I am sure I am not alone trying to keep up with the multiple demands as an educator. I recently stepped out of the elementary classroom after 12 years and this is my second year as a Curriculum Coordinator/ELL Coordinator. Although I have MANY duties, my central focus is to support students by supporting their teachers. Although I support all subject area teachers at my middle school, I have made it my goal to introduce the C3 to not only our social studies teachers, but also to all of our other teachers as well. I feel it is important for them to understand that although the Common Core has a section for social studies teachers, what is outlined in the Common Core is not even the beginning of what social studies teachers need to do. C3 provides the needed framework for creating engaging, deep-thinking, motivating social studies lessons and units for our students.
Teachers often come to me when they have difficulty reaching students, engaging students, managing curriculum demands, understanding our brand new teacher evaluation system, or understanding how to effectively use standards-based grading etc. Using the C3 as the framework for developing big ideas and focusing lessons on inquiry and critical thinking helps them to create lessons that are engaging, student-centered, and most importantly, meaningful to students. I am not saying this shift is easy for all teachers, even for myself, it is not. Sometimes, I have to stop and ask myself the deeper questions…such as, “How can I let the students guide this lesson, or unit, more? How can I differentiate the content, process, or product better to engage all students and help them to be successful?” I am excited that as more teachers use the C3 framework we will be able to share lessons, units, and resources with each other. Just IMAGINE the brain pool of awesome social studies educators from across the nation we are pulling these ideas, lessons, and units from?
Part of our new teacher evaluation system requires that our teachers develop Student Learning Objects (SLOs) that are year end (or semester) goals for their students developed around big ideas and expected targets are set based on current data. Our teachers in the social studies department and the media department read through the C3 document and eagerly added the C3 Dimensions to their SLOs. One of our media teachers who is now taking his MEd in Curriculum Studies with a focus on Social Studies, told me that one of his assignments was to evaluate the C3 and he was happy to report that his professor, and the other educators in his course, were very excited about the direction that C3 is taking social studies education.
I am sure I could go on and on, but alas, those other demands are calling again. I am the type of person who always looks for the silver lining in everything…and I have to say, C3 makes me very hopeful and is definitely the silver lining in education initiatives. Whenever I think back to all the states that have come together to develop the C3, all the passionate individuals with hearts and souls immersed in social studies. I feel pride in having been a part of this journey, and absolutely love having more social studies educators joining in this particular silver lining.