Module 7
TED 356
Curriculum in Sec. Ed.
Module 7
Explain how curriculum from various
content areas can be integrated for
use in secondary education.
Reading
• Refer to the following in the Duplass
textbook as needed:
– Topic 19: “Planning Efficient Instruction”
– Unit 8 (Topics 41-45)
Review
• In Module 2, we looked at:
– (Collaborative) teaching teams: Several
teachers from different subject areas work
together to plan the curriculum for a group of
students.
– Interdisciplinary teams: Core-subject
teachers + specialty-area teachers (phys. ed.,
arts, spec. ed., counselors).
Review
• Don’t confuse with teaching teams with
team teaching.
– Teaching teams: Several teachers from
different subject areas plan and coordinate
curriculum together, but they teach their own
periods as usual.
– Team teaching: Two or more teachers
teaching the same group simultaneously.
An Example of
Integrated Curriculum
• Let’s consider an example of projectbased learning. Let’s see how several
teachers can integrate curriculum.
Background
• Students were in two classes together,
first period English and third period
Biology.
• Most were also in Music and Art, and
some were in Social Studies.
• The four teachers planned the project with
the English teacher as the pivot.
– They also alerted the Social Studies teacher
as to the details of the project.
Preparation
• Two weeks before the project, the English
teacher assigned the reading of Lord of
the Flies.
• The teacher assigned students (via hat
pull) to roles (along with understudies).
– Students were instructed to prepare guises to
represent their characters (e.g., masks, hats,
etc.).
Preparation
• Prior to the project, the Biology teacher started a
unit on insects.
• The Music teacher began to help some students
build background music and the Art teacher
created a supply of materials (pipe cleaners,
etc.) to make bugs.
• The Social Studies teacher was doing a unit on
WWII and, whenever possible, integrated the
message of the novel in her presentations on
the Nazis.
Preparation
• For homework the weekend before the
project (after most had read the novel), the
teacher invited students:
– To create artwork (using old items, and no
bigger than a toaster) linked to the novel’s
message about inherent good or evil in man
and how when civility fails and man turns to
savagery.
– To provide (under their artwork) a brief artist’s
statement explaining his/her work.
Decorating
• The first day of the project, based on alreadyoffered directions, the students (with a budget
supplied by the school) turned their classroom
into a tropical island:
– Plastered palm tree/frond decorations (from The Party
Store and AC Moore or Michael’s) everywhere.
– Suspended models of flies/bugs created in Biology
class with the help of the Art teacher.
– While they decorated, they listed to the background
music.
– Demarcated the signal fire (fake) and Castle Rock.
Interpreting the Novel
• The week of the project the students came
dresed as their characters, ready to help
interpret parts of the novel.
• The English teacher led the students
chronologically through the major scenes of the
book and asking students to contribute and
interact along the way.
Interpreting the Novel
• When appropriate, the characters acted
out scenes or parts thereof, and the
teacher stopped them mid-scene to
discuss what made the characters behave
the way they did, and invited personal
reactions.
Assessment
• As their assessment in English, the students had
to write an essay relating the plot of the novel to
Nazi Germany.
• The day the papers were due, the English
teacher invited the Social Studies teacher to visit
and to hear some of the essays read aloud.
CLASS PROJECT
•
•
As a group, brainstorm an integrated
unit. You can involve other content areas
that may not be represented in our class
(e.g., involve a science teacher although
we may have no science major in our
course).
Submit the project as a Word document
OR as a PowerPoint presentation.
CLASS PROJECT
a) Determine what the project will cover (i.e.,
the topic).
b) Determine which teachers will be
involved, and what each will contribute.
c) Plan what work students have to do to
prepare to participate in the learning
activities. Determine what homework
students will be given.
CLASS PROJECT
d) Determine how assessment will be
addressed. (Make it creative, practical,
and authentic, and not just a paperbased traditional exam.)
e) Determine what the benefits and
drawbacks are from doing this type of
approach, both from the teachers’ and
the students’ points of view.