Integrating Curriculum in line with Standards

Our topic for this class has centered around integrating curriculum in the classroom. This has been a theme during the course of our program, especially in our methods classes. In order to have enough time during the day or week for all of the subjects we need to cover, it makes sense. It also makes sense to teach students in a way that is more authentic, since divided subject areas are unique to the school setting. However, this can be a challenge when the Common Core standards center around literacy and math for elementary students (and science for older students). I know many teachers who focus heavily on the tested subjects, especially when school funding relies on student performance. How can I justify spending extra time on social studies and science when these don’t “matter” with regards to school funding? How can I justify not spending time on these subjects? This is why I like the idea of an integrated curriculum, where tested and non-tested subjects are mixed in a way that allows for teaching the standards but also including the content and skills students should be learning to become good citizens. Drake and Burns (2004) describe an example that I think perfectly encapsulates the integrated curriculum: in it, a Virginia teacher asked her students to make choices about what they wanted to learn, but in order to justify these choices, they had to defend them with the state standards. In this way, not only do the students get to decide what they are learning (creating more interest and engagement in the subject), but they learn the standards and also practice forming an argument and providing evidence to justify it. This is a standard in and of itself, for math and science.

Drake, S., and Burns, R. (2004). Meeting standards through integrated curriculum. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Project Based Learning and Integrated Curriculum

One of the main goals in education is to help students not only reach their full potential academically, but to teach them how to be good citizens in their communities, countries, and world. To accomplish this in my classroom, I believe that using an integrated curriculum where connections are made between all subjects, tested and non-tested. Ellis

Figure 1: Multidisciplinary Approach

and Stuen (1998) suggest using thematic teaching. In thematic teaching, all subjects are centered around a central theme, in a multidisciplinary (figure 1), interdisciplinary (figure 2), or transdiciplinary (figure 3) approach (Drake and Burns, 2004). In a multidisciplinary approach, there is a central theme and each of the disciplines (math, science, music, PE, history, drama, literacy, etc.) each relate to this theme. In an interdisciplinary approach, the disciplines are connected to each other but still taught separately. Teachers find the common learnings in each discipline to help students forge these connections.

Figure 2: Interdisciplinary Approach

The approach that I would like to use, the transdisciplinary approach, is organized around student questions and concerns. It focuses on the theme as an end goal, where the disciplines are used as a way to achieve that end learning. Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a good example of a transdisciplinary approach. The theme in a PBL unit might be designing a better parking lot for the school after a fender bender during pick-up hours. In this service-learning type project, students would need to use math, science, literacy, and social skills (among others) to plan and present a new design. Meanwhile they would be implementing these skills in an authentic, real-life situation that will have real results, and afterward would reflect on the process and the effect of their work. In this type of work, students are the producers of knowledge rather than consumers. They see a problem, think of a solution, and produce the work involved to make that solution happen. The teachers are guides as the students ask questions that become the center of the curriculum. During this process, teachers can incorporate many subjects into their project as they come up, allowing for implicit prac

Figure 3: Transdisciplinary Approach

tice of each of the subject areas. Something that I would have to keep in mind if I were to use PBL in my classroom, though, is that it can’t take up the entire day, as I would need to explicitly teach subjects. This might be where the multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches come in. I can still connect these subjects (for example, literacy or math) to our project or to each other, but will need to make sure my students have the basic tools they will need to use for their project.

I think a combination of these three types of integrated curriculum, adjusted based on the class and the learners in it, will help me teach students to use their academic skills outside the classroom and work toward becoming citizens of their communities and world. Realistically, though I like PBL learning and actually went to a PBL high school, it may not be something I can tackle in my first year without experience first. I hope to be able to integrate my curriculum in other ways using a central theme, and perhaps have smaller projects related to that theme. In this way I will bring PBL and integrated curriculum into my classroom.

