Somehow in the past few years, education has moved away from integrating all the content areas focusing instead on teaching each subject in isolation.\u00a0 So many elementary schools that I visit have a dedicated math time followed by an ELA block, etc.\u00a0 Jr. High and High schools do the same thing, so that most children go through their days and years seeing no commonality among the areas of\u00a0 learning that we, as educators, deem important.\u00a0\u00a0 I know that this new trend is most likely due to the dependence on testing as a means of funding.\u00a0 Most states only test math and ELA, so in response to low test scores, we have to focus on teaching to the skills required for the test.\u00a0 However, by doing this, we are missing out on true learning.\u00a0 We DO need to integrate the contents that we teach, but we just need to keep a critical eye on whether they stay rigorous.\u00a0 Whereas ocean\u2019s week in the past lead to an amazing 3-D hallway display did nothing to further our children\u2019s knowledge about oceans, ecosystems, adaptation, or cause-effect.\u00a0\u00a0 If you do try to connect your four content areas (Math, Science, Social Studies, and ELA), just make sure you don\u2019t fall into creating crayola curriculum (colorful, but with no real learning attached).<\/p>\n
As a secondary teacher myself, I was fortunate to work with a team of teachers that took integrating all of the disciplines seriously.\u00a0 We worked hard to understand each others standards and made sure to design the learning to maximize interdisciplinary connections.\u00a0 Elementary teachers are lucky that they can work to connect all contents throughout the day and not have to depend on other teachers to keep the connections alive.\u00a0 Whatever teaching situation you live in, I highly encourage you to look at ways to bring the four content areas (and any more, if you can) together!\u00a0 One great way to do this is to start the year off with a coordinating theme.\u00a0 My sister (an amazing History teacher) and I designed some lessons using our book, Help Wanted at Mount Vernon<\/em><\/a>, as an anchor text.\u00a0 There is a lesson for math<\/a> in which you focus on learning the 8 mathematical practices, a lesson for ELA <\/a>where you examine the rules and norms of your school\/classroom using word choice and primary documents, a lesson for Science<\/a> in which students learn inquiry, observation, and inference skills in order to apply them to engineering, and a history lesson that teaches historical thinking skills for secondary students<\/a> and primary students<\/a>.<\/p>\n