INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS = Cross Curricular Activities K - 5
It is time teachers and administrators realize public education has reached a dam in the river.
We have gone as far as we can go with isolated instruction and learning. While it may have served the purpose for the older generations, it does not meet the deeper learning needs of students today and tomorrow. Fortunately, deeper learning can be accelerated by consolidating teacher efforts and combining relevant contents, in effect, opening new spillways of knowledge.
To take a deep dive into all components which go into a cross curricular project from a research and study perspective go to this link.
We have gone as far as we can go with isolated instruction and learning. While it may have served the purpose for the older generations, it does not meet the deeper learning needs of students today and tomorrow. Fortunately, deeper learning can be accelerated by consolidating teacher efforts and combining relevant contents, in effect, opening new spillways of knowledge.
To take a deep dive into all components which go into a cross curricular project from a research and study perspective go to this link.
Requirements
Undaunted, educators are committed to providing students full access to the well of deep-learning knowledge that will unlock their potential. But in order to get beyond the current eye-dropper doses of knowledge sampling in school cross-curriculum, it requires teachers and administrators to understand and accept a few things:
1. Deep learning engages the whole student (and teacher) -- heart, mind, body, and soul.
2. It requires enthusiastic partners -- students, parents, and community.
3. It requires intensive preparation. Heather Wolpert-Gawron shared her experience of incorporating TED Talks into her curriculum and in doing so demonstrated what teachers need to do to prepare successful learning experiences that promote deep learning.
4. Assessment must mirror learning. Shawn Cornally provided wonderful suggestions on how teachers should change their gradebooks (and their instructional perspective) to logbooks, reflecting mastery of learning objectives rather than mere assignment completion.
5. Collaboration is necessary. Rebecca Alber explained that students must be taught how to collaboratively gain knowledge and skills in order to be expert learners and demonstrate their learning by applying and creating.
In order for all this to happen in a sustainable way in our schools, deeper learning requires that groups of teachers pool their talents, resources, time, and efforts to maximize coherence, relevance, and connections among the content areas.
1. Deep learning engages the whole student (and teacher) -- heart, mind, body, and soul.
2. It requires enthusiastic partners -- students, parents, and community.
3. It requires intensive preparation. Heather Wolpert-Gawron shared her experience of incorporating TED Talks into her curriculum and in doing so demonstrated what teachers need to do to prepare successful learning experiences that promote deep learning.
4. Assessment must mirror learning. Shawn Cornally provided wonderful suggestions on how teachers should change their gradebooks (and their instructional perspective) to logbooks, reflecting mastery of learning objectives rather than mere assignment completion.
5. Collaboration is necessary. Rebecca Alber explained that students must be taught how to collaboratively gain knowledge and skills in order to be expert learners and demonstrate their learning by applying and creating.
In order for all this to happen in a sustainable way in our schools, deeper learning requires that groups of teachers pool their talents, resources, time, and efforts to maximize coherence, relevance, and connections among the content areas.
Structure and Emphasis
THE FOUR C'S | DIFFERENTIATION OF LESSON |
Collaboration | Process |
Communication | Environment |
Critical Thinking | Content |
Creativity | Product |
CHALLENGE: How do you introduce new projects to your students? What is your hook?
Great learning begins with an engaging launch that grabs students' interest and pulls them in. Every project needs a hook, to meet the learning targets.
1. First, we start with the range in topics across all content areas. Push and norm students to listen and comprehend topics that can represent the minute details of an esoteric subject(s). Compare delivery and presentation format of Hook, and or Project to a TED speech. Pending the grade taught and audience, make adjustments. Remember in fact, a multi-genre talk incorporates many elements of different genres into a single pitch (appeal).
2. Brainstorm different advocacy issues (like "the Pacific Trash Island" or child labor), to research and resolve by breaking them down from school site to local, from state to national and international topics. Has to be relative such that each student pitches the topic they most want their group to focus on. If groups, then they can vote to choose their advocacy topic for the project.
