Educator and AFT Civics Design Team Member
For 18 years, Tim Krueger has passed on to his students his passion for social studies, particularly U.S. government and civics. He currently teaches eighth-grade U.S. history and ninth-grade world history at North Syracuse Junior High School in Syracuse, N.Y., and is a member of the North Syracuse Education Association.
“I love history in general, and I love teaching this age group. For these two years, in eighth and ninth grade, kids are still malleable—some of them who are struggling, you can reach. Some, if their interest is high, you can skyrocket,” he says.
Krueger’s career started after he graduated from West Point and served in the U.S. Army. Eventually, after returning to civilian life, he went back to school to earn a master’s degree in education and has been teaching ever since.
When he learned that the American Federation of Teachers was forming a team of teachers to design professional development for civics education, he was eager to join. “My reaction was, ‘Where do I sign?’ Teachers are struggling with these divisive and polarizing issues nationwide, and if our work can help anyone who is struggling with this right now, I’ll feel like I have contributed to the good of my profession as a whole, not just my own students and school,” he says.
The political polarization that Krueger was noticing in class is what drove him toward this work. During the 2020 election cycle, he used the same lesson from the past four elections, which asked students to anonymously choose the person they would vote for based upon researching issues. His district received eight phone calls concerning his practices. “I’ve never made my political views known, instead focusing on letting students find their own political path. These parents did not even look at the assignment, and just assumed I was indoctrinating their kids.” When Krueger got a survey concerning the teaching of civics, he responded immediately. “I never respond to surveys but took out my frustrations on this one. When it turned into this opportunity, I jumped at it.”
For Krueger, civics education is an opportunity to encourage free thinking among his students and build their skills to engage with each other on difficult issues in a mutually tolerant way “In terms of political debate, we in general have such a low tolerance for the other side. Kids this age are still open to new ways of thinking. Strong civics education can help to heal our political polarization by having an impact on the next generation,” he says. “But there has to be a discussion of how we do that.”
One benefit of the civics design team’s work, Krueger hopes, is that the professional development the team creates can help teachers have difficult discussions in a civil manner—and help them to approach their practice without fear. “So many things that happen in the news need to be discussed, both to help kids make sense of it and also to help them realize they can’t just get their news from TikTok.”
Media literacy is another key component Krueger is focusing on in his role with the civics design team. “How do you find the truth? How do you discern what’s real amid vast amounts of unreliable information and misinformation? That is a key skill that everyone can benefit from, and it’s crucial for students to develop these skills.”
In terms of format, the team currently plans to develop and present a series of strategies that teachers can apply to any topic. The team also plans to tie each strategy to a specific lesson, so that teachers walk away ready to incorporate civil discussion and media literacy work into their classrooms.
“My hope for the professional development we create is that teachers walk away from this PD with a toolkit with several lessons to try and strategies they can apply to all sorts of controversial topics in the classroom,” Krueger says.