Third week of class

In this week of class I read out of Interdisciplinary Inquiry on a chapter that focused on Models, Teachers Roles, and the Starting points for theme studies.

I was really struck by the different roles that teacher has when teaching an ITU course. I realize the though out my education i had different teachers employ these differnt ways of control the curriculum that was taught to us. Especially considering the behavior dynamic in the classroom. In remember one teacher in particular who, at the beginning of the year, was so strict to the class, disciplining every little minor infraction in the classroom, that the class was extremely well behaved during the first month of the school year. Come October, I remember his teaching style completely changed. In the beginning of the year he was using a Director style approach to the classroom, have the students take notes and mainly teach with a didactic method and then moving to more of a Guide method as he arranged the chairs in the classroom in a circle and had a more open discussion with a free flow of ideas coming conversations that he led.

Looking back I understand why that taecher did what he had to do. In order from him to get the class to a point in which he could be a "teacher as a guide" he needed to direct the class, basically into his submission. As a behaviorist, I find that I switch methods of "teaching" when I'm trying to get my client to inquire. Some times I have to be that director that tells him every step that he needs to make. And sometimes I need to be a "guide," letting him find out things on his own but being along side of him to lend help when he needs it. I know that this not exactly what the book is explaining as it refers to teaching in the classroom, but it helps me appropriate the techniques the book is talking about to my own vocation as of right now.

I'm also think about the difficulty of a new teacher implementing the curriculum as a guide or a mentor. It seems to me that being a "teacher as a guide" or a "teacher as a mentor" would be much easier as a seasoned teacher than a new one. Those teachers who have some years of teaching under their belts and who have more experience predicting a students level of inquiry could do a better job guiding and especially mentoring students.

My second week of class

Reading about the historical experiments in integrated curriculum helped me flesh out the concepts of reading the first chapter in my guide to developing ITUs.

While reading the introductory chapter on what are interdisciplinary thematic units, I was a bit overwhelmed with the ideas of blending subjects, learning modalities, multiple intelligences, etc., because I am not use to the idea of being the a teacher in charge of a classroom and implementing a curriculum to a group of students. So it was very helpful to read the historical experiments and in my minds eye see the techniques that I've read about in our other text. Maybe it was the years in Sunday school and hearing so many moral imperatives in the narrative form that reading the stories of how these schools used integrated curriculum when it was not widely used, I could understand these new concepts.

I also found that trying to imagine myself as one of the teachers in the six classrooms that I'm in daily, and implementing these techniques in what the class is studying at the moment. Doing this helped me understand the concepts.

Working in a high school, in a particularly low test scoring school in the district, I see the need for the curriculum taught to the students to be more "child-centered", respectively, as a way for the students to be more motivated to learn. Of the four schools profiled in the Interdisciplinary Inquiry book, three of them focused on the intellectual development of the child. And working along side the young adults in my school, I feel that preparing these students to be individual thinkers is lacking, which is a shame. Especially in today's world, in this country, where our individualism is sacred to us, to we desperately need to teach our youth to think for themselves. In my own educational life, I remember most the teachers that had me question the world around me and got me to think about things in life that I did not have an answer for and wanted to find out.

I also loved the concept of thinking that a school was it's own community, a microcosm of society. I always heard my parents growing that I should work hard in school because it would give me the tools to work hard in life. Oh how I wish I would have listened to them more intently. Nevertheless, we see this today with examples like school government which I can finally understand the value of, empowering future leaders.

Much was learned in this week of reading, about how ITUs can be implemented and the pioneering of interdisciplinary design. I'm starting to see the forest through the trees and I'm gaining a grasp of the subject.

My first week of class

I've spent most of the week just trying to familiarize myself with the wonderful world of online education. This being the first time that I have taken an online class, it was quite cumbersome trying to figure out what I needed to read and do for class this first week. I guess in my educational history I have been so use to being told exactly what to do for every assignment. Nevertheless, I'm sure I will be getting use to this new method of class soon.

I come to class as a behavior therapist at a non-public agency that works in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Not really your typical teacher that takes this course but nonetheless I'm familiar with a class setting as I am in one with a client everyday of the school year. Unfortunately in the school district that I am in and because, in my opinion, the over emphasis of standardized testing, there is very little emphasis in integrated curriculum in the classrooms.

Diving into this subject is a little scary for me. Not being a teacher and thinking about making a lesson plan regarding integrated curriculum is a bit daunting. Hopefully through the reading and working on projects with my classmates will give me the tools to gain a good grasp in this subject.

In my first week of reading I found that the subject of inquiry to be quite interesting. I actually think about my autistic client, the subjects of his interest
and how he will go to the ends of the earth to find information on that subject. How he will look at articles on the internet, look for film on the subject, talk to me endlessly about it and even make drawings about the subject. If only I had his fervor for my academic studies. In the chapter on inquiry I also found great interest in the idea of the Habits of the Mind. I see these products of inquiry in the way that I think and how my mind goes from one process to another.

I found it refreshing that much of the ways that I try and help my client inquire about different subjects, I found in Dewey's, Bloom's, and Taba's philosophy for learning. Though with my client, I have to deal with his frustration and communication barriers, we step through each thought process to form ideas and more questions that will help him learn and realize more of the world around him.

I felt this reading was good starting point into this subject and look forward to build on this foundation that has been laid.