By Rebecca Valbuena
The C3 Framework provides me with a sense of calm and relief. Finally! Finally, there exists a framework that supports my beliefs in the big picture of education. What is the big picture? True education is all about relevance and excitement. When learning is purposeful, engaging, and fun, students learn. And, in the case of the C3 Framework, students learn by doing and are active participants in their own education.
Having a voice in the classroom, understanding why people do the things they do, using questions to investigate the world around us, and applying what we learn to current real-life situations prepare students for a future of informed and active citizenry. For me, this focus on civic participation is one of the most meaningful aspects of the C3 Framework.
With carefully written compelling questions driving units of study, we are able to dive deeper into curriculum. Kids experience the skills of historical inquiry, conduct research, and write informative, narrative and opinion essays while continuously making connections to their own lives today. Creating public service announcements for the student body on playground citizenship and behavior, writing a Student Bill of Rights and persuasive essays for ratification purposes, launching a voter registration campaign after analyzing results of local voting statistics, letter writing to city officials about skate park hours, and creating geography lessons for kindergarteners represent some of the authentic, cross-curricular, purposeful activities we have done that are supported by the instructional arc of the C3 Framework.
Civic education must be adamantly concerned with the preparation of students for active citizenship in our American democracy. At the most basic level, this involves the rudiments of knowledge acquisition necessary for understanding how our government works and what is going on in the world. With the formation of healthy attitudes transcending knowledge, students can develop a passion for involvement. This leads to responsible societal behaviors, as we encourage students to make intelligent, informed decisions about the extent to which they may participate in the political system. Using the C3 Framework, civic engagement is an outcome in every grade, and modeled by teachers who understand the importance of membership in the society-at-large. The C3 Framework allows us to impart to students the knowledge and methods needed to make a difference in the political system and the belief that it is worthwhile to do so.