Consortium offers workshop for educators

PARIS – On March 17, KIDS (kids involved doing service-learning) Consortium is offering a free Project Citizen workshop for grades five to 12 educators. Host for this 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. workshop is Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. Training will take place at Western Maine Community College Center, 232 Main Street, South Paris. Pre-registration is required at www.kidsconsortium.org.

Educators will discover how to engage students in a cooperative learning process as they identify and research solutions to a public policy issue in their communities. They will understand how Project Citizen meets state standards using literacy, data collection analysis, and applications of social studies processes.

KIDS Consortium hosts and plans an annual State Showcase Day for students to share their project work with teams from other schools. They have an opportunity to hone their presentation skills as they share their work with authentic policy-makers during formal presentations. The gathering takes place every spring at the Hall of Flags, Maine State House, Augusta.

Matt Robinson, Education Consultant at KIDS, coordinates Project Citizen in Maine with the national Center for Civic Education. Project Citizen is funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Education for Democracy Act approved by the U.S. Congress. The program is co-sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

KIDS Consortium, based in Auburn, is a nonprofit organization. They promote "hands-on" learning by offering service-learning professional development for educators and community organizations. For questions, contact 784-0956 or kap@kidsconsortium.org.