I always thought that Dr. D coined the “So what?” question, so when I read it in the reading, I was shocked! Asking this question makes a lot of sense, because it cuts out the trivial things that teachers get caught up in and allows true learning and exploration to take place.

Something else that seems extremely obvious to me is that students learn best when the material is relevant to them, but so many times, students do not have the opportunities to learn in this manner. Teachers need to teach relevant material, because when students are interested, they perform better and are more engaged. Obviously, this would help cut down on behavior problems which would free up even more time for teachers.

I also found the physical act of scanning and clustering standards for integration to be interesting, because it makes it so much easier to plan an integrated curriculum if teachers physically mark the standards that go together and then connect them into the whole. This is especially helpful to the students, so their learning is not disconnected and meaningless. Students need to have the opportunity to make connections across the entire curriculum.

Kayleigh Harkins

“Planning” has taken on a completely new meaning for me. No longer does it revolve around collecting a checklist of worksheets with facts that kids are responsible for completing. A broader goal needs to be set, and teachers need to remember why they are really in their profession. Am I a teacher solely because I want Johnny to recite the alphabet perfectly? No. I want Johnny to understand the meaning of each letter, to be able to put the letters together to form meanings, to grow into the author he longs to be. I try my best to picture my students twenty years from now, and I continue to ask myself the question, “Did I do/share something today that might impact the person this child grows into?”

I really enjoyed reading about the example that discussed a particular program that did not have the traditional grades. It made me think---the grading scale may have begun with good intentions, but it has become the defining factor of school success. This makes me very sad L. We should constantly rack our brains for new ways to assess students. I’m not saying that assessment always has to be fun and pleasing to the student, but I’m getting tired of this bubble in the answer thing!

Ch. 3-5

The point that meant the most to me in these chapters was the DO, KNOW, BE idea. It shows what being a teacher is truly about. It is not just about the students knowing what the curriculum says, and being able to tell you about it, but it is what they do with it. It is very encouraging to read about it and see that it is possible to make that much of a difference. Having such a goal in mind makes any lesson planned more powerful because there is a true purpose besides just passing a test. If the teacher has a passion or drive for the topic, the students in turn are more excited about it, see the reason for learning and how it applies to them, which makes it easier for them to connect to. Through this I see the greater reason for having a "so what" to all things done. Having the students connect things learned, or what they will learn to other things would be a good way of grabbing their interest and giving them ownership of the information.
In decoding and analyzing standards, I like how they put it into the DO/KNOW/BE format where KNOW are nouns, DO are verbs, and BE is attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Going through standards in that way seems much more beneficial in the long run for the students, because it would be easier to see what is important for the teacher. Knowing what the standards are really asking and what parts are most important is essential to teaching effectively.
It makes sense to teach units and assess in the way the book states in chapter five. Having things cross subject matters connects the information in a real life setting, while covering more material at one time. It seems like it would be more difficult at first setting up these units and assessments, but once you have them, they can be used interchangeably with small adjustments to fit the needs of the current assignment. Having the entire day of learning connecting and working together toward a common, known goal allows for topics to be discussed at greater depth, while still covering the information needed. I believe that using the discussed format to teach from would instill a greater purpose in the students and motivate them to learn, because they are interested, not just to pass a test.

Reading Response to Chapters 3-5

As I read through the assigned chapters, I couldn't help but compare what I was reading about to what I had attempted to do when writing my Learning Experiences last semester. I found myself wishing that I had had this book to refer to what I was working on that assignment. For me, I would never have thought to work "backward" through the planning process. As I read chapter three, I began to think that maybe what the authors are considering backward is actually forward and what I have been doing is backward. That thought stems from the realization that the Backward Design Process makes much more sense, to me, in the grand scheme of things.

I feel that I have had some practice in scanning and clustering standards, because I literally cut apart the standards and regrouped them while I was working on my Learning Experiences. However, I do no think that I actually integrated them very well. I did nothing but link together activities that dealt with the same topic. Each individual lesson did not truly combine multiple disciplines. For example, few if any of my lessons made obvious connections between math and science. I look forward to gaining more experience clustering the standards when preparing a unit.

