How To Integrate The Curriculum And A Lesson Plan

Lillie Childs                  Douglass Math and Science Academy
                               543 N. Waller
                               Chicago IL 60644
                               (312) 543-6176

Objectives:
 
   To give teachers a solid foundation for designing curriculum and to help 
their students make valuable connections while learning.

Materials Needed:

Portable Radio and Tape Player
Copies of Integrated Blank Models
Transparencies of Integrated Models 
Example of And Integrated Lesson
Over Head Projector 
Paper Towels
Raisin Bread

Strategy:

The beginning of the presentation will be a series of productive thinking 
questions in the Cognitive and Effective Domain.  The Cognitive Domain is 
creative, flexible, fluent, insightful and elaborative thinking.  The Affective 
Domain uses a sense of humor, efficacy as a thinker, risk taking and 
perseverance.  Integrating music, physical development and health can also be 
integrated into the unit lesson.  

The second part (math portion) of the presentation, each person will receive one 
slice of raisin bread for their group.  They will take the raisins from the 
bread, count them and tell how many raisins are in the slice.  The members of 
each group will predict first.  The students will discuss how close they came 
with their predictions.  Next students will be asked to name the different kinds  
of bread.  The teacher should list them on the black board. 

The third part will consist of each group working on a webbed model, using the 
theme BREAD.  After a sample has been shown on the overhead projector.  
Integrating the five disciplines, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies, Math 
and Art that will be suitable for a certain grade level. 

The explicit connections are used to enhance the learning in a holistic manner, 
as students link ideas from one subject to ideas in another subject.  In 
addition, to this model teachers can invent their own design for integrating the 
curriculum.  The process never ends, its a cycle that offers renewed energy to 
each school year as teachers teach "the young minds" to discover their potential. 

Performance Assessment:

Oral and written participation in discussion and experiment.

Reflection Activity:

1.  My first initial reactions to integrating the curriculum is:
2.  How could integrating the curriculum benefit your program?
3.  I can help my students at my school embark on integrating the curriculum by:

Conclusion:

     A theme is designated as the central idea and used as an overlay to the 
various content areas for an interdisciplinary unit with alignment to outcomes. 
Once a cross-departmental team has made this decision, it uses the theme as an 
overlay to the different subjects. 
     
     Educators once more are seeking ways to help students make sense out of the 
multitude of life's experiences and the bits and pieces of knowledge being 
taught in the typical splintered, over departmentalized school curriculum.  To 
lessen some of the fragmentation, teacher collaboration is the key to the heart 
of the program and this takes time, creativity and flexibility.  Curriculum 
integration is sometimes necessary to teach about topics that cut across or 
transcend school subjects.  Even when integration is not necessary, it is often 
desirable, and when content drawn from one subject is used, it enriches the 
teaching of another subject. 

     To succeed in school and in our rapidly changing work force, students today 
must learn to be more critical, inventive, collaborative, and technically 
skilled, than ever before.  But these new demands on students mean new demands 
for educators, especially in learning to deal with new and changing strategies. 

References:

"Cognitare.  Newsletter of the ASCD network on Teaching Thinking:
Integrating Curriculum" Vol. 5, Issue 2, Skylight Publishing.  Palatine, 
Illinois, 1991.

Fogarty, R., "Ten ways to Integrate Curriculum" in Educational Leadership.  Vol. 
49, No. 2. P. 61-65, October, 1991.

Fogarty, R., "From Training to Transfer:  The Role of Creativity in the Adult 
Learner."  Doctoral Dissentation, University of Chicago.  Kentucky Educational 
Television, Integrated Learning Video Series.  Producer, Lexington, Kentucky, 
1993.

Jacobs, H.H. Interdisciplinary Curriculum:  Design and Implementation.  ASCD, 
Alexandria, Virginia, 1990.

Kovalic, S., ITI:  The Model:  integrated Thematic Instruction.  Book for 
Educators, Village of Oak Creek Arizona, 1993.

Maute, J., "Cross-Curricular Connections" in Middle School Journal, Columbus, 
Ohio, March 1989.

Shoemaker, B., "Education 2000:  Integrated Curriculum" in Phi Delta Kappan, pp. 
793 - 797, June, 1991.

Shoemaker, B., "Integrative Education: A curriculum for the Twenty-First Century"
in OSSC Bulletin, Oregon School Study Council. Vol. 39, No. 2, October 1989.