A New Kind of Resource for Teaching the Founding Documents

A few weeks ago, we announced a new addition to our catalog of webtexts: the Civics Reader.

The Civics Reader is a low-cost, interactive text designed to guide students through key documents in U.S. history, including the founding documents. Our goal was simple: help students engage with and think critically about these texts—and help instructors meet new state mandates with confidence.

As part of the launch, we recently hosted a webinar to showcase the webtext and share our approach to developing it. Our executive editor, Jenny Westrick, led the session and invited faculty members from different disciplines and parts of the country to share their feedback.

If you missed the live event, you can watch a shortened version of the recording here or quickly read about what we covered below.

How the Civics Reader Came About

The Civics Reader grew out of a project that we were working on for Ohio State University. In addition to creating off-the-shelf webtexts that anyone can use, we also create custom texts that we develop around the specific needs of different institutions.

OSU recently asked us to incorporate foundational documents in U.S. history into a custom version of Central Ideas in American Government, the webtext they use for their American government course.

As we began building these documents into the webtext, we realized the approach we were developing could be useful in countless other American government and history courses. That insight led us to expand the project into a brand-new, stand-alone webtext: the Civics Reader.

What’s in the Civics Reader?

The first edition of the Civics Reader currently includes 11 key U.S. documents:

• The Declaration of Independence
• The U.S. Constitution
• The Federalist Papers (Nos. 10, 39, 51, 70, and 78)
• The Emancipation Proclamation
• The Gettysburg Address
• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
• Selections from Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations

Some of these documents are hundreds of years old. They were created during a time students aren’t familiar with. And they contain archaic language that can feel distant, even impenetrable. Words like “usurpations” and “despotism” can create immediate friction. And without context, the political concepts embedded in these texts can go unnoticed.

As we heard from faculty in the webinar, students struggle in so many different ways with these texts, which ultimately leads to disengagement.

To help students move past these hurdles, we built the Civics Reader around a 4-step process for reading primary sources. We’ve used similar approaches in other webtexts—like Investigating Modern American History—to help students engage with historical documents without getting overwhelmed or lost in the details.

Our 4-Step Approach

For every document in the Civics Reader, we apply the same strategy to help students actively engage.

1. Start with a Question

Before we present students with each document, we begin with a guiding question. This tactic encourages students to read with purpose. The questions aren’t simple comprehension checks; they prompt students to consider intent and the broader significance of each text.

For example, when reading the Declaration of Independence, we ask students to consider the following guiding question: According to the Founders, what makes a government good or just? This sets students up to pay closer attention to key details and themes in the document.

2. Consider the Circumstances

Before jumping into the document itself, we introduce students to the historical context. We want them to know who authored the text, what problems they were trying to solve, who their intended audience was, and what kind of effects the document had.

In addition to these introductions, each document includes clickable annotations on some words or phrases. This clarifies any potential confusion around archaic language and also provides more background information, so students can get a better sense of the document’s meaning.

3. Read for Details

Rather than presenting each document in one long scroll, we break them down into digestible sections. After each segment, students respond to multiple-choice questions that draw their attention to the most important points before continuing with the reading.

These formative questions give instructors insight into how students are doing—while giving students multiple opportunities to check their own understanding along the way.

4. Reflect on the Document

Each reading concludes with a reflection activity that encourages students to think more deeply about what they’ve just read. They use our embedded writing templates to answer the document’s guiding question and to support their answer with any evidence they’ve noted from the text.

The Benefits of Putting It All in a Webtext

The Civics Reader isn’t a flat PDF—it’s a fully interactive experience designed to support instructors and guide students through foundational documents. And because we’ve built the Civics Reader within the Soomo platform, students and instructors have some extra tools at their disposal to enhance learning.

LMS Integration & Accessibility

Like all Soomo webtexts, the Civics Reader integrates with all major LMS platforms and meets accessibility standards for students using assistive technologies.

Shared Notes

The Civics Reader includes the shared note tool, allowing instructors to personalize the webtext for their students. They can share links to articles, videos, and other resources alongside the reading that students can easily access. In fact, when added, external videos will actually play in the margin of the webtext, making the experience seamless for students.

Analytics

Instructors can easily track student progress and performance with our Analytics tool. In a few clicks, they can see how much time students are spending on each page, what questions they’re struggling with, and which students need extra attention.

Ready to Explore the Civics Reader?

If you’re teaching the founding documents—or planning a course that includes them—the Civics Reader offers a comprehensive, student-centered approach to civics education that’s both effective and easy to implement.

Visit soomo.co/civics to preview the webtext today!