An author-educator John Lubbock once said, “Our great mistake in education is, as it seems to me, the worship of book-learning-the confusion of instruction and education. We strain the memory instead of cultivating the mind. We ought to follow exactly the opposite course with children-to give them a wholesome variety of mental food, and endeavor to cultivate their minds with dry facts. The important thing is not so much that every child should be given the wish to learn. “
As an educator, I personally think that one way to raise the excitement of the learners is through interdisciplinary teaching. Interdisciplinary teaching is a method, or set of methods, used to teach a unit across different curricular disciplines. For example, the seventh grade Language Arts, Science and Social Studies teaches might work together to form an interdisciplinary unit on mineral resources.
The mineral resources would be the unifying idea, but the English teacher would link it to language Arts by studying mineral resources vocabulary and teaching students how to do a research report. The Science teacher might teach children about the mineral resources that exist in the ecosystem, while the Social Studies teacher might help students research the discovery of the unique minerals inherent in the community.
One of the foremost scholars of interdisciplinary teaching techniques is James Beane, who advocates for curriculum integration, which is curriculum that is collaboratively designed around important issues. It has four major components: the integration of experiences, social integration, the integration of knowledge, and integration as a curriculum design. It differs from other types of interdisciplinary teaching in that it begins with a central theme that emerges from questions or social concerns students have, without regard to subject delineations. Integrated instruction helps teachers better utilize instructional time and look deeper into subjects through a variety of content-specific lens. Another benefit of integrated instruction is that teachers can better differentiate instruction to individual student needs. Integrated instruction also allows authentic assessment. Another benefit of interdisciplinary te4aching is that students have chance to work with multiple sources of information, thus ensuring they are receiving a more inclusive perspective than they would from consulting one textbook.
An educators I take a stand to accept the challenges of 21st century- for the sake of our children. Our students and the welfare of our world. Making such a paradigm shift is not easy but I am willing for as Plato said” Do not train children to learning by force and harness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
As an educator given an appreciation of id principles I would be able to plan appropriate activities and stimulating and enriching experiences for children, and provides a basis for understanding how to encourage and support young children’s learning. Moreover my fellow educators should work to develop more the potentials of the learners and keep them and continue building other traits. Finally the rate of development is unique to each individual. Teacher refrain from comparing children.
By: Rowena M. Lisud | Principal I | Carbon Elementary School | Lamao,Limay, Bataan
