{"id":20040,"date":"2019-06-03T13:20:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T17:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/?post_type=learninglabposts&p=20040"},"modified":"2019-11-15T07:04:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T11:04:03","slug":"what-does-integrated-studies-look-like-at-flood-brook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/what-does-integrated-studies-look-like-at-flood-brook\/","title":{"rendered":"What does integrated studies look like at Flood Brook?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At Flood Brook School, middle level teachers believe in an integrated approach to curriculum delivery. <\/b>Four years into implementing an integrated (science & social studies), multiage (grades 6-8) approach towards units of study, Charlie Herzog responded to student concerns with a focused inquiry cycle asking this important question: <\/span>How might student attitudes towards integrated units of study shift with increased personalization and when projects are moved to the front of the learning experience? <\/span><\/i>The following chronicle\u2019s Charlie\u2019s year-long experimentation with adjusting his team\u2019s approach to increase student engagement:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, personalization is about giving students as much agency in their learning as possible.\u201d<\/b><\/h4>\n

–Susan Hennessey & Bill Rich<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Flood Brook School, in Londonderry, Vermont is a K-8 school; we currently have 82 students in our grades 6-8 middle school. I teach sixth-grade language arts in the morning, and integrated science\/social studies during the afternoons.Students rotate through three integrated units of study throughout the year. Integrated studies are scheduled four afternoons per week. Each class is 90-minutes long. <\/span><\/p>\n

Six classroom teachers and a Library\/Media Specialist comprise the middle school teaching team. Classroom teachers have divided into partnerships, each responsible for writing one, integrated, project-based unit of study. Each unit runs from 6-8 weeks. Students cycle among the three units over the course of the year. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is our first year employing this \u201cdivide & conquer\u201d approach. During the prior three years, the entire team collaboratively wrote nine, integrated units. <\/span><\/p>\n

The typical unit plan structure looked like the following. <\/span><\/p>\n

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  • Students rotating among teachers for 3-4 weeks. Each teacher providing a particular science or social studies content focus along the way. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Content delivery varied from the \u201cSage On the State\u201d approach to more student inquiry driven. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • An impressive but possibly problematic amount of Cornell note-taking. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Student projects as the culminating experience of every unit. Typically, the following have always been a feature of the logistics involved in planning culminating projects.<\/span>\n
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    • Groups of three or larger must be multiage. Students form their own groups and partnerships.<\/li>\n
    • Partnerships may or may not be multiage.<\/li>\n
    • Students have been given limited choice regarding what form of a project to design.<\/li>\n
    • Students have been given limited choice regarding the content focus for their projects.<\/li>\n
    • A sometimes well-intentioned, but an excessive amount of graphic organizers\/checklists for students to complete during and in the process of designing and constructing projects.<\/li>\n
    • A culminating, public exhibition of learning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      What we noticed: All the prior units had the project at the back of the learning experience. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

      Restructuring to increase personalization<\/h3>\n

      After growing greatly discouraged about attitudes towards and the effectiveness of our integrated approach, I decided to take a risk, and do something Tarrant Institute coach and friend Mrs. Rachel Mark had been gently suggesting to my middle school team for some time, put the project at the front. The project should be the \u201cmain course\u201d, not the \u201cdessert\u201d. I further elaborate on my epiphany <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

      My teammate Ms. Joey Blaine and I wrote an integrated unit titled <\/span>Why should we care about human rights?<\/span><\/i><\/a> We wrote it with the intention of increased personalization and placing the project at the front of the learning experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

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      Our 2nd Integrated Studies Exhibition #floodbrook<\/a> #vted<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/lk9fGs0LmI<\/a><\/p>\n

      — Charles Herzog (@PJ_Vermont) March 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n