Christina Gurahoo

EDCI 5060
Week 3

Connecticut Common Core of Teaching

The Connecticut Common Core of Teaching (CCCT) is a state

document, which sets high standards for educators in the state of

Connecticut. The Core of Teaching explains that teachers should strive

to foster skills, knowledge, and growth with each student. It also

encourages educators to grow and harness skills throughout their

careers. CCCT defines how teachers will build their abilities in addition

to achieving their unique goals as educators. Moreover, all academics

are specified within the document along with standards for each

respective content area.

Furthermore, the Connecticut Common Core of Teaching: Social

Studies focuses on the teacher’s responsibility to the student to

instruct and encourage the understanding of History. Six domains are

covered in Social Studies including: World History, U.S History,

government and politics, geography, economics, and behavioral

sciences. The content is meant to challenge students thinking and

hone the ability to analyze events and documents in their historical

context. The objective is to have students question history, outside and

within the classroom. Students will grow and challenge their knowledge

by using primary and secondary sources, research, and debates.

 I plan to focus on three ideals: Social Studies Skills, Civic

Competence, and the Learning Environment. By teaching Social

Studies Skills in the classroom I believe that each student will learn to

express their ideas, opinions, and disagreements eloquently and

precisely. They will learn to analyze events/ documents to gain

knowledge, meanwhile developing their own perspectives. When using

documents and various resources to unveil historical events, students

will then form opinions and gain the proof to support their ideas. In

order to place these ideas into practice, I will encourage students to

work in groups to allow them to exchange thoughts and ideas with one

another. They will use varying sources to better understand the

content and share their discoveries through research, essays, projects,

and presentations.

Furthermore, I will guide each student through Civic

Competence. I believe this area is especially important to students

because we should embrace diversity inside and outside of the

classroom. It is extremely critical to understand that we all live in a

culturally diverse world and we should be informed about other

histories besides our own. Each student should be able to identify

common themes from varying histories and evaluate how they are

similar or different from one another. Students will be encouraged to

share their backgrounds and learn more about each other through
group activities. The curriculum will also include studying similarities

and differences between international histories and America’s history.

Lastly, I will foster a Learning Environment that provides a

foundation for free thinking, challenging what we think we know, and

sharing opinions/ thoughts openly in a caring, supportive, safe

classroom. I will provide this environment to students by establishing

my encouragement of freethinking and empowering students to create

arguments with historians. Furthermore, students will engage with one

another and the classroom will be mixed up to facilitate diversity,

sharing, and comfort with other students.

I believe that students will be able to form their own thoughts

and opinions about history and challenge their ways of thinking in a

warm, safe learning environment. Ayers (2004) believes, “…there is no

such thing as receiving an education as a passive receptor or an inert

vessel…” and encourages teachers “…to demonstrate to students, and

to yourself, through daily effort and interaction, that they are valued,

that their humanity is honored, and that their growth, enlightenment,

and liberation are the paramount of concern” (p.33).