Important dates for the Middle School Program:
- September 30, 2019: First Semester Teacher Meeting & Country Draft
- February 24, 2020: Second Semester Meeting & Resolution Selection
- March, April, May 2020: General Assemblies
Resolutions & Country Rosters for the 2020-2021 school year can be found here.
Middle School Model UN is a simulation of a real United Nations session. Through this program, your students take on the role of United Nations ambassadors, working with other countries to address today’s most pressing international issues.
Here’s how it works: At the beginning of the school year, one or more of your classes picks a group of countries to represent at a mock UN General Assembly held in April or May. With 193 UN members, there are many choices. You might decide to focus on countries clustered in one part of the world. You could select countries that reflect the heritages or ancestral languages of your students. Or, you might choose nations whose cultures, economic conditions or governmental issues coincide with your social studies or language curriculum.
Next, your students research their countries, learning about issues that affect the lives of its citizens. Using this information, students focus on one of those issues, and begin drafting a UN-style resolution that tries to address an aspect of the problem.
Often students choose such topics as poverty, nuclear weapons, children’s rights, global warming, education or terrorism.
Along the way, Civitas staff provides helpful orientation, classroom visits, and guidance in selecting topics and formulating effective resolutions. In February and March, students can submit the rough drafts of their resolutions to Civitas staff, so that we can give them feedback and pointers for revisions.
It all comes together at a simulated United Nations General Assembly Session in the spring. There, your students will meet with delegations from other schools to present, discuss, and vote on one another’s resolutions.
By the end of the General Assembly session, students have witnessed, first-hand, the complexity of global problems, and the value of engaging in thoughtful, constructive dialogue aimed at solutions.
