Running Head: INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULUM

INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULUM

Interdisciplinary Curriculum
Olivia Martin
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 496 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2015

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Introduction

In todays classroom, there are so many demands on a teachers time. Throughout my

time observing and student teaching, I have seen how quickly time can get away from teachers
and limit the amount of effective and meaningful instruction time available. So often, a majority
of instruction can be left out because of these time constraints. However, an educator can make
the most of their time by creating interdisciplinary curriculum. By integrating content, teachers
can be sure to hit all required information and manage time constraints while providing a rich
education for their students.
Rationale for Selection of Artifacts
In order to prove my competency in this area, I have selected several artifacts from a unit
study in 3rd Social Studies on Famous Americans. In order to present guidelines for the project, I
modeled the entire process, start to finish, on one of the lesser known, famous Americans, Cesar
Chavez. So often social studies can be pushed to the back burner of instruction, but when you
integrate that content in with language arts and writing, you provide an opportunity for students
to participate in rich and meaningful learning experience.
In this unit, students chose a famous American to research, gather information, write a
report, create a presentation and present their project to the class. The first artifact is the final
lesson plan of the unit, which dictates the students finishing their research, turning it into a report
and creating their project for presentation. As detailed in the Standards of Learning, you can see
the many objectives that this project allows the teacher to instruct on within one given
timeframe. The next artifacts are samples of student work. One is a copy of a students research
on their famous American. From this document, the student created a rough copy of their report.

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The next artifact is a copy of a students final copy of their report. Using this report, the
students created an oral presentation to give in front of the class. As a visual aid, students
created a bag of their famous American. The front had a picture that they drew of their subject
and inside they had chosen items that were related to their famous American. This bag was used
in their presentation before the class. I have included a picture of one of the students bag as my
final artifact.
Reflection on Theory and Practice
While my above artifacts show an example of integrating a big project into many content
areas, there are many simple ways that interdisciplinary instruction can be achieved. I have
learned in my 1st grade placement that integration is possible in almost every teaching
opportunity. For example, we integrate any science or social studies into our poetry or shared
readings as well as including these subject areas into our guided center time. This strategy
allows teachers to present the information multiple times throughout the day and give their
students better chances for success.
Regent University has greatly prepared me for this practice, mainly by modelling it so
well for me in my courses. In almost every content class we discussed, in depth, ways to created
interdisciplinary curriculum. Across the board, I was taught to be a successful, efficient
instructor. The best way to accomplish this is to create authentic, rich learning experiences for
my students, in big and small, everyday ways. I have learned, most of all that it does not have to
be complicated to be successful. Moreover, interdisciplinary curriculum allows teachers to
create a flow to the knowledge that they are presenting in their classes. Instead of unconnected,
disjointed lesson in forty minute brackets, this strategy allows us to teach our students that it is

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all connected. In contrast to a discipline-field based view of knowledge, interdisciplinarity does

not stress delineations but linkages (Jacobs, 1989).

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Reference

Jacobs, H. H. (1989). Interdisciplinary curriculum: Design and implimentation. Alexandria:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development .