Interdiscipinary Projects

I've been meaning to write this post for a while but never got around to it for one reason or the other...

While I was subbing for the aide, I noticed that the eighth grade English teachers in particular liked to do interdisciplinary projects (that is, projects that incorporate other subjects along with English). One example of this is that the students had to write an essay with the topic "If I were a climate, this is the climate I would be because..." which I thought was clever for a variety of reasons. First (and most obvious), it helped them get a more definitive understanding of their geography terms. Secondly, it's an atypical essay which required more creative thinking than most. I really enjoyed helping students write theirs.

Another example which also involves Social Studies would be their Living History Project. Students had to find a person at least 50 years older than them to interview. This not only involved history, but also journalism (and therefore, research). I left before the students presented these, but I heard they were great.

The last example deals with science. They had to pick an element from the periodic table and personify it either by dressing up like the superhero (or villain) version of the element, or portraying it on a poster. This was a good project too, though I'm still not sure how it incorporated English, which, you would think, would be necessary for an English class. However, that doesn't discredit the project's merit.

Each of these were creative and enhanced the students' ability to make connections and their critical thinking skills. I'm a big believer in holistic learning, anyway, and the above are good examples of that.

I'm not going to end the week without reverence to you know who (did you think I would?). This first article is really a letter about why the Wisconsin boycotts are important (from a Wisconsin resident.) This one, actually written by Strauss, once again exploits the evils of a certain ex-Chancellor and makes me ponder yet again how the hell she became so popular. Cannot wait to read "The Bee Eater."