Integrated Curriculum Presentation Reflection

I think that this team did an excellent job teaching us about integrated curriculums within schools.  They began their presentation with a Kahoot that got us immediately thinking about student disengagement, boredom, and drop out rates, and then continued on to provide examples of how integrated curriculums can actually mitigate these issues within schools.  They did a great job of discerning the three different types of integrated curriculums (multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary), which was nice because I had not been previously aware of these differences.  The video they showed us of the Oregon school that has successfully implemented integrated curriculums gave us a clear vision of what these curriculums actually look like, which was really inspirational and made me want to be able to take part in something similar when I am a teacher.

The group also did a good job of not only focusing on the benefits of integrated curriculums, but also making note of the challenges that come along with it, such as finding time for sufficient teacher collaboration and team planning.  I thought that the activity in which we worked with our table to come up with ideas for a integrated curriculum “on the spot” was effective in that it gave us an idea of how crucial this planning time is and what a great experience it can be to bounce ideas off of teachers in different content areas.  The marshmallow challenge had a similar effect in that it taught us to collaborate and share ideas to reach a common goal.

One thing that the group made note of in their paper was the fact that as teachers, we should not blame boredom and disengagement on our students’ lack of interest or willpower, but should instead evaluate ourselves as educators and the methods we use to teach our students.  It is part of our job to design curriculums that will allow our students to be active participants in the learning process while ensuring that the content they are learning is meaningful to them.  Integrated curriculums provide many opportunities for teachers to keep their students engaged and eager to learn, and may even decrease the drop out rate.