Context
We belong to different groups of people. For example, we live with families and loved ones. We go to church with neighbors. We play soccer or baseball with teammates. And we go to school in a classroom full of kids our age. Sometimes we call these groups communities. A community is a group of people who live and work together. Sometimes we call the people in a community citizens. As members of a communities, citizens try their best to work with other people to make life better for everyone.
Suggested prompts for junior high/middle school:
1. In the public schools students learn to get along with each other. It takes effort, and skill, and students need to be willing to create a community with shared purpose. Your school is a community, and each student is a citizen or member of that community. Have you thought of yourself as a citizen of your school community? What does it mean to you to be a good citizen of your school community? Take a few minutes and think about it, jotting down ideas as they come to you. Then write a few paragraphs in which you describe what it means to be a good citizen in your school community. Use at least one specific example from your school experience to illustrate the roles or responsibilities that you think are important to the well-being of your school community or any other community to which you belong.
