Interdisciplinary Teaching

INTERDISCIPLINARY LESSONS 7/20/2012

As an English teacher, another subject area that I find incorporates well into curriculum I've taught in the past, is Health. Last year my freshman read Fast Food Nation. Not only were they able to practice the multiple skills necessary to compile an argumentative essay, but also acquired in depth knowledge of the food industry. Many students were very affected by their discoveries in the literature, and while this made an impact on them, as we as English teachers hope that literature will do, it also encouraged many of them to take action as far as educating their families and friends on the food industry, and how to make healthier choices in their own lives. The text served with a double purpose, which is what interdisciplinary teaching aims to do. I would definitely use this text for students to write argumentative or persuasive essays (I had seen my Master teacher use it with my Freshman classes that I eventually took over as Teacher of Record in January). It seems that because this "Health" issue has a direct connection to them, they are able to make a more personal connection with the literature, and therefore care about it, and ultimately put sincere effort into their work in order to effectively communicate their formed opinions. I think what the major challenges of doing this kind of interdisciplinary lesson is that, especially depending on your population, some students may feel ashamed, angry, or helpless, as they aren't necessarily in charge of the money in their home, or buying the food. Many of them get excited and want to influence their families to make a change, and really share what they know. However, some people could see this text to be offensive. I'm not sure if this is a case where I would take the risk of that, or if there is a way to offset the risk. Perhaps encouraging students to look at counter claims to the text would help maintain objectivity. I don't have a link for this, but I know you can find the text at Barns and Noble. Barnsandnoble.com

I found a great site for interdisciplinary lessons for English Teachers. The site is: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/interdis.html and the specific one I'm looking at here can be found at: http://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/language/language_article1.html

I really like this lesson because I think part of helping students see the importance of English, and the class, is letting them see where language came from and how it has evolved. If students can see how language has evolved across multiple languages, where they all stem from and where they all branch off, then perhaps we can bring them to the idea of deconstruction (word from meaning) and how we use words to ascribe meaning to ideas (more of a Linguistics approach). I remember to have found this idea to be really fascinating myself when I was younger. This could essentially then integrate history, as we are discussing the history and evolution of language, and how specific moments and events in time have a role in that evolution. I think this lesson would be most helpful and applicable when dealing with specific key terms or academic language. It would obviously be impossible to cover every word, but certain words have roots and a history of evolution that can help students better apply meaning, and an understanding of meaning to new words. So vocabulary + linguistics+ history! As far as a challenge with teaching this, is as far as deconstruction or words and meaning, some students may find this to be an extremely abstract concept that they are not prepared to understand yet. For the history aspect, many words can sound and look similar across languages that all stem from one main language, and keeping track of the evolution may be a challenge. However, I think done with the proper organizers and examples, students can be successful. As far as incorporating history and linguistics into this type of English lesson, I think it will be critical for students to keep information in an organized layout. 

In response to Courtney Lyon's blog post on Interdisciplinary Lessons, she makes a great point that teaching American literature goes hand in hand with American History. The literature we provide students in English class in another window through which they can see varying, or multiple realities that took place at this point in history. They are able to string together multiple perspectives, through multiple texts in order to really construct their own understanding of American history, in conjunction with the facts the history text book provides them. Courtney found a video that sheds light on dealing with life post slavery. I think this is so important for students to see because we want them to make a real world connection to everything they've learned, so they need to be able to see the progression of our history, and how things have changed. Courtney wrote:

"The last link that is resourceful is “Three Generations- White and Black.”  This link interviews a white woman who was a kindergarten teacher in Georgia in the 1930’s.  She describes the relationship between her family and the employees who were descendants of slaves owned by her own ancestors.  This link provides interesting insight into the resulting relationships that form after slavery has ended and African Americans and whites interact under new circumstances.
The Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/race/"

This video could spur a really interesting writing project or critical essay. Students can link information from the past to the present in order to construct their understanding of the significance of historic events. I think this is a great example of the potential for these two disciplines' working together. With the chance that I may be teaching Junior English next year, which is American literature, I think I could definitely incorporate something like this (as well as Sasha's PPT from Tuesday). I'm thinking of Equianno, and many other slave narrative writers, as well as writings from the perspectives of whites during that time. For students to understand the past through literature, and then see how the past has evolved and now plays out in real life, would be extremely powerful in supporting them to construct their own opinions and understanding of our history.

Also looked at: Eghosa Obaiza's blog, and Allison Rayford's blog