My first session this morning after the House of Delegates is on the C3 Framework. In my own classes, I am constantly trying to get my students to be engaged and active in their communities. The C3 Framework is a good guide for how to get my students to examine issues and then translate their learning into action.
This year I took over the AP American Government and Politics class at Todd Beamer High School, and I began the class telling the students that this is the one class in which everything we do will have a real world connection. Every one of my students will soon become full fledged citizens of the United States and part of the Federal Way community. This means the will have expanded responsibilities to go along with their expanded rights. I have a firm belief that I am training them for future leadership of our country and take seriously what we do.
The entire conference has reminded me of the value of what I am doing and the support that NCSS has for teacher like me. I have been frustrated with all of the focus on monetary benefits of education. While students will need to earn a living, they will not earn that living in a authoritarian regime in which they will work and not think. Instead they will be asked to think and then act. They will be needed to be prepared to do both the job that pays their bills and the job that supports a Liberal democracy.
The C3 Framework brings the focus back on the fact that civic life cannot be left behind on the path to college and career.
