From February 6th to the 9th, 2026, Dr. McFarland attended a convening hosted by the National Constitution Center and the Civic Renewal Network focusing on the development of a special collection of lessons in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

What is Teaching 250?

The Civil Renewal Network (CRN), an organization consisting of various other member organizations including PBS, ICivics, Monticello and CSpan among others, is committed to reinforcing and facilitating the education and discussion around the American political system and its history. In a venture with the National Constitution Center of Philadelphia, the CRN is developing a collection of pre-made lessons consisting of the materials of the various CRN member organizations in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence for educators to teach to students from the elementary to high school level. The purpose of this program is to provide a one-stop-shop in which educators can select a lesson plan from the curriculum and incorporate it into their own teaching.

The Experience

As previously covered by The Roundup, Dr. McFarland is a Distinguished Education Ambassador on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a think-tank which makes recommendations on international policy on top of an educational aspect. As a member of the Civic Renewal Network, CFR nominated Dr. McFarland to apply for Teaching 250. After being selected, she attended a convening in February in which she attended different presentations about the CRN’s many partner organizations and their resources. These presentations laid the foundation for curriculum development. 

Later in the convening, Dr. McFarland gathered into a small group with three other high school teachers to start working on the development of lesson plans over a specific topic which she will continue to work with through spring. In Dr. McFarland’s group specifically, the content was over concepts like popular sovereignty, republicanism (as in a republic of representatives), and the history of voting including the expansion of voting rights while tying it in with modern-day concerns with voting.

The Takeaway

Dr. McFarland enjoyed being able to speak with various high school teachers from a wide range of backgrounds as well as reflecting with them about the difficulties of teaching in the incredibly divided political landscape of the present day.

“No matter how you lean politically, it’s important for everybody to be able to express those ideas and be able to think that they have a voice to shape the direction of the country.” – Dr. McFarland

Among the many resources of the CRN presentations, Dr. McFarland especially enjoyed Indiana University’s educational games that aim to help students learn various topics about government and politics as she feels as though she can effectively incorporate them into her own teaching in a meaningful way in addition to the Teaching 250 lessons.

Stay tuned into The Roundup for more Jesuit news coverage!

Thanks to Dr. McFarland for her help with the creation of this article!

More information about CRN can be found on their website: https://www.civicsrenewalnetwork.org/ 

Check out our coverage of the faculty in our “Faculty Honors” section.