Standard 3- Knowledge of content and integrated curriculum

Standard 3: Knowledge of content and integrated curriculum

Educators should know, understand, and use the central concepts and tools of inquiry appropriate to the subject matter and age/grade levels they teach. They should be able to create meaningful learning experiences that develop children’s understanding of subject matter and increase their skills. Educators should plan integrated units of curriculum, instruction, and assessment based upon their knowledge of subject matter, curriculum goals, and developmentally appropriate practices among the families, communities, and cultures from which their children come.

Teachers must know the content and curriculum that they are teaching to children. It is important to recognize what areas teachers need to research before teaching and how they should create meaningful learning for  their children. It is important to take into account (while planning all aspects of the subject matter) how best to teach students this content. 

Knowing, understanding, and using important concepts and tools is important to teaching students. There are many tools teachers can use in order to teach children the curriculum. In my third grade classroom, we teach lessons through mini-lessons. We scaffold how to teach the content area, only after careful planning. In Teaching Elementary Science, we were given the assignment to  carefully review a section of an Investigations curriculum. We were then asked to write about what would work, what modifications we would make, and how we could teach this to a class of students (Artifact 3A: Teaching Science Paper). It is important to take time as a teacher to reflect on the curriculum and research any subject matter you are lacking in to make sure your lesson is as cohesive as possible. 

  The tools of inquiry a teacher must use to teach these subjects is limitless. Some that I have used in my practice is implementing a Readers and Writers’ Workshop model for language arts. A Readers and Writers’ Workshop model allows students to write about what they are reading along with other topics of interest. Some writing prompts are structured, such as writing about our class pet, Tubby (Artifact 3B: Tubby Entry), while others given students an opportunity to be creative, but still practice their writing skills (Artifact 3C: My Favorite Dessert). In math, tools of inquiry can be used through manipulatives. Manipulatives such as links cubes, tiles, and whiteboards can engage children in mathematics, along with meeting diverse learning styles. These are only some example of tools teachers can use to engage in with a multitude of students.    

  Meaningful learning experiences are important for children to experience. Meaningful learning can only occur when teachers teach to the entire class while meeting the needs of individual learners . It is important to build real world connections when solving math problems or learning to read. Creating these connections helps children feel a sense of ownership to their work and allows children to apply abstract thoughts (such as multiplication) to real world situations. One way that I create meaningful learning is that I frequently change word problems in math to reflect the experiences of my students’.  Even a minor change, such as replacing, ‘frogs in a pond’  with ‘students in a gym class’ can  (Artifact 3D: Lesson 4.1).   have a huge impact on a child’s learning. 

Integrating curriculum is essential to teaching students all that they need to know. It can be as simple as having students think of the importance of punctuation marks during math in a word problem to help understand where the question is, or something more long term such as assigning a project that meets the needs of Social Studies, but also has a strong ELA component by writing and reading about the selected topic. In Integrating & Differentiated Instruction, Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) discuss how there is “too much content to teach given the available time” (p.24). This is why it is so crucial to integrate curriculum. My students completed a heritage culture project where they reported what countries their ancestors were from and a bit about that culture. Students had to look into geography and discuss culture which is directly taken from the Social Studies curriculum, but they were also expected to write descriptive paragraphs about their culture and heritage. Integrating these two subjects allowed students to see how subject matter can overlap in natural ways. Families were also included in the project to help their child learn more about their culture and heritage (Artifact 3E: Culture and Heritage Project Example). It is essential to allow parents to be part of their child’s learning process in order to promote learning across the two  contexts. We invited parents to come in for a Culture and Heritage celebration that highlighted the children’s work, while also introducing families to one another and building a stronger community. Knowing content and how to integrate curriculum is necessary in the world of teaching.  Parkerson & Parkerson (2008) in The American Teacher, discuss the important of integrating curriculum because it “attempts to unite all the subjects under one theme or topic” (p.166). They  also address other types of curriculum that teachers should take into account when beginning their teaching career. Teachers do not have enough time in the day to teach each subject separately, but with the appropriate content knowledge can seamlessly integrate curriculum. It is important to recognize that each subject should be emphasized to the students and teachers who know how to expand that content into meaningful learning can teach children how to make connections and take ownership of their learning.  

References

Parkerson D.H, Parkerson, J.A. (2008). American Teacher: Foundations of education. 

Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group. New York. 

 Tomlinson C.A., McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating & differentiated instruction understanding by design: connecting content to kids. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, VA.