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These North Carolina Students Have An Appetite For Civics

by Bill of Rights Institute on

When teaching civics and the U.S. Constitution, Candi Tucker feeds her students knowledge – literally.

Tucker teaches civics at Washington High School in Washington, N.C., and uses a tried-and-true method to keep her students engaged. She incorporates snacks into her lesson plan, which Tucker started a few years ago.

“I would always do a food-related activity on Fridays, like discuss what the oldest restaurant in North Carolina is,” Tucker said. “We were learning about the preamble to the Constitution, and we started using puns, and they started bringing food to class.”

Tucker gave “We The Peeps” as an example of using snacks to learn about the Constitution – a play on the “We The People” phrase in the Constitution, since the Easter-themed marshmallow snack is popular with Tucker’s students.

“I would also emphasize certain words and mispronounce them, like ‘s’more’ instead of ‘more’” she said. Tucker assigned her students a project to create posters based on amendments in the Constitution. One student brought grape juice to class as an example of the 18th Amendment, which established the prohibition of alcohol but was later repealed.

“Companies would sell their grape juice back then to make wine,” Tucker said. Her class also used gummy bears as an example of the “Right to bear arms” provision in the Second Amendment.

Tucker is a 26-year teaching veteran and an assistant track and cross-country coach at Washington High. In addition to using snacks to teach civics, she asked her students to write their local representatives as part of a lesson on federalism and discuss as a class whom they would need to talk to about bringing a new fast food restaurant to their town.

Tucker and her students also visited their local Board of Elections to ask questions of local leaders and register students to vote who were previously unregistered. Tucker’s students also use the Bill of Rights Institute’s pocket Constitutions. She said her students “really appreciate having the Constitution in their hand – they highlight important parts in it, and it makes it real to them, and it’s something tangible.”