June 16

Seamless Curriculum

• School-wide cyclic calendars of common themes are created and coordinated across all subjects/classes, which serve as common interdisciplinary topic focii for student instruction in each of the subject areas, such as Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics, etc.
• Thematic focii are maximized to enable the use of problem solving, organizational thinking, and writing skills which allow students to identify patters and investigate relationships across the different subjects/classes. 
  
• In all subjects/classes teachers encourage students to draw upon past knowledge from multiple subject areas and apply it to newly presented material to encourage growth in the ability to make interdisciplinary connections.
• Teachers are encouraged to interact and collaborate, through thematic work, to create an instructional environment that will improve student learning through the brainstorming of ideas, the formulation of instructional strategies, cooperative lesson planning, etc.
  
• Community professionals are invited to participate as instructional guides in providing students with real life situational experiences that reinforce the interdisciplinary connections in work-world related activities and provide the interdisciplinary application of problem solving techniques in the work-world.
• <>Promotion of the the community's uniqueness and future growth is encouraged through interdisciplinary connections in thematic activities which capitalize on its history, geography, economy, and social mix.</>
  

Some thoughts from your teams' blogs which might come in handy when working on your engine...
Joe: When it comes to do projects do you see the same groups of people working together?  It is sad when we see students isolating themselves from others like this.  But in this case I am not talking about students; I am talking about the teachers.  All schools have their clicks, and while there is nothing wrong with forming friendships with people whom you have similar interest with, there comes a point where this can be harmful.  As teachers bonds become stronger they tend to isolate themselves from the others.
Michelle: As Sergiovanni states a successful school system must focus around it's lifeworld.  The input of the community is needed to make the educational system work for the individiual and the community as a whole. I believe that each child learns in different ways.  It is the job of the teacher and and the school to determine which way each child learns and guide that child to be successful.  It is paramount that a variety of educational methods are used to cater to all student's abilities and learning styles.  Cooperative learning, critical thinking, problem-based learning and technology should be used in all classrooms on all levels at all ages.
Mike: We need to shift our focus in two ways. The first is skills development: We need to produce stronger readers and writers, these are the skills that will carry students through their lives no matter what profession they choose. The second is: we need to focus more on non fiction than fiction, plays and poetry. I'd hazard to guess that 80-90% of what we read in non fiction; from trade to sport to educational, magazines are non fiction. There are still great authors who can be read in the non fiction genre: Orwell and Gore Vidal come to mind immediately. This is also a great way to teach the writing process and by having students read what they will need to write we are giving them the best possible chance. This entry has deal mostly with my background field, English but I am sure that it transcends all disciplines.
Peggi: Unfortunately, students don't always understand what different subject areas have in common when they are taught in the abstract and in neat forty-two minute periods.  They know that they need to learn simple math for money or percentages.  However, they may not understand why they need to learn about geometry, algebra, or higher math if they don't intend to be a doctor,  a scientist, or  an engineer. The schools have any obligation to help draw these connections for students to help foster understanding.  One way that this can be achieved is through the use of interdisciplinary units.  Students don't just need to know that Columbus discovered America in 1492 in history class.  They need to know how he calculated for the amount of rations that would be needed in math class or how he navigated his ship. They need to know about the things that he saw on his journey so they could write a letter during language arts to his family back in Spain.  This type of involvment in learning helps them to be truly involved in the process.  We can't just do these units as a once a year project but they need to be incorporated in as much of the learning process as possible....We delude ourselves into thinking that if we cluster students into groups of four instead of rows we are being progressive.  Do we really think that changing the physical makeup of the room is all we need to do to be progressive? We need to recognize that the students role in learning is vital and that they need to be active participants in the process.  That learning facts and the figures are important but they are not the end of the learning process....It really is a shame when teachers do not share ideas with each other.  Working together creates an opportunity to discuss ideas  and develop thoughts that blossom into great learning moments.  If one of the goals of an educator is to create meaningful lessons for students then why wouldn't every teacher welcome a chance to share and develop ideas with a colleague.