Enhance the curriculum and increase test scores by using an integrated approach to lesson planning. This type of learning lets teachers deepen the content level used to differentiate the lessons for various levels of learning and provides an avenue for the pupil to apply their own slant to the work.  It provides flexibility to the curriculum, gives teachers a chance to work with others outside their area of expertise, and builds teamwork.

In some ways, creating an integrated curriculum also includes turning your classroom into a constructivist one. This method differs from the regular classroom in that the teacher acts more as a facilitator than a leader.  I use this method because it promotes critical thinking and independence.  The students are encouraged to develop skills such as reflective thinking and problem solving while acquiring new knowledge.  I call my method, “I am not a Salt Lick,” because it stresses the importance of learning by doing, correcting mistakes without being told, and self-reliance. It also frees up time for me to work with students who have specific needs.

Four Elements

A tremendous number of web sites profess to tell teachers how to integrate curriculum, but the fact is you simply use four considerations to create a stellar lesson.  First, make sure you understand that good integrated lessons take much more time than a handout, read-the-chapter plan or lesson you can buy.  Once a good integrated lesson is written and fine-tuned, it is a showpiece, and new wrinkles can be added to expand it to meet weaknesses on standardized tests or for specific student differences.

Secondly, the teacher must draw upon a vast body of knowledge – either formal education or life experience.  A teacher who grew up on a farm or whose parent was an attorney can bring a variety of important and useful ideas to integrate learning. New teachers can supplement their body of knowledge by using quality web sites such as the ones below with more specific ones listed in Reach Every Child Feature Archive.

Third, before starting, decide what resources are available and whether the lessons should be completed by a group or individual.  I prefer group work as it brings together different ideas and teaches students cooperation and compromise.  Be warned the composition of the group must be controlled, and assessment of the product should reflect on both the product and the effort each individual made.  I recommend a time sheet on which each student writes what he or she did daily and places it in the group file. 

Going Beyond

Finally, take a look at what you want the student to learn.  Too often integrated lessons become ends in themselves and not a means to an end.  If you are going to integrate art into a history lesson, what materials do you have that would add the needed depth? 

A good unit should provide access to future studies and relate to the standards.  For example, a unit on horses can be used to integrate science, reading, literature, art, history and music.  But how will the student use that information in his or her next learning activity?  It is vital the teacher create a grading rubric that accepts a variety of innovative solutions to the problem or project and goes beyond merely photos, PowerPoint presentations or reports.  It needs to include some analysis of the future and how the learning could be applied to other topics.  

Bloom’s taxonomy of higher learning activities has many examples. You can find it here: Helping your Slow-learning Child

REC resources

Learning with Themes

Lesson Plans
Large collection of lesson plans

Submit a Lesson Plan

Use Transportation to Integrate Lessons

Web Resources

Best Practices of Technology Integration in Michigan
A great list with an abundance of ideas

Curriculum Ideas
 Check out examples that stress technology, but offer some great ideas for most subject areas.  The one on turning the classroom into an art gallery is splendid.

Curriculum Integration
A basic example for elementary

How to Develop a Lesson Plan
Basic how- to-write-a-lesson-plan site

Integrated Curriculum
A good place to start with a nice table that shows the good and bad points of several types of lessons

Integration Lesson Plans
Several sample lessons – uneven quality and some dead links, but the titles alone are enough to stimulate ideas for your own plan.

PEC: Classroom Teacher/Integrated Lesson Ideas

Seeing Integration from Different Viewpoints
A vast lesson with terrific printable tables including a grading rubric