I am always concerned with what kind of assessment I am going to use. I think that is one of the hardest parts of writing a lesson. When I began to really look at the chart on page 78 of the textbook, I realized that I struggle with deciding on a single type of assessment because every student has different needs. Even now, as I continue to think about the chart, I am wondering what some of the logical ways to combine the assessment strategies my be. I would rather combine strategies than have to limit my students on one type of assessment or feel as though I should create a different assessment for each student. Maybe I could use peer evaluations, journals, and a scoring rubric to determine a single grade--use several types of assessment before I assign a grade.

I am convinced that by using the KNOW/DO/Be bridge model, I will be able to better the lessons that I write. I think that setting forth what I want my students to know and be able to do, before I start planning anything else, will enable me to create meaningful lesson for my students.

Multidisciplinary Integration

First, sorry for the delay in getting this up on the blog.


Multidisciplinary integration focuses on the disciplines, and is usually the organization of standards around a theme. We're thinking the Learning Experiences from last semester.

However, the amount of integration effort varies from unit to unit.

There are several types of multidisciplinary integration.

Intradiciplinary--

• sub-disciplines are integrated (for example, algebra and geometry may be integrated, but they are both math)
• connections between ideas in the same subject

Fusion

• fuse skill and knowledge
• usually based around a character trait (peace, respect, etc)
• ex. literature across the curriculum

Service Learning

• community projects connected with disciplines

Learning Centers/Parallel Disciplines

• centers bases on one idea, but attacked from all angles
• students must make connections between the disciplines themselves
• ex. centers dealing with patterns in math, science, language arts, etc

Theme-Based Units

• may not be integrated until the final, culminating activity

Integrated Curriculum Chpt. 3 - 5

I found it very interesting to read about KNOW/DO/BE bridge within these chapters. With that stated, I have witnessed both in my placements last year and my student teaching this year that the 'BE' factor is becoming smaller and smaller. From my experiences, it appears to me that character education is rarely brought up in schools today. It seems that students need to KNOW their language arts standards, or be able to DO what they've learned through mathematic standards, but as for who they are meant to BE...well, that just keeps becoming a smaller and smaller concept to teach students.

Some teachers I've worked with act as if their curriculum needs to focus soley on getting the standards covered without ever addressing any concern on teaching their students to have good moral value and to be good citizens in the community. Why can't students practice both their character education and cover their standards simultaneously, but so many teachers fail to go this extra mile in teaching children to be generous, caring adults. And yes, although families should be teaching this to their children, some families are not around enough to do so. If your heart is really there one hundred percent then I feel that being an educator means taking on a parental role sometimes and looking out for the good of the student. Success isn't always academic, and what good is straight A's going to do for a student if they have never learned the right way to treat others and get along with one another.

While I was reading these three chapters I was trying to figure out how to relate the information in the book into the unit that we will be planning later this semester. After I read all three chapters I tried to figure out how the chapters related. This is what I came up with:

In my mind chapter three has laid out a fantastic frame for us to plan a unit. It makes us focus on what the students need to know, what they will do in order to know (or learn) what they need to know, and what the impact of what they know and did will have on their character as citizens of this country. I struggled a little bit with the BE part of the pyramid for awhile but I think maybe now I might understand. The BE part of the framework may be hard to achieve put it is the entire purpose for teaching your unit. I had a hard time thinking of how one could teach character through a unit on Pumpkins. I know that is Dr.D’s favorite unit subject…. I finally came to the conclusion that if you think hard enough there is a way to find the BE in just about any unit subject. Certainly you cannot have meaningful curriculum without a BE part of the framework. The purpose of teaching is to create enduring understanding and that should go beyond academics and facts. So then chapter four explains in a little bit more detail about the Know part of the framework. I got my illustration of lenses from the management reading that I just finished. The external alignment is the wide angle lens which focuses on the standards and tests for the grade level. The internal alignment is the zoom lens which focuses on making the standards make sense to your individual students and how to apply the standards in your unique classroom. Both lenses are needed to create meaningful curriculum. The last chapter explains how assessments are related to the DO pyramid. Some of the examples on how to give effective assessments made me think of Michelle, Kayleigh Harkins, and my proposal for the GAYC conference. Our topic is on how to implement play into the classroom as tools for assessment. In this case play would be an excellent way for the students to demonstrate their knowledge at the top tier of the DO pyramid.

