Quote of the Week

Never say you are "just" a teacher. That's like saying Clark Kent is "just" Superman.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Math and Those “Other Subjects”…How to Collaborate Across the Curriculum, by Jennifer Wallace, Math Teacher at Mt. Juliet High School

          I will begin with a confession:  I am probably the worst person to be writing a blog article about cross-curricular ideas.  I collaborate lots…with my fellow high-school math teachers.  After all, we are passionate about “our” subject.  At our school, math and science teachers share the same floor…the top one.  There are some days that once I enter our domain, I don’t step foot in another area of the school until I exit in the afternoon.  I have limited opportunity to mingle with teachers of other subjects during the day unless the copiers on our floor are both jammed, and I have to hunt for a working copier.  So, I accepted this blog topic as a challenge to myself.  How can I become better at collaborating across the curriculum?  Perhaps someone else can learn from my (in)experience.
            First, I had to answer the question for myself:  Why should I care about cross-curricular collaboration?  I found one answer sitting right in front of me:  my students.  Surprisingly, most of them are not as passionate about the subject of mathematics as I am.  In fact, they sometimes ask pesky questions like “Why do we have to learn this?” and “When am I ever going to use this?”.  For some topics, I have my responses ready before they ask the questions.  For other topics, there are always, “It’s on the ACT” or “It will help you become a more logical thinker,” but those sound empty even as they leave my mouth.  In addition to my students, I found a second answer around me:  my colleagues.  Our principal is very good at motivating us to be team players.  We are, in fact, on the same team when it comes to educating students, so it follows that we can benefit from each other’s areas of expertise and help each other. 
            So, if cross-curricular collaboration can benefit me, my colleagues, and ultimately my students, how can I make it happen in my classroom?  Since I have already confessed to being deficient in this area, I will admit that I googled it.  If you are an elementary or middle-school teacher, let me tell you that there are loads of resources out there ready for the teaching!  For high-school math teachers, there are…some.  I found a couple of pretty neat lessons/units, but they unfortunately did not tie into the standards that I’m supposed to be teaching this year.  Some of the most exciting information I found involved schoolwide efforts with grade-level teams of teachers writing interdisciplinary units of study.  Of course, this also included giving these teachers days to plan together, as well as massive feats of common scheduling, not realistic for my current teaching situation.  HELP!  Is this impossible at the high-school level?  What advice can I give?  Here’s what I took away from my research efforts:

1.  Begin with those closest to you.  For me, that would be our science teachers, and math and science are a natural pairing.  I found that science teachers already teach a lot of math.  In fact, it’s the same math I teach!  I need to talk to these teachers to better understand how they apply mathematical concepts.  “When will you use this?  Tomorrow in chemistry class!”

2.  Get to know those “other subjects.”  How many of you have read the ELA and Social Studies standards?  Okay, me neither, but I will, because I have come to understand that it is a necessity for interdisciplinary efforts.  I may never have the opportunity to team-teach with an English teacher, but I can find ways to reinforce the standards they teach, if I know what they are, without adding to my workload.  Math journals, research projects, reading articles related to math, lives of famous mathematicians…these are just a few ways to get started.

3.  CTE!!!  This was an eye-opening suggestion for me.  I do not have to go far to find rigorous, real-life, motivating topics to incorporate in my classroom.  I just need to find out what CTE teachers are teaching as they prepare students for various careers.  We have wonderful CTE programs at our high schools in Wilson County, and they have access to additional resources we may not have as classroom teachers.

4.  Explore community resources.  I am sure I have sometimes been a pest when discussing careers with friends, family, or a new acquaintance.  A casual “What do you do?” can become a grilling session, followed by “Oh? How interesting!  What kind of training did that take?  How do you use math in your job?  What kind of math?”, etc. You get the picture.  However, I have gained a lot of insight that I can take back to my classroom so that I am ready for “When will I ever use this?”

5.  Explore digital resources.  I love not having to re-invent the wheel!  There are lots of tested and tried cross-curricular lessons out there (admittedly, more for elementary and middle school).  In fact, it can be overwhelming to sift through it all, so I would suggest beginning with a specific topic in mind.  The biggest challenge here is the time involved, so I sometimes give myself a goal of implementing one new concept per unit/month/year.


6.  Talk to other teachers!  This doesn’t just have to be at your own school.  I have learned a lot by participating in workshops and forums that involve teachers from other schools and counties.  However, I am probably going to be more likely to implement a cross-curricular effort with someone I am in contact with on a regular basis.  Try asking another teacher about what they are currently teaching.  Who knows?  It could be the beginning of a great collaboration!

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