How to Create an Integrated Classroom

Integrating school curriculum involves bringing together subject areas and teaching them in relation to one idea or theme.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Books - Integrated Curriculum
• Easels
• Post-it Notes
• Colored Ink Pens
• Colored Markers
• Easel Pads - Paper
• Spiral Notebooks

1. Identify the key curricular concepts you want your students to learn. State the learning objectives in directly measurable terms using present-tense verbs.

2. Create objectives for every concept in your thematic planning so that instruction does not stray from the original plan.

3. Develop lessons, extension activities and materials to teach your concepts. Include a range of activities such as research projects, field trips, notebooks, interviews, guest speakers, bulletin boards and, yes, textbook work.

4. Research. Each team member should do individual research on integration and should develop a sense of what integration is and how to plan for it.

5. Agree upon an approach to teaching and how to meet the academic needs of the students.

6. Discuss how to meet the criteria of the core curriculum established for the school, participation and requirements for each team teacher, as well as methods and frequency of assessing student progress.

7. Develop themes that are of high interest to your age group. General ideas such as the environment, exploration and discovery, or current events work best as topics for integrated teaching.

8. Vary instructional techniques so that students and teachers do not become bored with the instruction.

9. Revise and readdress activities to make sure they fit into the concepts and objectives you have already mapped out.

10. Develop assessment techniques that measure the mapped-out objective. Try to make sure every student masters different kinds of presentations - technological, creative, mathematical, written, oral and progressive portfolios.

11. Implement the curriculum. Meet regularly with your team members to discuss and revise problem areas and to add or delete activities as needed.

12. Use the first year of teaching as a trial period and continue to revise and use the curriculum year after year.

Tips & Warnings

• Create a time line to follow so that each teacher stays on task and the curriculum flows across subject areas.
• Use sticky notes to map out the curriculum. They are easy to move and rearrange.
• Buy trade books on teaching and creating an integrated class.
• Print out the Planning Web (see Related Sites) to help your team organize ideas.
• Be creative and keep good records.
• If students have a research paper to do in science or history, incorporate the research and writing into the language arts class.
• Develop themes as questions or projects to be researched.
• Access the related sites for more detailed ideas on integration and links to helpful sites.
• Allow ample time for planning. Integration can take several months or even years to prepare for and teach effectively.