It is important to encourage all learners to develop multiple ways of knowing and not just those with different learning styles. According to Murdoch & Hornsby (1997), the integrated curriculum “offers students opportunities…dance, music, art, drama, language, mathematics and a range of other areas are deliberately planned to provide a multiplicity of ways in which students receive and produce ideas” (p. 10). This approach can provide meaningful learning experiences in catering for the needs of every individual. It will also promote inclusion, participation and exploration for these students. My practicum experience in the last semester has provided me with an insight to this, where students were provided with Thinkers Keys based on their inquiry project for sustainability. There were multiple activities that addressed students’ individual differences, in order to get them engaged and explore other areas. And we wanted to ensure that the students make positive gains throughout these …show more content…
It is important that schools meet the needs of the particular student body through this method. This is a “series of lessons that integrate subjects across the curriculum, such as math, reading, language, arts, social studies, science, etc., that all tie into the main theme of the unit” (John, 2015, p. 175). This approach was taken in my practicum placement, as my mentor selected texts from several reading levels that were thematically related and each relating to a common idea. Essential questions were easily created and relevant to each levelled text. Through this experience, students were more interested, engaged and it helped students understand and discover those real-world connections. As there is an increased number of EAL learners, another implementation of interdisciplinary learning would be to determine the language that children would need in order to carry out the activities. Language is very significant and for this reason “teachers need to be aware of learners’ language needs as part of this planning process” (Gibbons, 2014, p. 216). Teachers need to unpack the unit for language and have clear plan outcomes so they can refer to these when