Veronica Malloy

Return to: ETAP 623 Fall 2017 | Blended Learning

About Me

I am a graduate student at the University of Albany in the Curriculum Design and Instructional Technology Program. I am a public school teacher in New York and I teach 3rd and 4th grade in a multi-aged classroom. I am certified in 1-6 general and special ed. One day I hope to work as a specialist for a district helping classroom teachers and grade levels to revamp their curriculum and instruction based on research and evidence-based practices. I currently teach in a program that has its roots in Montessori or Waldorf models. Our four cornerstones are:

• Multi-aged Classrooms
• Parent Involvement
• Integrated Curriculum
• Nature Appreciation

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My Topic and Purpose

The topic of this course is integrated curriculum.

Teaching using an integrated curriculum allows for:

• deeper understanding
• students to draw upon their strengths to support their weaker areas
• generalization of skills
• internalizing skills/ retention of knowledge
• student-focused learning

Teaching all subjects in a way that draws upon the rest allows for a deep and memorable understanding that students can apply outside of single scenarios because the skills were not taught in isolation.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course participants will:

• identify examples of integrated curriculum. (Verbal and Intellectual Skill)
• identify reasons why integrated curricula leads to higher-level learning (Verbal and Intellectual Skill)
• identify definitions and examples of integrated curriculum. (Verbal and Intellectual Skill)
• apply their knowledge of integration to non-integrated curricula to create integrated units. (Intellectual and Cognitive Strategy)
• develop project-based assessments. (Verbal and Intellectual Skill)
• choose to teach using an integrated curricula. (Attitude)

NEEDS ASSESSMENT

1. Instructional problem: The need for professional development programs for elementary school teachers who may not have the knowledge, information or skills on how to integrate curriculum to deepen and enhance learning.

2. The nature of what is to be learned: Lerners will gain the knowledge of how to integrate their curricula to create completely integrated units of study.

3. About the learners: Mini-course participants are elementary school teachers that work in various districts and job capacities. Participants are familiar with the Common Core Standards and New York State (EngageNY) standards. The participants have taught at least one or two Lucy Calkins units of study through readers or writers workshop. The participants are both intrinsically and externally motivated and will be actively creating their own units to use.

4. Instructional content: Every unit will follow the same layout. Units will begin with an overview of the learning objectives (target outcomes), followed by the topics to be learned in the form of a text based instruction or a video. The units will have models and activities for the participants to complete as part of scaffolding their way though integrating a unit and understanding why integrated curriculum is best. The participants will be posting pieces of their integrated units throughout the mini-course to show understanding and serve as peer-models. Units will also contain scholarly articles and internet resources relevant to the topics. Each unit ends with a curriculum-based assignment, i.e. align your reading and writing topics for the year finding cross-cutting concepts. Upon completion of all units, participants will submit their integrated units for use as evidence of learning and complete a survey to reflect on the quality of instruction.

The mini-course has its roots in constructivism with the focus on "learner-centered activities, experiential learning theory, situated learning, learning as a social process whereby the learner constructs new concepts based on current knowledge, activities are designed around authentic tasks, and modeling concepts" (Anne Stalnecker).

5. Explore instructional problem/solution:

The instructional problem was that not all elementary school teachers are aware of, trained in, or using integrated curricula. This is an instructional problem because when students are taught using an integrated curricula they learn more, they assimilate and accommodate more into their schemas which allows for retention, they can draw upon their strong subjects or abilities to support them in their weaker areas and it allows for more project-based and student-led learning.

6. Generate goals:

The goals for this course will be to teach about integrated curricula, and then show models of how to integrate already existent curial into units of study while the participants use the information and model to create their own integrated units.

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Performance-Based Objectives

• Given research-based evidence on teaching using integrated curricula, participants will list at least 3 reasons why integrated units lead to higher-level learning.
• Given the teacher-model and explanation of choosing a science or social studies topic to drive an integrated unit, students will chose a science of social studies topic from their grade-level curricula to use in their unit of study.
• Given teacher-models and explanations of how to integrate science and social studies standards, students will chose the science and social studies curricula units or standards and align them into their unit.
• Given teacher-models and explanations of how to integrate reading and writing standards, students will chose their Lucy Calkins reading and writing units to match their science and social studies curricula.
• Given models and explanations of examples/scenarios, students will be able to integrate at least 3 math standards into their existing units of study.
• Given all subjects aligned with standards and a list of performance tasks/projects, students will choose/create a project-based or performance based assessment for each subject.

Task Analysis

Elaborate and analyze the objectives to identify more specific enabling and supporting objectives.

Curriculum Map

Map out the sequence of learning units and activities to achieve the defined objectives.