The Art of Civic

Reflection

Appalachian Center for Civic Life

Faculty Development Series
 Form of critical reflection
Connection to public purpose of our disciplines
Reflection on civic values, actions, and commitments

What is Civic Reflection?

 Group of people
Common civic activity (course, project, etc.)
An object (short reading, image, or video)

Three elements of Civic

Reflection
 Opportunity to connect course content to larger civic
questions
Themes: Citizenship & Democracy; Economy & Wealth;
Diversity & Inclusion; Heritage & Culture, etc.
Questions:
What causes division between groups?
What is the value of disagreement and conflict?
What is poverty?

Deep exploration of
themes/questions
 The object is a unifying tool a concrete, shared
experience

Avoid the obvious relevance vs. resonance

Avoid objects that are difficult to disagree with
Accessibility language, cultural appropriateness,
physical accessibility

Selecting an object
 Create comfortable space classroom limitations?
Chairs in circle
Consider facilitators physical position in room
Group size large vs small group vs one-on-one
Liberating structures attention to power dynamics

The physical environment

 Questions for clarification what is going on here?
Questions for interpretation what do you think about it?
Questions for implication what does that mean for you?

The questions
 Create space for closure/resolution of reflection
Even if that is open-ended
Does the activity require follow up or next steps?

Closure and next steps

 Questions?

Questions? Discussion
Center for Civic
Reflection

Liberating
Structures

Resources