Ch. 3-5

I really enjoyed the overall concept of the KNOW/DO/BE framework. The analogy by Jim Penner that suggested the KNOW/DO/BE chart should be more like a tree falls very closely with the way I feel about our role as educators. Yes, the students need to know the information, yes, our students need to have the do portion, and it is the be that sprouts from a successful relationship in the schools. It is also so important for the "so what?" portion of the lesson that Dr. D reminds us of all the time :). Students will retain and enjoy information so much more when there is relevance and understanding for them somewhere in their life pertaining to the information presented. Going to school and learning shouldn't be memorization that fades away after the test, we need to truly root the information in students by finding relevance for them with the subject.

I also know the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to concepts. Crossing over curriculum and standards helps show students how everything is involved in each other and can also reiterate the importance of a concept. I think clustering standards across curriculum can really enhancing a classroom learning environment as well as the students understanding of what is being presented. Sometimes teachers can become so conformed to their schedule of math time, reading time, etc. that they forget that these subjects can all be intertwined in order to reiterate and approach concepts across the pages.

Reading Response Chapters 3-5

The main focus of these chapters, that stood out to me, was the purpose of the backward design process and creating the KNOW/DO/BE Bridge. It's very interesting to me to think about planning lessons and curriculum in this way. Many times it is easier to say "This is a great activity, what standards can I use in order to implement this?" By doing this, we are not focused on the students and their needs, but more focused on what may be easier and more comfortable for us. It makes complete sense to identify what results you would like to see from your students and plan accordingly. Everything we do as teachers must have a purpose and this seems like the logical way to do it. We need to follow the backward design process in order for students to gain a deeper understanding of the material being taught. When we know our purpose and expectations, we know what it will take to get there. In the past, I feel that I have not planned in this way. When reflecting on past assignments I feel that this method would have been more effective. Even when just following standards, I don't always know what I want or expect the end result to be. The "So what?" should be evident to students by the end of the learning process.

The KNOW/DO/BE Bridge puts great focus on three important questions:
*What is most important for students to know?
*What is most important for students to be able to do?
*What kind of person do we want students to be?

Before reading this chapter I had never of this framework. However, I feel like these are three very important questions that should guide our thinking and curriculum planning. It is hard to be effective when we don't know the answers to these questions and when we don't have a purpose. We need to identify the needs of our students and what is important for them. I love the idea of this framework and how the know, do, and be build on one another. I plan to consider these questions when planning in the future.

Chapters 4 and 5 focused on using standards to integrate the curriculum and aligning assessment and instruction with the KNOW/DO/BE Bridge. Chapter 4 discusses how the curriculum should be aligned internally and externally with the standards and testing objectives. All things being taught and tested should follow the expectations set by the standards. This goes back to the idea of purpose. What is it that the students are learning? Why is this important?

While planning and implementing are important, assessment determines whether or not a student has learned what they should know. Chapter 5 discusses the importance of assessment and how it does not have to be a paper and pencil test. I think this is really important because too often, teachers feel that this is the only way to assess their students' knowledge. Figure 5.1 on page 69 was very helpful to me in understanding how instruction strategies affect what the student does in order to reach the desired results. Everything we do as teachers determines what skills a student uses to learn. This is something I've really never thought of before.
These three chapters will be very helpful when planning, implementing, and assessing in the future.

Reading Response

The key point of reading these chapters is that teachers need to use backwards design in order to bridge the KNOW/DO/BE. I think this concept of working backwards is hard for many educators to grasp. Teachers generally use the standards as a basis of what to teach. By working backwards, teachers will begin by considering what is the desired result of the students’ learning.I believe that using this method will enable teachers to give students more opportunities for in-depth learning of a concept or topic. 

