How to build an integrated curriculum

1. Building an Integrated Curriculum: 2010 VAIS Annual Conference, 2009

2. I. Rationale: Why consider integration?

3. A fortunate convergence of the PRAGMATIC and the IDEAL :

4. Differentiate our school: we have an incredible resource: the river

6. Be mission driven: Great journeys begin at the river . . . Journeys to self-confidence, purpose, identity

8. Provide what is best for our students in a rapidly changing world

9. A changing world: Robinson, Pink, Fox, etc. Skills before content Changing role of teachers

11. We want all types of learners to succeed: how do our students learn? In many ways.

12. We want to enable meaning, to teach for value beyond the classroom

13. Enabling students to find that value creates meaning: CONNECTIONS MAKE MEANING

15. II. Philosophy: Connections make meaning

16. Our students find meaning in knowledge through in-depth engagement that has value across disciplines and beyond school.

23. This provides a framework for the curriculum that uses the concept of place to help students understand not only themselves and their own place, but as they follow their journey, what it means to live in other places (both historical and contemporary) and ultimately what it means to be a citizen, locally, nationally, and globally.

24. Grade level themes: Grade 9: Journey at the River: Our Place, Our Selves, Our Community Grade 10: River Journeys: Many Places, Many Selves, Many Communities Grade 11: Ocean to Ocean: Ourselves, Our Nation Grade 12: Rivers Flow Past Many Shores: Ourselves, Our World

28. Points of Conflict, 9 – 12: In our selves and in our region, to what extent does change create conflict? Throughout history and geography, to what extent do one community's needs and wants outweigh another's? In the United States, to what extent do the needs and wants of the individual outweigh the needs of the nation? In the world today, to what extent do one community's need and wants outweigh another's?

30. III. Exit skills and content standards: facilitating integration

34. By defining both cross curricular skills and discipline exit skills, we ensure skills are taught and that there is continuity

36. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving (9 th grade) What it means for students to: IDENTIFY, CONFRONT, AND SOLVE PROBLEMS Students will identify significant questions that can lead to solutions to a problem on campus Students will compare potential solutions to a problem on campus Students will employ problem solving strategies to solve a problem on campus.

37. Media and Technology Literacy (9 th grade) What it means for students to: Understand and use multiple media and digital technologies appropriately to create products, to work with, analyze, and communicate information, and to work collaboratively.

38. Use the school network effectively (e-mail, website, file server) Understand and use basic productivity applications Begin using different types of digital media creation tools (applications vs. online tools) Create a controlled online presence (private CCS student blogs or social network) Use one digital media creation tool to create a relevant product Learn the responsibilities of an appropriate online presence

40. In breaking skills down by grade level, we provide opportunities for integration and cooperation

41. Each discipline teacher at each grade level will know what their colleagues need to teach, and what they need to do together

42. IV. Structure: grade level teams

44. Faculty and curriculum grouped 9-10 and 11-12 Independent projects culminate 10 and 12 A two year integrated sequence

45. Some examples of grade level curriculum components

47. English: Discovering who I am as a reader, who I am as a writer, and “where I live” in literature, as well as a sense of how growth of self may happen in our local place.

53. 9th grade theme Journey at the River: Our Place, Our Selves Points of conflict In our selves and in our place, to what extent does change create conflict? Math EQs Science EQs English EQs History EQs Math Content & Skills Science Content & Skills English Content & Skills History Content & Skills Thematic connections, trans-disciplinary units, immersion experience, cross-curricular skills

54. English: journal/blogs; reading: change and conflict Math: stats/census data, landplots. GPS, navigation Science: geology, forces, tides, GPS, topography, erosion History colonization and conflict, growth of area, farming, ethnic groups Language: role of language in cultural groups and conflict 3 day immersion trip: The local river: infrastructure and resources PoC: change and conflict in self and place

55. V. Professional Development

58. VI. Accompanying changes

60. Co-curriculars: Expanded breadth of offerings Choice of pursuit in depth

61. VII. Take-aways . . .

62. Time Planning Transparency and inclusion Communication Training Staffing: “Watershed Coordinator”