3. The students each create "Problem Statements" like those used in college masters programs to pitch a thesis. Students can develop a paragraph of background information on the issue and develop 3-5 guiding questions that could by used for further research should the group select that topic. The students then do a read around and come to a consensus about the topic they most want to focus on. Coming to consensus, can be anything from the students running a quick pro/con debate, majority rules vote, or even a rock/paper/scissors smack down. It's up to each group to decide.
4. Clearly, there are tons of topics in the room happening at once. Will the teacher be the expert of them all? Of course not! The goal is for students to become the expert in their content. If a student selects a science-based issue that demands a solution, does the teacher have to be the authority of that content? No. If a student selects a historical argument that ripples into current events and demands a solution, does teacher have to be the authority? Of course not, however the teacher should be the expert in how to communicate one's research and evidence.
Great learning begins with an engaging launch that grabs students' interest and pulls them in. Every project needs a hook, to meet the learning targets.
1. First, we start with the range in topics across all content areas. Push and norm students to listen and comprehend topics that can represent the minute details of an esoteric subject(s). Compare delivery and presentation format of Hook, and or Project to a TED speech. Pending the grade taught and audience, make adjustments. Remember in fact, a multi-genre talk incorporates many elements of different genres into a single pitch (appeal).
2. Brainstorm different advocacy issues (like "the Pacific Trash Island" or child labor), to research and resolve by breaking them down from school site to local, from state to national and international topics. Has to be relative such that each student pitches the topic they most want their group to focus on. If groups, then they can vote to choose their advocacy topic for the project.
3. The students each create "Problem Statements" like those used in college masters programs to pitch a thesis. Students can develop a paragraph of background information on the issue and develop 3-5 guiding questions that could by used for further research should the group select that topic. The students then do a read around and come to a consensus about the topic they most want to focus on. Coming to consensus, can be anything from the students running a quick pro/con debate, majority rules vote, or even a rock/paper/scissors smack down. It's up to each group to decide.
4. Clearly, there are tons of topics in the room happening at once. Will the teacher be the expert of them all? Of course not! The goal is for students to become the expert in their content. If a student selects a science-based issue that demands a solution, does the teacher have to be the authority of that content? No. If a student selects a historical argument that ripples into current events and demands a solution, does teacher have to be the authority? Of course not, however the teacher should be the expert in how to communicate one's research and evidence.
Collaboration Systems in Place
Aligned Collaboration
To start collaboration, begin with alignment. The first thing to do is jump in and start wading in the same direction as your fellow teachers. Aligned collaboration is when a social studies department and the English department get together and agree that DBQ's (Document Based Questions) can count for English credit as well as social studies credit and then plan the year so that topics of study in history are taught concurrently with literary eras. In this way, students can construct a foundation, and are able to better generalize what is learned in history because they see the effect on literature. |
Cooperative Collaboration
Fellow teachers need to synchronize their strokes to match their pace. For example, a math and science teacher get together and decide on the best way and the best time to teach motion and cooperatively agree to help each other teach it, either separately or jointly. When the math teacher needs models to show students what the math is good for, he obtains them from the science teacher, and when the science teacher needs the students to perform mathematical calculations, she utilizes the same process the math teacher used just a week before. In this way, students understand math and science with their heads above water, rather than drowning in confusion. |
Conceptual Collaboration
Finally for conceptual collaboration, a teacher must dive into the deep water of conceptual understanding in the other content area. In other words, the teacher must know both subjects at high levels and be able to teach both conceptually. This is difficult for a single teacher to be expert in two subjects, so the solution is to combine forces and team teach. Conceptual collaboration happens when an art teacher works closely with the science teacher and they both help students understand the effect of pigments and light by teaching together the science of wavelengths, the electromagnetic spectrum, and the dual nature of light. Or when a social studies and science teacher do a triple gainer into the deep end by team teaching a project-based learning activity of the renaissance period illustrating how history affects science and how science affects history. |