Chapters three through five also talk about skill levels. The book suggests that the best way to avoid lower-order skills is for teachers to begin their questions with “how” and “why.” When teachers only ask children to recall prior knowledge this is not learning; it is memorization.  This situation is among the lowest level of skill in the DO triangle. According to Bloom’s taxonomy, the DO should involve analysis, evaluation, and synthesis. I feel that teachers sometimes use stating facts in assessments for the primary reason that it is easiest to grade. Teachers can use a key, and the responses to the questions asked do not vary. Using Bloom’s taxonomy is a great guide to establish questions that allow students to use higher-level thinking.

There are many concepts I learned that will be beneficial in planning my teacher work sample. First, I learned how to scan and cluster standards in the curriculum maps in order to see where integration may be possible. I also learned to prioritize the curriculum based on what is most important for students to know. This understanding is essential in providing teachers with a better understanding of how to enhance the existing standards in order to better fit the needs of students. I believe that using practices such as these, in correspondence with an integrated curriculum is the best way of engaging students in a curriculum.

 

 

Reading Response Chapter 3-5

Something that stood out to me in this reading was the “backwards design.” I really like the idea of coming up with the assessment before you plan your activities. I have noticed in my experiences in placement that some of my teachers pick the activities before they decide what they really want the students to know. It makes sense to figure out what you want your students to gain from what you teach them (the KNOW) before you actually teach them (the DO). In my placement this is something that they are kind of starting to do, and I can tell that it is working for these students. She knows what she wants the students to get out of her lessons by making the assessments before she teaches that specific lesson.

I like the idea of the “BE” being a teacher means more than just teaching the student’s academic knowledge. We are also teaching them to be citizens of the USA. Some students get this teaching at home, but there are some that are not getting what they need to become better people or active members of the community. So I believe that by adding the “BE” to what you are teaching is awesome!

I really like the idea of assessing students in different ways other than just using the paper and pencil method. That method gets boring after a while. I do understand that some assessments need to be done that way, but not all of them. I like the idea of assessing students by doing something to show they understand the “So what” part, instead of just being able to recall the information. By using these kinds of assessments you are able to see if the student fully understands what you taught them.

reading response

These chapters included a lot of information about implementing an effective integrated curriculum. The backwards design process is something I am not familiar with, but really stuck out to me, and I feel would be effective when planning the curriculum. Asking myself questions about where I want my students to be and the knowledge I want them to gain would be valuable throughout the planning process. In my placements, I have seen many teachers decide on an activity they want to teach first, and then decide on what they want to the students to learn from the lesson. Before planning lessons I feel it is important to realize and understand what you want your students to learn through the lesson.

Another concept that stuck out to me is the BE area being a bridge for the KNOW and the DO. The information our students know and the processes and activities they go through to learn that knowledge helps them be the people they are. As teachers it is important for us to realize we are not just teaching student’s academic knowledge, they are also learning about who they are as a person.

I also liked the idea of curriculum mapping. I feel like it is an effective idea when planning integrated curriculum. I have never seen a curriculum map in use; however, I can see how it would be beneficial and helpful when integrating the curriculum.

Reading Responce

While reading through chapters 3-5, like many others, I noticed Backwards Design. I thought this was an interesting concept that I haven’t thought about before. When thinking about planning a lesson I usually jump straight to the standards and try to go from there to come up with something creative to teach. While reading through this chapter I realized that starting from the point where you want the lesson to end up or the desired results would be a better way to go about planning a lesson.
It also stuck out to me when it said that most teachers just pick lessons that they have previously used because they are easy, but the students do not gain anything from this. This is something that I have noticed throughout my previous placements. Most teachers just use the same lessons every year which doesn’t make sense. What worked for one class may not work for another. That’s why backwards design seems like the best way to go. You start by looking at the class you have and come up with the results you want for that particular class.