Drake, S., and Burns, R. (2004). Meeting standards through integrated curriculum. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Ellis, A., Stuen, C. (1998). The interdisciplinary curriculum. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Demonstrating Respect and Welcoming Students

5.1 Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport

Figure 1

The learning environment is vital to classroom success in so many ways. To me, 5.1 means that teachers have created a classroom that is welcoming and friendly, often demonstrating caring and respect for each student as an individual. This also means that students are respectful to the teacher, as it goes both ways. During my Professional Issues class, my group and I discussed what it takes for the teacher to create this type of learning environment, as shown in Figure 1. This discussion was based on readings and prior discourse in class and through our group blog. It shows that I am building an understanding of what it means for teachers to create an environment of respect and rapport, and am constantly questioning and trying to learn from reflection and the reflection of others. It also allows for accommodating new ideas and integrating them into my personal philosophy of education. Because of this, I feel that I am more confident in my ability to create a welcoming environment for all students, and I can learn from others’ mistakes. While it will not stop me from making my own mistakes, I feel that by reflecting on the work of my mentor teacher and the readings from this class I can establish a learning environment that has respect for both teacher and students. This will only benefit my

Figure 2

students and myself. As my work thus far has been all in theory, I think that next steps will be to speak with more teachers on this subject, then use my new knowledge to implement strategies in the classroom to build rapport. One of these ideas might be from my mentor teacher, shown in Figure 2. She had “positive thoughts” for each student to choose and carry to their desk every day, letting them pick which one they wanted to focus on. Even small ideas such as this can be implemented easily and inexpensively, and are steps toward my goal of an environment of respect and rapport.

Religion and Morals in the Classroom

During my reading of Taking Religion Seriously Across the Curriculum, I was most interested in the portion of chapter two that discussed “natural inclusion” of religion into the regular curriculum, or in other words, discussing religion whenever it naturally comes up. Though the article pointed out many difficulties of this—namely that most people don’t see the connection between the subject they teach and religion, even if they are themselves religions—I think it is an important idea. Historically, religion played a big part in the development of our country and culture, and the world. Almost every single war had some sort of religious influence, for example (think Crusades or the Iraq war—two quick and obvious examples, one from history and one current). Our own pledge of allegiance contains the hotly debated phrase “under God” and is often spoken by teachers and students with no thought to what it actually means or why that phrase is in the pledge in the first place. The concept of zero comes from Muslim mathematician Al’Khwarizmi, whose name is where we get algorithm from, and who wrote the first book of algebra (called Al-Jabr). All of these are examples of places where religion comes up or is mentioned, and all are places where we as teachers could include religion in our normal curriculum. When teaching preschool, one of the things I tried to do was to include every major religious holiday in my curriculum, and we celebrated them all and learned about them. I also tried to use examples of multicultural people and dress types in the materials I created, which included traditional or religious garb for some of the images I used. This continuous exposure for the kids was intended to be a way to help them understand that there are many other cultures and religions out there aside from their own (and I had a pretty multicultural class, which helped with that understanding), and that regardless of someone else’s beliefs these differences are both normal and worthy of respect. I was in 6^th grade when the 9/11 attacks occurred, and I’d had no idea that there was even another religion besides Christianity and Judaism. It was so far from my own cultural upbringing that I did not understand what Islam was, and I was fearful of the clothing worn by Muslims and contributed to the cultural fear and hatred that still prevails. I think that had I been given opportunities as a child to understand Islam (which I learned about later in middle school, at which point it was a little late in my opinion), or any other religion that I was not familiar with, I would have been far more accepting as a young adult and even now as a teacher-to-be. Because of this experience, I think that it is my job to find these instances of religion in the classroom whenever I can and explain the connection between my subject matter and its religious background (and though history isn’t the only place religion shows up, it’s the most obvious…I think it’s also my job to figure out how religion relates to current topics too!).

Another place religion shows up in education is the teaching of values, which we have discussed a lot in this course. Many values that are upheld by the US are also commonly thought of as religions values, such as honesty, kindness, respect for others, their lives, and their possessions, etc. These are also found in the Ten Commandments (thou shalt not steal, murder, covet) and in the Sermon on the Mount (Blessed are the humble, the pure in heart, the peacemakers). In Islam, generosity is valued, as is the preservation of life and family (among other things). When teaching these values in school—which many people agree is necessary, including myself—we can make these connections between the value, different religions they might be seen in or come from, and how it can affect ourselves and others. Having students discuss the why of the value might help them to understand the true value of practicing it in their lives.

