Several Tucson-area teachers gathered at Eastside City Halll last week to learn new ways of familiarizing kids with the voting and election process.
Getting kids excited about the 2008 presidential election was easy, said social studies teacher Richard Moore. He wants to help his students at the Academy of Tucson Middle School, 2300 N. Tanque Verde Loop Road, approach other elections with the same enthusiasm.
"This is an off-year election. Traditionally people get apathetic, so I wanted some ways to get them engaged in voting and aware of the election process all the time because it's important who you vote into office," he said.
He and three other teachers attended last week's free training session on the Kids Voting K-12 Curriculum, which teaches kids about different aspects of voting and elections. During the session, they worked on activities from the curriculum such as recognizing different types of propaganda.
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Staff from the Phoenix-based Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education and Kids Voting Arizona held the session Aug. 6 at Eastside City Hall, 7575 E. Speedway, which is the Ward 2 Council Office.
The ward gave Kids Voting Arizona a $10,000 grant earlier this year, which helps the foundation bring the training program to Tucson for three years.
"There are very few things that are more important in building a strong community than engaging everyone in the political process so their voices can be heard," said Ward 2 Councilman Rodney Glassman.
"When I learned about the Kids Voting program. I immediately knew that it would be a great way to invest in our kids, in our schools and in our neighborhoods," he said. Glassman is on the foundation's 2009 board of directors.
Before the grant was issued, Tucson teachers who wanted to attend a training session had to go to Phoenix, said Jennifer Castro, a professional-development manager with the foundation.
The first Kids Voting teacher training session at Eastside City Hall was in May. Twelve teachers attended it, according to the Ward 2 office's figures. The next session there will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Sept. 23.
The training sessions are open to teachers from all over Tucson.
Like Moore, teacher Paul Scalise attended the Aug. 6 training because he wants his early-elementary students at Steele Elementary School, 700 S. Sarnoff Drive, to maintain the zest for politics that they had for the 2008 election.
"From that experience, it's 'Well, what can we do to keep that excitement going on?' So that was my personal impetus," he said.
The next session
Tucson teachers can attend the next local Kids Voting curriculum training session from 3 to 7 p.m. Sept. 23 at Eastside City Hall, 7575 E. Speedway. They will receive a certificate of attendance. For more information, call the Ward 2 office at 791-4687 or e-mail council aide Katie Maass at Katie.Maass@tucsonaz.gov.