Reading Response Chapters 3-5

I loved the Know/Do/Be framework. I felt this really helps teachers emphasize on the 3 main aspects of teaching any lesson, which are: whats important for the students to know, what should they be able to do, and what kind of person should the students be. These are all valuable parts to a successful curriculum, and often times they are overlooked. I too agree that the "BE" section is very important in a child's learning. All students need to know about character education and know the appropriate attitudes and actions to display in school and in their community. At Blandy Hills Elementary every student in all grade levels go by these 3 words: Be respectful, responsible, and prepared. And I feel like in the Know/Do/Be framework these 3 school wide rules could be reiterated over and over in every part of the curriculum, especially in the "BE" section.
The backward design process is something totally different than any teaching I've seen, but the more I read about it the more it makes complete sense and even seems to make planning lessons/units easier. Identifying the purpose and results of the lesson before doing anything makes the assessments so much more beneficial because you would already have the knowledge of what you want the students to know and accomplish, so you just match up and align the curriculum to those assessments. Not only are the assessments helping you see what the students know and learn, but they are also helping you connect the integrated curriculum so that it all flows together. This then makes it easier for the students to learn and comprehend the standards. I liked that it focused on the constructivist principle to guide instructional strategies. I think that active learning experiences are essential to helping children learn and create deeper thinking, which leads to deeper knowledge. They then focused on keeping the same active, hands-on approach for the assessments. I really liked this idea! It is important to keep the same kind of approach throughout the learning experience and assessment. There can be a variety of these all integrated into one curriculum, which will make it more interesting and fun for the students to learn, and for the teacher to teach!

Ch. 3-5 Reading Response

In Chapters 3-5 it talks about backward design, and the know/do/be bridge. These ideas really stood out to me because they just make more sense! A teachers goal should be to acomplish the questions: "What is most important for students to KNOW?, What is most important for students to be able to DO?, and What kind of person do we want students to BE?" This framework helps teachers in a way in which they are getting exactly what they ask for. By using the know/do/ be bridge, teachers' expectations are very clear. The "BE" part of the bridge really stood out to me too because as teachers we are shaping our future. Our future will be in the hands of the children that we teach. We want our students to grow up and be great people. As teachers we also teach students everyday about personal values, whether we are actually "teaching" or not by our actions - what we say or do. The know part is just the basic understandings, it is what you want your students to know. The do part includes the skills that the students should be able to do. These chapters were such a great help to me and i intend to use all of this information as I work on my teacher work sample.

Backwards Design seems to make the most sense. To start planning ,by knowing what you want the students to know at the end of the unit will just be easier for everyone. After all, using the backwards design will make the "so what" of the lesson be known. You will know from the beginning of the lesson what your purpose is.

These chapters also focused more on the integrated curriculum. It is important for teachers to teach across the curriculum. Students need to know that the information they learn about in science can also be used in math for example. Students will be able to make more connections with the information they are given.

In reading chapters three through five I believe that one of the essential concepts is the KNOW/DO/BE bridge. For teachers the beginning place in planning a curriculum needs to be what is the most valuable and important thing that you want the students to know, what you want them to do with that knowledge, and what type of person you want the students to be. I believe the last part of the bridge about who you want the students to be has been a bit controversial. I think that teachers need to approach it in regard to what type of people they expect the students to be in their classroom. Such things as students being respectful and students being active participants in learning would fall in the BE category.

In reading this I learned about backwards design. Working backwards is a new thought for me, but one that really makes sense. As a teacher if I start all my lesson plans with a goal for student achievement and plan everything around that goal it seems that the students in my classroom would be likely to succeed. In the past I have been planning my lessons by starting with the standard. I believe that it is necessary to look at the standards, but in the future I will look at the standards and write down what I want the students to learn or achieve and try to plan activities that are related to what the achievement goal is.

These chapters had a lot of information about how to integrate multiple subject areas under one theme or achievement goal. I believe that this is very important. Students need to see that subjects are interrelated and that they can use things they learn in one subject to help them learn in another. These chapters also talked some about using different teaching stratgies and aksing higher level thinkign questions. In planning and implementing lessons a good place to go to be sure that higher thinking levle questions are being asked would be Bloom's Taxonomy.

