Towards a Transdiciplinary Curriculum

Getting to Our Best Ideas:

Towards Transdisciplinary Curriculum in the Middle School

Mark Silberbergmsilberberg@lrei.org - @silberbergmark

Sarah Barlow & Sara-Momii Robertssbarlow@lrei.org & smroberts@lrei.org

• For the purpose of this exercise “best” idea is moving towards a more integrated curriculum.

• Write down your response to the question (anonymously or you can sign).

• Put your card on the table and take a card put down by one of your colleagues.

• On the back of the card, write a response that turns the worst consequence into an opportunity in support of the "best" idea (i.e., see obstacles as opportunities).

“What is the worst consequence of your best idea?” - Chris Lehmann

Are You Out of Sync With Your Values?

-from Edgar Schein

Are You Out of Sync With Your Values?

When all three levels are in alignment, you have a powerful organizational culture.

“What we say is how we behave and the stuff around us supports the cultural experience.”

Some espoused values at LREI: Inquiry . . .

• a recursive questioning process

• a tool to unpack meaning

• opens us to the wonder inspired by the world around us

• an incubator for our innate ability to be curious and to seek connections

• as structure to help us to live in the uncomfortable space where we don't know the answer

• as vehicle for transforming culture

Where we want to be . . .•More teacher conversation/co-planning

•Co-teaching interdisciplinary units

•Teaching around "affinities and passions"

•Learning with students

•Working on really rich problems.

•Seeing kids for longer blocks of time.

•More authentic; more like the real world

•Content serving problems/projects/skills

• Inquiry driving authentic learning

Where kids want to be . . .• Investigating topics of personal interest

independently• Investigating topics of personal interest in a group

with others who are interested in the same topic• More “making" things and more connections across

classes• More independent work time; more time for working

on projects• A broader audience to share my work with• Deciding what homework I need to do to improve my

learning

From disciplines as silos to lenses

5th through 8th grade context for our social justice

inquiry work

5th Grade: Examine ancient civilizations through the lens of archaeological inquiry.

What is civilization/culture?

Contemporary connection: Social justice implications of modern food production.

6th Grade:Exploration of Europe and Middle East in the Middle Ages

Religion as lens for inquiryCulture/civilization as dynamic process

Contemporary connection: How does an understanding of historic social justice issues inform our understanding of the present condition?

7th Grade:Examines pre-colonial US history through drafting of the Constitution

Cultures in contact: Native Americans, Africans, EuropeansHistory as narrative - whose story is represented?

Contemporary connection: Utopia vs.dystopia - How are the ideals expressed in the Charters of Freedom reflected in our current American society?

8th Grade: Exploration of Civil War though Civil Rights Era around the theme of "Choosing to Participate."

Power and politics as lens for inquiryWho has power and how is power contested?

Our thematic exploration of individuals who had "chosen to participate" raised a compelling problem for us . . .

We had not created a meaningful context for students to "choose to participate"

A starting place . . .

Students learn letter writing, phone calling, email and interview skills that they use to identify partner organizations

Some of our partners . . .

• New York Immigration Coalition

• Mercy Corps Action Center

• Geoffrey Canada,

• Promise Academy, Harlem Children’s Zone

• UN Conference on the Millennium Goals

• NYC Million Trees

• Patricia McCormick

• SPARK

• Common Ground

• Office of Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations

• Housing Works

• Invisible Children

• Ishmael Beah Foundation

• “It Gets Better" Project

• GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)

• The Innocence Project

• CAPP (Child Abuse Prevention Program)

• GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Services)

• Global Kids

• Food Bank of New York

Groups create web sites on our Elgg social media site to document their work

They blog about their site visits, interviews and their developing understanding of the issues. Peers and partners comment on their posts.

They join in with and initiate actions to support their partner organizations

They create PSA in their art class

They plan workshops to teach 5th-7th graders about their issue for our annual Social Justice Teach-In

And in the end . . .

Narrowing the distance between the classroom and world beyond . . .

Our Obstacles and Opportunities

• Where does the project demonstrate integration of various disciplines?

• Where are there gaps? How can we better integrate with other disciplines?

• Where have turned obstacles into opportunities?• What's been tricky? What's been great? Where has this been

pushed?• Privilege piece• Logistics piece• Time/Schedule piece for fieldwork and joint planning with other

teachers• “Do the kids really care?” piece and/or what do they gain?

from “Unstuck”, SYP Partners

Getting to Our Best Ideas:

Towards Transdisciplinary Curriculum in the Middle School

Mark Silberbergmsilberberg@lrei.org - @silberbergmark

Sarah Barlow & Sara-Momii Robertssbarlow@lrei.org & smroberts@lrei.org