Nord, W. A., Haynes, C. C. (1998). Taking religion seriously across the curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/198190.aspx

Moral Boundaries: Stepping Over the Line

“Stepping over the line” is, I think, a concept generally regarded as doing something that is unforgivable—something immoral. It’s interesting that we were asked to reflect on peoples’ motivation to stay within the line, since I think that the “line” is different for every person, and some people don’t have a line at all. Last week, we talked about rule-based or consequence-based ethics. It seems to me that those who consider themselves a deontologist are likely to find the line well-defined by a set of guidelines and rules which they live by, while a consequentialist might find reason to debate what the line even is. A friend likes to talk about words such as “should” or “duty” in terms of what we, as humans, are obligated to do (he says nothing, I disagree). But the fact that the two of us, both agnostic, have opposing views on ethics is interesting to me in that even though we have similar beliefs, we act on them in very different ways. He, for example, does not believe it’s our job to ensure that the environment is clean for future generations and doesn’t care about recycling or composting (don’t hate on him! He’s working on it!). This, I think, comes from his upbringing in New York City where recycling wasn’t a big issue. I, on the other hand, am a big recycler and composter, since I grew up among farms and with gardens where we actually used our compost and upcycle old things. Though this is a very minor example, he believes that he is being perfectly moral and he isn’t crossing any “line”, but I think he is. Essentially, he is crossing my “line” but not his, and this is what I find interesting. In All the King’s Men, Willie Talos believes that he is doing what is right for the people by prying into Judge Irwin’s past so that he can blackmail him into supporting Willie’s politician (though I’m still not clear on the entire purpose of this, I think that Willie thinks it’s good—I think he believes everything he is doing is good). Jack also seems to believe this, though possibly he can see what Willie is doing that is so wrong. Regardless, Willie’s “line” is a far cry from the line that the people of Burden’s Landing have—Anne, Adam, Judge Irwin, the Scholarly Attorney, possibly Jack, and as a third-party observer, I don’t know whose is more “right”. It is often our background and how we were raised that lets us make judgments about what is right, wrong, or within the “lines”. In Amos, though I didn’t quite recognize it at the time I was reading, we see how an entire people are falling outside the lines by “turning justice into poison” and using “dishonest scales” to cheat buyers (among other things). But these lines are as seen by Amos, whose background is rooted in religion and the rules of God. Perhaps most of us would also see many of these acts as “falling outside the lines”, but not necessarily everyone will. Or, as is possible in the case of Willie Talos, they see that as the lesser evil, and maybe there are actually several lines and at least their actions are inside some of them (I’m imagining concentric circles, where the center is the “optimal” or “most moral” place to be). In reflecting upon education, I think it’s important to keep in mind that each student and parent and colleague that I will encounter as a teacher will have their own idea of “within the lines”, and part of my job will be to stay within as many of those lines as I can (as pertaining to the classroom) but also to educate students about the different ways their actions can be perceived. I mentioned last week that kids need to be aware of the consequences of their actions, and I still firmly hold to this. This means they should also understand that sometimes, something they think was funny (a joke about another kid’s eyeglasses, or laughing when they fall) may not be funny to the other person. And though I listed some minor examples, even things as small as light teasing can be considered immoral if it hurts the other person.

Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy

4.1 Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy

Figure 1

In this standard, distinguished teachers’ plans and practice reflect familiarity with a wide range of effective pedagogical approaches in the discipline. This means that the teacher’s lessons and activities are not pulled out of a hat, but developed through research and reflection to provide students with ample opportunities for learning and understanding. Figure 1 shows a question for a performance task I created with a partner during the my Elementary Math Methods course. This specific question was designed to be a modified version of the original question, which may have been confusing for young kids or ELL students, as it was about the capacity of the ferry boat. The question is a part of a performance task which was created with the context of a field trip on a ferry to Bainbridge Island from Seattle. The context was designed to be one that was interesting for the students, and also familiar, while familiarizing them with important vocabulary such as “budget”. In addition, this particular problem asks students to agree with one of the students in the scenario, supporting mathematical practice 3 from the Common Core State Standards, which is that students can construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. While creating this performance task, I learned that it isn’t simple to create math problems that are effective for student understanding and assessment. It takes time, research, reflection, and feedback to devise an assessment that works for both the students and the teacher. In the future, I will be more effective at demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy if I take more research into account, and ask experienced teachers for feedback on my work. My assessments aren’t going to be perfect at first, but by reflecting on the feedback of others and reading more about pedagogy specific to teaching math, I can improve my practices.