Ch.3-5 Reading Response

One thing that really stood out to me is the idea of Backwards Design. This idea seems so simple and kind of like a "DUH" concept to me. In order to plan a lesson, the idea is to know where we are going i.e. what we want our students to know. By starting here, we know where the road is leading now we just need to decide how to get there. The hardest idea for me is to understand where I want to go so I simply try to find a way to get there then hope that I will magically see it like a sign saying "YOU ARE HERE". It is always said that we need to teach what our students need and by knowing what they need or where they are academically, we can better outfit our lessons and activities.


I LOVE the idea of having an overarching BE when teaching. I'm a firm believer that teaching extends way beyond the classroom. We are preparing the future of this world and can have impact on how society changes. The teachers that I remember from school were ones who not only cared about my academic successes but my real world successes as well. They taught us social studies along with the idea of working together and art with the encouragement to be creative in any form necessary. Math can be used for future problem solving situations and Science can encourage the idea of inventions as well as the idea of experimentation. As teachers, it is important to realize that we have an effect on students in many ways so by integrating these overarching ideas into our curriculum, we truly can change the way the world thinks/acts and they way our students look at the world around them.


Lev Vygotsky believed that children learned culture best through interpersonal relationships and social interactions. Through the use of the KNOW/DO/BE bridge, we can have our students learn not only about their own culture but the culture of others. Say for example we needed to know about the Civil War. An overlapping idea for the BE could be conflict resolution or the idea of working together. By showcasing this idea not only in our culture and other cultures, students are better able to internalize these ideas as well as make them their own.

hope this makes some sort of sense :-)

"Reading Response"

Meeting Standards through Integrated Curriculum


I’m trying to pull things out, without reiterating everything that Kayla has already focused in on :)

Something that continued to stand out to me as I read this was the fact that I have to continually be asking myself questions, assessing myself, in order to decipher what it is that I am desiring my students to learn.

Some of those questions
“What is the purpose of this unit?”
“How do we want students to be different at the end?”
“What is the most important for students to KNOW?”
“What is the most important for students to be able to DO?”
“What kind of person do we want students to BE?”

I completely agreed that the “Be” portion of the triangle could not be the smallest. I believe that without the “Be” portion, the “DO,” and the “KNOW,” have little to no relevance. It’s like knowing that the light switch will turn the light on, but having no ability to flip the switch. The “BE’ provides support for the “Do” and the “KNOW.”


Other things that stood out to me:
“Building Curriculum from standards often leads to a technical and lifeless approach to teaching content and skills”

I loved the section that mentioned Hillary Brown, which implemented the human development curriculum called Passages. I liked how she said “holistic approach nourishes the spirit of the adolescent.”
The book said that the program Passages “seeks to create a safe container for the wonder, worry, joy, and wisdom within each child to emerge, engaging the student in the learning process.”

I think sometimes it becomes easy to forget that all of those wonderful characteristics exist within each and every one of our students and our curriculum can help or hinder the nourishment of those characteristics. My goal as I move into creating my unit is that I will be able to focus on the child, holistically. I want to teach them the standards, but I also don’t want to become so standards oriented that I forget that these are each individual children that already have so much to offer. I want to see their personalities emerge through each activity that we do. I like the KNOW, BE, DO. It’s right up my alley. :)

THE END!

Reading Response to Chapters 3-5 in Integrated Curriculum by Kayla Pohl

Reading Response to Chapters 3-5 in Integrated Curriculum by Kayla Pohl

The Know/Do/Be Bridge was the big key point that was constantly focused on in all three chapters of the reading this week. I like this principle because it makes it clear what the focus of the curriculum planning should be when we are creating lessons and mapping out our lesson plans. I especially liked the idea of the “Backward Design”. I think often when we are planning a lesson we think of an activity first and try to relate everything to the activity when in the “Background Design” they say to identify the results that you want to see the students gain from what you teach first. I think with this in mind we are more likely as educators to plan lessons based on what students need to learn and understand. For example, Drake and Burns stated, “Students may experience a series of enjoyable activities, but the learning had no greater purpose. When this occurs, students miss the “So What?” of the study (p 32.)” I think that is an extremely valuable point because often even if we as the educator know what the so what is, it doesn’t necessarily mean the student does. Often, I think it is valuable to make the students aware of the “So What?” behind the lesson, and explain to them the value in what they are learning.

