Regarding #ThrowbackThursday reminiscences, I choose to reflect upon Practical Life Lessons. From my teaching experience and participation in activities of my local bar association, I saw a need for civics education resources that are both practical and accessible. For a service-learning project, I taught lessons on civics and digital citizenship to high school students in the spring of 2015. Each lesson included a short lecture, time for questions and answers, as well as time for students to provide written feedback in the form of exit tickets. I included a lesson on rights and responsibilities for those turning 18 and directed students to the North Carolina Bar Association publication, Life & Laws 101: Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities Over 18. During that lesson, the students were quiet and listening so attentively that one could hear a pin drop.

I prepared lessons on the following topics:

How to Be Safe on Social Media

Never Leave Your Luggage Alone at the Airport

Rights and Responsibilities Upon Turning 18

The Right to Remain Silent

A Diamond Is Forever and So Is Email

During the last four years, I have continued working in the field of civics education and found that people need resources for civics education even beyond high school. I have served as Chair of the Young Lawyers Division Public Education Committee of the American Bar Association (2016-2018) and spoken about what librarians can do to facilitate access to justice at CALIcon19. I may do a blog post on librarians and access to justice in the future, but for now, it’s nice to remember the origins of my interest in civics education.