By Sari Beth Rosenberg For the first time in my 19 years of teaching, I met my new students on Google Meet instead of my classroom. I stared at a sea of avatars and student initials on my laptop screen and encouraged students to turn on their videos. I joked, “You all have to look better than me right now under this hideous classroom fluorescent light!” One or two students obliged my request. The rest kept their video feeds off. After my experience with remote teaching last spring, I can't say I was surprised that my new students would opt to not show their faces. So I soldiered on with my lesson, addressing mostly black squares and placeholder icons, trying to imagine how I'd keep students engaged who mostly wanted to remain anonymous observers.

For the first time in my 19 years of teaching, I met my new students on Google Meet instead of my classroom.

I'm teaching three sections of United States History and Government and two sections of AP United States History and Government this semester. I decided to begin each class by asking students to write down words they associate with America . Considering the camera-shy vibe of my students, I limited my expectations for response. But I was pleasantly surprised when the chat immediately exploded with text: “no justice, no peace,” “we need to vote,” “sidelined,” “Black Lives Matter,” “climate change is real,” “capitalism,” “broken,” “the orange guy needs to go,” “Say Her Name,” “imposter country,” and “opportunity?” I've asked this question on the first day for over a decade at least, and I've never seen such a large percentage of my classes energized to discuss this topic. Furthermore, I was impressed by how most of them immediately connected the question with civic engagement. So, what to do with this unbridled enthusiasm to engage even while remote learning forces isolation and anonymity? I decided to make my first assign assignment of the school year a reading of  John Lewis’s New York Times op-ed, “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of America.” His final message to America serves as a powerful blueprint for young people to get civically engaged. Most of my students will not be old enough to vote this election season, so I searched for nonpartisan ways to tap into their enthusiasm. I found the following resources that might be helpful to other teachers similarly trying to tap into student energy:

1. 
    
   The Poll Hero Project. This organization is recruiting thousands of college and high school students to be paid poll workers to make the 2020 Election a success . This is a great opportunity for students to be a part of the election, even if they cannot vote yet.


2. 
    
   Prom At The Polls is a grassroots student-led event focused on giving students the unique prom that they deserve, while also encouraging them to vote and to register to vote. Similar to the Poll Hero Project, Prom At The Polls is a non-partisan, youth-led campaign . Their  aim is to increase youth turnout in the 2020 election. You can direct your students here to volunteer.


3. 
    
   Election Edge was designed to take the mystery and complexity out of the United States Presidential election process. Election Edge allows students to tackle tricky topics such as the electoral college and the primary system without the political agendas. Teachers can check it out for free here .


4. 
    
   Looking for a lesson about what to expect on election night? PBS NewsHour EXTRA has a perfect one for you here about why the presidential election might not end on November 3rd. Check out their Super Civics 2020 series which contains a host lessons about election 2020.


5. Also, PBS NewsHour has an amazing resource for teachers: every single presidential debate since 1960 .

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Sari Beth Rosenberg is an award-winning U.S. History teacher and writer. Her most recent media appearances include The Skimm’s Back To School series and Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum.” Last year, she wrote the #SheDidThat series for A&E Television Networks/Lifetime. Sari helped write the new Global and U.S. History curriculum for the New York City Department of Education with a small team of educators. She also recently contributed to a forthcoming edition of the Hidden Voices curriculum. In March 2019 she was awarded the Paul Gagnon Prize by the National Council for History Education.  Sari has been teaching U.S. History at the High School for Environmental Studies, a public high school in NYC, for nearly 18 years. Find her on Twitter & Instagram @saribethrose, her teacher Instagram @sariteacheshistory and at saribeth.com .

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If you would like to contribute to Educator Voice, please send your idea to Victoria Pasquantonio at vpasquantonio@newshour.org. For teaching resources on Election 2020, sign up here . Read more of Sari Beth Rosenberg's "Teaching in the Age of Coronavirus" blog series here .