One aspect that really stuck out to me in the reading that relates to theorist was the Blooms Taxonomy. I often feel that the students in my placement are not challenged with higher level thinking questions. Even though I am in a kindergarten placement I still believe that the students can be challenged on the higher level of thinking questions. My goal this year is to try to incorporate that into my lessons as much as possible with the kindergarteners. I also want to create an environment like Drake and Burns mentioned that “allows choice, creativity, and the use of the imagination to drive [the] program (p.49).” Having a classroom environment where students have choice and learn best when they are actually doing the work themselves is based on many of Piaget’s beliefs. According to Piaget, “when the students are creating their own learning they form and create their own under-standing of what is going on.” This is very important and vital to the “Do” part of the Know/Do/Be Bridge that I will be striving to try to bring out in my placement this year.

This reading has also opened my eyes to the different possibilities of assessment that I can use in my Teacher Work Sample. Assessment does not just have to be pen and paper or cover just one subject. Assessment can be a fun project that incorporates many standards the students need to be assessed and checked on to make sure they understand the concept. Being placed in a kindergarten classroom, I feel that assessing students without pencil and paper will be way more effective because they often do not feel as comfortable showing what they know through the use of a pencil and paper.

History of Integrated Curriculum

Post by: Kayleigh H., Kallie, Lacy, & Stashia

*Late 1800's began with the Herbartians - a movement named after Johan Fredrich Herbart.

*1920's - John Dewey led the Progressive Movement; this movement placed students social & personal

*1920's - the project approach

*1930's - the core curriculum movement

*1940's & 1950's - problem-centered core curriculum

*1980's & 1990's curriculum integration referred to multidisciplinary and trans-disciplinary curriculum designs

*Recently it has been associated with school reform

Importance and Alignment with Accountability Environment

The government mandates what the students are required to learn which is what the teachers are accountable for teaching. The government uses different forms of assessment to judge whether the teachers are meeting these requirements. It is believed that a student’s success will be better if all the school's curriculum are aligned with each other, therefore everyone is exposed to the same things. Holding teachers accountable for what they are required to teach will also make it easier for the standardized tests to be the same.
~Carrie, Kayleigh L., Christy, Jessica,and B.J

Interdisciplinary Integration

Interdisciplinary teaching is defined as a method, or set of methods, used to teach a unit across different curricular disciplines.

This unit ends up being a thematic unit, sound familiar? In the process of using interdisciplinary integration, teachers of different content areas work together towards a common theme.

This theme, for example, could be weather. In the theme of weather, language arts teachers could help students learn vocabulary associated with weather, and create a paper. Social studies teachers teachers could teach students about weather patterns in different areas of the world, science teachers could explain how clouds are formed, having students create models etc.

Hope this is helpful :)

Anna, Lindi, and Rebecca

Transdisciplinary Approach

*INTEREST BASED EXPLORATION (REAL WORLD)

2 Routes

1. Project Based Learning

• Students and teachers generate the questions based on interest, curriculum standards, and local resources.
  
• Teacher helps student recall what they already know so that they can generate questions of value. The teacher then provides resources appropriate for exploration.
• Students show what they know.
  

2. Negotiating the Curriculum

• The questions form a basis for the curriculum and include personal growth/ social issues etc.
• The students are asking the questions based on what they see around them. "Real World"

Kelsey,Lindsey,Michelle

:) (Enjoy)

Definition of Integrated Curriculum

Integrated Curriculum includes good activities that support multiple goals across many disciplines. These activities are more than just fun; they are challenging, engaging, hands-on, developmentally appropriate, and likely to promote positive outcomes.


It is influenced by society's values, research, standards, community expectations, and students' prior knowledge and interests.

Group members: Sarah, Lisa, Kayla

Greetings!

Hi all - we will be utilizing this blog for reflections and/or classroom discussion this semester. Consider this an experiment. I've sent you all an invitation to be an author on the blog. More details about what we will do with this tool later.