Bring on the Ketchup!

This week’s question about whether I consider myself a consequentialist or a deontologist was an interesting one, since it was basically asking me why I consider the things I do “right” or “wrong”. For me, the answer is consequentialist, and it was an easy choice for me to make. Quickly, to define:

Consequentialism: the consequences of one’s conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct

Deontological ethics: judge the morality of an action based on that action’s adherence to a rule or rules. Also duty- or obligation-based ethics; the rules bind you to your duty

Personally, I am not much of a rule-follower. I dislike being told what to do based on someone else’s view of what is right or wrong, because I feel that I can make that judgment call myself. However, there are rules I follow—not because they are rules and I should follow them, but because if I don’t follow them, there are consequences. In my mind, consequences—for others or for myself; e.g. if I killed someone, the consequence would be that person’s death and the hurt I dished out to their loved ones—are the primary motivating factor in life. I go to school, because as a consequence, I will have a degree with which I will have a job that I enjoy. I don’t steal, because that would be taking something someone else worked hard for, or received as a gift, which I have no right to. I often jaywalk, because although there is a law against it, I understand that the consequences of that action are my own (and it’s not like I jump out in front of a moving car).  In II Samuel, the consequences of David’s actions are that his child is killed because he broke the rules. While this would make more sense to me if the consequences had been laid out ahead of time rather than done as a reactive measure, David should have known that what he chose to do was hurtful to others and would have a negative impact on their lives and his. In a classroom, I think a consequentialistic approach is more effective than a deontological approach. Children do not follow rules because they are there (maybe some do). What’s more important is that children understand that their actions can have consequences—both positive and negative—and they need to be aware of these consequences. As teachers, we should be teaching them the pathways their choices can take, and help them learn to make positive choices so that everyone benefits rather than hurting others. In All the King’s Men, Cass Mastern made some choices that were against the rules. He didn’t think about it more than that—he knew it was wrong, but he didn’t understand why. Only after Duncan Trice, his friend, killed himself and Annabelle and he went down their own individual paths of guilt and destruction, did he realize that his affair with Annabelle has consequences, and they were harmful to his friend, his lover, and himself. In a classroom and in real life, students need to be aware of these pathways before they happen, not after. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis describes a situation with eugenics where humans are changing the fate of their children without realizing that they are really taking away their children’s power over nature. He seems to take a more deontological approach, where he says that those who follow the rules of the Tao will succeed in having a better future for their children. However, I see it as those who are selecting traits for future generations (in a more modern sense, I’m thinking of genetic manipulation) are attempting to overpower nature without understanding the consequences of their actions (which Lewis believes will be the “abolition of man”). They don’t know the pathway they are on, only the “rules” of society. I recently heard a funny analogy about the difference between a proactive and a reactive approach, and I think it can apply here: when you order fries at a restaurant, would you rather the waiter anticipate your desire for ketchup and ask you before (or bring it with your fries), or would you rather have them ask you as they bring your fries, and give you ketchup after they have all gone cold? Though obviously less extreme than Cass Mastern’s case (his was a bit too extreme), the point is the same: kids need to be able to see the positive effect of bringing the ketchup and the negative effect of not bringing it, and be able to make these choices for themselves.

