by being our introduction in our presentation. It was a great opener

because it showed our audience a real life example of young advocacy and how it can be done.

In comparison to our other sources, it stood out because it is a video and therefore, could connect

to our audience faster and easier. The goal of this source is to advocate in making a change

through a speech written by a young girl.

This source was helpful to our research because it gave us an example to go back to when we

needed it. It shaped our argument in emphasizing young advocacy, not just advocacy. This way,

we were able to connect it to advocacy in the classroom, where young students can learn how to

stand up for issues they care about. It has change how we think about our topic by showing us

how real it really is. This isn’t just about concepts and hypothetical lesson plans, this is

something that is going on around us, and it made us take this topic more seriously in our

research and presentation.

Golden, Tasha. “Where Your Writing Can Go: Storytelling as Advocacy.” The

Ploughshares Blog, blog.pshares.org/index.php/where-your-writing-can-go-

storytelling-as-advocacy/.

This article written by Tasha Golden is a piece that touches on the importance of writing in

creating advocacy in victims of violence. She also expands this idea to creative writing in

general and how it creates a platform to spread awareness and make change through words and

writing. She points out specific examples and statistics of the effects of her art and advocacy

program. Through this program, survivors are able to tell their stories through written and

spoken word, and this in turn, creates peace and help in the minds of those in the audience who

are also survivors.

This is a useful source because for one of our research papers, it is on creative writing as

advocacy, especially in the classroom, and this article is great in touching on that topic. In

comparison to other sources in our bibliography, this one is specialized to creative writing which

we don’t have much of. This information is reliable because it is cited and has real

statistics/stories. The goal of this source is to spread the word that creative writing can be a

resource for those needing a voice when they feel like they have none.

This source was helpful because it backed up an argument with statistics and evidence from a

real life example. This can be used in research because it brings on a new kind of approach when

it comes to talking about advocacy. It hasn’t change how we’ve thought about our topic, but it

has opened our eyes to another aspect of advocacy - through writing.

Herplacemuseum. “On Women, Power and Writing as Advocacy.” Her Place Museum, 5

Nov. 2017, herplacemuseum.com/on-women-power-and-writing-as-advocacy/.

This article “On Women, Power, and Writing as Advocacy,” it speaks about Mary Delahunty, an

award-winning journalist and founding CEO and National Director of Writing Australia Ltd. She

emphasizes the power of writing the “untold” stories of Australian women. She speaks about

fabricated/distorted history and how dangerous it can be for the minds of youth. She invited her

students to look at the history of Australia through a feminist lens. She also emphasizes the fact

that storytelling is a “unique kind of advocacy.”

This is a useful source because it gives us a view of a different country and continent and how

they view writing as advocacy as well. The rest of our sources have been based in the United

States, but young advocacy is not only an issue here. It is everywhere, and needs to be

everywhere. This article gives a unique view of a different place and how they treat writing as

advocacy for their own history.

This source helped shape our argument by showing us that introducing advocacy through writing

in the classroom can have benefits and interest students. In the article it is said that the students

were extremely interested in the topic and how it applied to them. They all stuck around after

class to talk about it even more. This just shows that young advocacy is something that students

may want, but may not have the resources to learn about it, so we must be the ones to do it.
Gutstein, Eric. Reading and Writing the World with Mathematics: toward a Pedagogy for

Social Justice. Routledge, 2005.

This book Reading and Writing the World with Mathematics argues that mathematics education

should prepare students to investigate and critique injustice, not just go over equations and

graphs. It argues that students should learn to challenge, in words and actions, oppressive

structures and acts. Based on teacher-research, the book provides a theoretical framework and

practical examples for how mathematics educators can connect schooling to a larger

sociopolitical and socioeconomic context and how it is best to teach for social justice.

This source is useful to our research because it opens up the world of mathematics, one that we

hadn’t talked about earlier. Mathematics doesn’t usually seem like the area of studies that

advocacy would fit well into, but this book proves that wrong. Advocacy can be anywhere and

can be taught anywhere, including a math class. The goal of this source is to show ways that

social justice and critique can be taught in the classroom, specifically a math classroom.

This source was helpful to us in opening up a new area for us to research advocacy in. It helped

to shape our argument because it further showed how advocacy is a universal concept and can be

used anywhere, even if you don’t first think it can. It didn’t change our thoughts on our topic, but

instead it further enhance it, showing us just how widespread advocacy can go.
Clark, Alexis. “How to Build the Foundation for Self-Advocacy in Young Children.”

Understood.org, www.understood.org/en/friends-feelings/empowering-your-

child/self-advocacy/how-to-build-the-foundation-for-self-advocacy-in-young-

children.

This article talks about ways to start young in teaching self-advocacy. It may seem hard to teach

advocacy to young children, but this article helps in pointing out small easy ways to do this. It

points out that kids can be taught how to speak up for themselves, can be given responsibility,

and can be taught to do things on their own which is a good place to start.

This source was helpful in showing us how advocacy can be taught to really young kids. This

hasn’t been shown in many of our resources, so it was helpful to have this in our research. The

information is reliable because it is published by an organization that is notable and reputable.

The goal of this source is to give ways to teach young kids how to be self-advocates through a

classroom.

This source was helpful for us because it gave us specific tips on how we can implement this into

a especially young classroom. It shapes our argument by allowing us to talk more about younger

kids in elementary schools and not just high school aged students. This changed how we thought

about our topic because it opened our minds to more possibilities in younger students. We had

more to talk about in our presentation and didn’t just have to focus on older kids.
Bucholz, J. L., & Sheffler, J. L. (2009). Creating a Warm and Inclusive Classroom

Environment: Planning for All Children to Feel Welcome, Electronic Journal for

Inclusive Education, 2 (4).

https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1102&context=e

jie

This study talks about the environment of a classroom and how important it is to create a warm

and inclusive space. It should “foster cooperation and acceptance” in its atmosphere and this

study gives teachers ideas and plans that can help make this a reality. These include classroom

design, classroom procedures, and classroom strategies.

This source was helpful in emphasizing the idea of inclusivity in the classroom especially in

elementary school. It also further developed our idea of self-advocacy in the classroom, but this

study was unique in its focus on students with disabilities. The goal of this source is to show how

to make your classroom a model for inclusive learning.

This source was helpful for us because it gave specific ways to implement this idea of a “model

classroom” into a lesson and classrooms. It helped shape our argument by showing that focusing

on self-advocacy and inclusivity can be beneficial in the classroom and create a sense of identity

in young students. This let our argument expand to younger students as well, focusing on

elementary level students instead of older middle school and high schools students.