Home > How Do Communities Make Good Decisions? > What Does It Mean To Be a Citizen?

Learning Objectives

  • Define citizen, right, and responsibility 
  • Describe citizens’ rights and responsibilities 
  • Use evidence to answer the question: “What does it mean to be a citizen?”

Overview

Historians connect. In this lesson, students explore what it means to be a citizen of their community, country, and school and what rights and responsibilities they have. Students explore rights and responsibilities in the U.S. Constitution as well as in their school setting. 

*Note: The lesson defines citizens as members of localities, states, and countries and makes clear that non-U.S. citizens share many of the same rights and responsibilities as U.S. citizens. Still, special care should be taken for students in the classroom whose families may not be U.S. citizens.

 Google Slides

Access engaging resources with an iCivics account!

Create your free iCivics account and discover standards aligned lessons and games that meet all of your instructional needs. Our nonpartisan classroom resources engage students with complex concepts in ways they can understand and relate to.

Tags

Pedagogy Tags
ELA/Literacy
History Connection
Inquiry-based
Primary Source
Vocabulary
Writing
Tech Options
Web browser
Integrations
Google Slides
PDF
Kami
State standards icon

View state standards alignment

Search State Standards

Use the Scope & Sequence to help you plan your iCivics classroom experience!

Whether you enjoy finding opportunities within a well-structured sequence of resources or prefer looking around for pieces and bits that can be jigsawed together, our Scope & Sequence documents are a perfect reference point for planning. Scope & Sequence documents are available for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms and list all of our resources in one place.

View the Scope & Sequence