The Tao in Moral Education

Although I can see how people might think the opposite, I do not believe that the Ten Commandments are a form of what Lewis refers to as the Tao. Perhaps some of them are, such as “you shall not murder” or “you shall not steal”. The Tao in The Abolition of Man is not a set of values from one religion or another, but rather a collection of common morals agreed upon by societies, and many of the commandments are not something you’d see across cultures. For example, “you shall not covet your neighbor’s house”. While the other commandments described actions you should not take, this one describes thoughts you should not have. However, in US culture, it is often widely accepted that thoughts of something you want are fine, so long as you don’t act upon them (or if you do, do so within the bounds of morality). One thing I found interesting about Exodus, and all the rules God imposed on his people, was that he was very explicit in many things. Though most of the rules hardly apply to a school setting, it put me in mind of something I was reading for another class. In Teaching with Love and Logic, Funk (1995) describes a situation where a school had a rule for everything. They thought they had covered every aspect of misbehavior by the students, until one day a boy threw a dead fish at a girl, and there was no rule that stated that “boys can’t throw dead fish at girls”. This approach, having an explicit rule for everything, can be confining, and it’s easy to work around. For example, in All the King’s Men, Hugh Miller—considered an “honorable” man, though he was considered thus by Jack, whose judgment I question—believes that doing the right thing involves following the rules set down by the American government. These explicitly state what should be done in a situation regarding Byram White and his misuse of his political position. However, Willie Talos (Stark) finds a way to work around the law by forcing Byram into a position where he should do as Talos asks lest he lose his place in politics (which he apparently wants). Willie, despite his questionable morals, I still think at this point in his career intends to do right by the people, and believes he is doing so. He is guided more by a set of moral principles (so he thinks), and these are more difficult to break. In the classroom and in life, I think this is a more reasonable approach. I think it’s easier to break God’s rules in Exodus than it would have been had he stated “You shall respect your neighbor, and be kind” or something (which are both rules I have had in my own classroom), and in the classroom it’s easier for students to break “You shall not throw a dead fish at a girl” (maybe they’ll throw a live one next time!) than “be kind”. Though I will add that three of the Ten Commandments are values I personally hold (don’t murder, steal, or lie, essentially). I mentioned in my study guide that I read a book somewhere where a character thinks that stealing is the ultimate sin. To murder is to steal life, to embarrass someone (or bully them) is to steal their dignity and comfort. We all have basic human rights, which are protected by what Lewis calls the Tao. These are basic rules for living in society. He claims that to make an argument against the Tao requires use of the Tao itself, and therefore invalid, which means it’s basically a code we all follow. There is some overlap between the Tao and the Ten Commandments, though again, I don’t think one is the other.

Do Morals Have a Place in Education?

Over 20 years ago, a diverse group of youth leaders and educators decided on six “pillars of moral education”, or values they believed were central to the lives of ethical people, regardless of their differences. These values are service, honesty, respect, kindness, participation, and commitment, all of which I think have a place in education. In particular, I think that honesty and respect merit extra attention, though this may be because these are values I personally appreciate in others. However, each one has its own level of importance in providing students with a caring, working environment that prepares them to be citizens with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Many of these values encourage this kind of citizenship in the classroom to help each other learn, which I think is also significant. Respect is imperative for a warm and nurturing classroom environment that encourages learning, while participation in group, partner, or individual activities improves academic achievement. Without these values within the classroom, it is easy for students (and the teacher) to fall into habits of disrespect or apathy. As an example out of the classroom, several of the characters we read about this week exemplified some of the characteristics that aren’t ideal in a classroom and are not conducive to good learning. In the Bible, Jacob convinced his uncle to let him keep the spotted and striped sheep or goats as payment for his labor, while he left the pure white ones for his uncle. A seemingly decent trade, his uncle agreed, and Jacob was true to his word in this regard. However, he also used trickery to ensure that the babies born of the strong sheep and goats were spotted or striped, and therefore his, while the weak sheep and goats were white, and belonged to his uncle. Though no consequences came of these actions (at least yet, as far as I know), what Jacob did was dishonest and unkind. He helped himself at his uncle’s expense through cheating. In the classroom, tricking other students in such a way would be considered bullying or cheating, and either way is something I’d like to discourage through building positive relationships and a respect for values in my students. In All the King’s Men, Willie Talos seems to start out a decent man, but appears to later be corrupted by politics and the treatment of others. In the chapters describing his later life as the governor, Willie tends to do what he wants despite how it makes others feel. For example, when he and his crew were visiting his father, he disrupts his wife’s happiness (or feeling of success and importance as a hostess) and ignores his father’s wish to spend time with him. All this to speak to a judge hours away who refused to do as Willie asked. Afterward, Willie orders Jack to dig up some “dirt” on the judge, no matter how long it takes and despite Jack’s previous relationship with him. I don’t think he is oblivious to the feelings of these people who are “close” to him, but I think he has lost his sense of caring about them. He does not work with them, he works on his own and orders them about. If I were to assign groups in a classroom, this is not something I would want to see my students doing. When one student takes over the work, he or she is doing everything and not letting others contribute. These others aren’t able to talk about their ideas or discuss anything, and lose interest in the project. I think this is what happened to Jack, whose idea of morality is that “what you don’t know won’t hurt you because it ain’t real” (Penn Warren, 1946, pg. 44). He just goes along with Willie, and though he seems to be thinking along the lines of what is right, he never acts on it. These examples show that values like honesty, kindness, respect, and participation are important in life, and that they do have a place in the classroom.

