Integrated Teaching

As a new teacher I wonder if there will ever be time to appropriately plan for an integrated lesson?  Working backwards in the UbD* method seems like a very time consuming process to plan a unit for teaching.  Just trying to come up with essential questions for a unit takes a lot of thinking, brainstorming, writing, critiquing, and rewriting time.  Although I think the actual process of planning an integrated unit would be very enjoyable - trying to match concepts that correlate across subjects, imagining activities to implement integrated learning, etc. -  indulging in the time it takes for planning an integrated unit as a new teacher may be unfeasible with all of the demands a new teacher faces. 

I’m also concerned about staying on track with the curriculum map for the year.  Will my students and I get so deeply involved on a loosely related subject to the integrated learning unit that we don’t cover the standards, or will we cover the material so broadly, trying to incorporate a little of this subject and a little of that subject, that we barely learn the material that will be tested?   I can see myself, “falling off the horse” on both sides of teaching integrated units.  Or I wonder will the constrains of a particular school’s curriculum mapping make it next to impossible for me to teach interdisciplinary units, as I try to stay on track teaching each day’s assignments?  

I’m also concerned about how integrated teaching will be received by the other teachers at my school.   Ideally, what I’ve seen from the UbD method, (Wiggins and McTighe, The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units”), and Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacob’s online workshop on “Interdisciplinary Learning in the Classroom”, http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/interdisciplinary/exploration.html

as well as lectures in my course at Meredith, “Teaching and Integrating Social Studies and the Arts,” I’ve seen that integrating teaching works well (maybe even best) when teachers collaborate.  Will my peers be willing to plan and teach integrated units with me?  As a new teacher what kind of input will my fellow experienced teachers allow me to have in planning? 

Overall, I am very interested and committed to trying to implement integrated teaching/learning in the classroom.  I plan on taking baby steps towards integrated planning and implementing teaching units  as a new teacher.  I also hope I’ll be undaunted in the face of any opposition that I might encounter in an integrating teaching approach in my classroom because I believe strongly in the efficacy of integrated teaching on students' learning.

A look at Integrated Studies from Edutopia

As to why integrated teaching, although documented as valid and “highly-touted in the research", is not seen that often in schools, I think the fear of not appropriately teaching the standards that will be assessed by formalized testing is probably the number one reason.  By spending time on subjects that will not be assessed by high-stakes testing through integrating teaching, i.e. social studies, teachers and administrators may feel that time is wasted or lost on those subjects, instead of devoting time teaching and learning the subjects that will be tested.  Second, I think role models for integrating teaching are important for teachers to feel comfortable with this method, especially when they need a mentor to confer with about concerns and ideas for implementation, or are using UbD and integrating teaching approaches for the first time.  If there were more teachers in the field using integrating teaching, teachers who had some hesitation might give it a try if they knew they had other teachers to guide them.  And third, I think the history of interdisciplinary or integrated teaching has gone through so many upheavals - from being seen positively in the 60’s, to being seen as a threat in the 70’s to standardized testing, to the 80’s where some educators saw interdisciplinary teaching  promoting the  extinction of discrete disciplines.  And although the reports from the Carnegie Foundation (Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21^st Century) and the National Association of Secondary School Principals’ (NASSP), (Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution) (1996) made integrated teaching gain credibility in education circles, these documents were geared towards the middle school and high school level.  Integrated teaching/learning in elementary schools, which have an emphasis on skills learning seems to still be finding its place among teachers and administrators today.

I feel integrated learning allows teachers to give priority to subjects, such as social studies and the arts, not tested in standardized testing and still not take time away from teaching the tested subjects.  Integrating subjects such as social studies with reading and writing and math enhance those subjects and give meaning to students to see how those subjects are used in the real world.  Teaching about how to write a letter to a government representative, read a graph about world population or read a selection from literature about a child’s perspective in Afghanistan, allows teachers to make skill subjects have meaning for student’s lives.  Teachers shouldn’t be afraid to integrate their teaching with other subjects that will, I think,  enhance learning and create meaning for students instead of taking away valuable learning time.  Based on teaching practices of teachers I've seen in the school today, and the emphasis on teaching to the test it can seem like a difficult thing to teach using integrating teaching methods and design.  But I think when teachers see the engagement and excitement of their students in learning all subjects with integrating teaching units, they will know that real learning for life, measured by a standardized testing,  or not, is occurring.

 * UbD - Understand by Design is the backward design method used to "create curriculum units and assessments that focus on developing students' understanding of important ideas" from:
.Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2010). Understanding by design: Guide to creating high quality units. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Division