I’ve have had a thought rattling around my brain for the last few weeks so I am going to take this blogging opportunity to get it out.
In all of our content classes it is easy to see how they all relate and how you can utilize one to strengthen another. When you engage the students in a science experiment you can utilize reading and writing to research and write about what you observed and the inferences you made during the experiment. Another example would be the relationship between Science and Math. You could utilize hands on science activities to create meaning with counting, dividing and decimals. All of these things can be found in science experiments. Story problems can also help work on a student’s mathematics skills as well as their ability to read and write.
What fascinates me is utilizing these content areas for creating a curriculum that confronts prejudices, racism and bullying. In our science class we are reading Taking the Plunge by Wynne Harlen. He talks about ways in which a teacher can push a student to expand their thinking. He references things like asking them questions that make them consider different possibilities or asking them for the evidence behind their beliefs. If you take that a step further you could use science as a way of teaching students that there are different ways to believe or perceive things, much like in different cultures. If a student is being a bully or if they are being prejudice you could use the same terminology that you would use in a science experiment to help them see, without the social pressures or the pressure of the subject area, that there are different ways to view and resolve the issue.
Mathematics as well is a great resource. We have been learning about all the ways to solve problems and look at numbers. 12 can be 12 individual pieces, 6 and 6, 10 and 2, 4 and 8… It can be added and divided in different ways too. If students can grasp that there are several different ways to see numbers and how to combine and break them apart they can surely see that the components that make up a person is going to look different and break apart different as well.
Then finally, Language Arts. The topic of my MGR is the affects of multicultural literacy can affect a classroom. I love this idea. Some teachers have a science or math focus in their classrooms; I know that mine will be community. In my Social Issues in Education class I am learning about different perceptions of the purpose of education. I firmly believe in the power of education to help create better communities, less violence and better citizens. I am excited to potentially create this passion into my Capstone project for my Masters: Integrated Curriculum to Create Community. How Content Areas Can Promote Community.
Amy,
ReplyDeleteWhat an awsome idea!!! I think that we think an awful lot alike. Last semester I did a whole English Lit. lesson based on using the book "The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs" to teach about empathy. the book is written from the Wolf's perspective and how he has been so miunderstood.... He was trying to borrow a cup of sugar to make a cake for his sick grandmother, he had a cold and sneezed and that was what brought the houses down. And hey, who could refuse a free meal??? I used this story to prompt discussions about how there are two sides to every story and have you ever felt like you have been misunderstood?? Judged?? It was so much fun and well recieved by classmates. I really feel a powerful connection to the community ness of the classroom also (must be the social worker in us;). I think that you have a very powerful idea!!!!