There is no one way to educate students for character. As I will be teaching elementary students, I hope to make it as fun and interesting as possible, with both explicit and implicit teachings to really get the point across. Explicit so that students have words to describe what they are learning, and can talk about whether or not they were respectful or committed, but also implicit so that they see that these kinds of values can be found everywhere in life, in and out of school. I read a great article on educating kids about lying in a fun way, to help them understand that “covering it up” doesn’t make the bad go away. Briefly, if you put salt on your ice cream, it makes the ice cream taste bad. But what if you cover it up with chocolate syrup? Does it taste better? (It might…I love salty sweets, but the kids probably won’t if you REALLY salt it up!) It’s a fun kind of explicit learning opportunity that you can later reference as needed. These aren’t necessarily the only or the best ways to teach kids about values and character education, however. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis argues that “without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism” (Lewis, 1944, pg. 24). I interpreted this as meaning that someone who is taught from birth that some immoral act (his example is cheating at cards) is something you don’t do is less likely to commit the immoral act than someone who grew up cheating and likes to argue about moral philosophy. It seemed as if he were arguing for training emotions rather than letting students make their own judgment calls, though this was the most difficult read for me (and I needed help from the internet to interpret some of what he was saying!) and I may not have understood it correctly. Does he favor rote memorization over experiential learning? It seemed that way, but I’m not so sure. Regardless, he certainly believes that values are important, and that if we remove all sentiments from the mind, we produce “men without chests”, or people of no will and conscience. He argues that making value judgments are an essential part of clear thinking, which I can certainly agree with.

Sources:

Penn-Warren, R. (1946). All the king’s men. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Brace & Company.

Lewis, C. S. (1944). The abolition of man. New York, NY: Harper One.

Establishing Expectations for Proactive Behavior Management

5.4 Managing Student Behavior by Establishing Expectations

Figure 1

A distinguished teacher has made clear to all students what the standards of conduct in the classroom are, and they have even developed these with the students. To me, this means that the teacher has gone over procedures, rules, and classroom expectations with the students multiple times, and has taught, rehearsed, and reinforced these. Figure 1 shows a portion of a classroom management website I created with two other partners. In the figure, I have described the elements of an effective management plan, and how to implement these. Though I have not had the opportunity to put these ideas into practice yet, this image as well as the website show that I am reflecting upon how I will implement them when I do have my own classroom. While creating this website, I had an opportunity to interact with the knowledge from the course, and put together a plan that works well for myself and my partners, something I wouldn’t have been able to do simply through reading textbooks. I have created a notebook as well with reminders and ideas for plans I would like to implement in my classroom, or test to see if they work for me. By having a plan such as the one shown, I hope to increase the effectiveness of my own teaching, and create a positive and consistent environment for students to feel comfortable and successful in. This plan does not show any evidence of students participate in the creation of the rules, and this is true, as I have not had the opportunity. In the future, I will work to create a set of classroom expectations that work well for me, but also work well for my students and that they’ve had a hand in creating.