Curriculum Integration: Academic with Career and Technical Educatio n

1. Curriculum Integration:Academic with Career and Technical Education Dr. Lloyd D. Brooks The University of Memphis November 30, 2010

2. Perkins Act Mandate • National activities focus on designing and developing successfulmethods and techniquesfor providing CTE programsunder Perkins. • One of the priority areas under the Perkins Act is the integration of academic and technical education to prepare students for college and a career.

3. Major Contributions of CTE Reform • Improve academic skills to meet the demands of a complex technology-based economy. • Increasing the nation’s supply of highlyqualified workers by connecting highschool programs of study with postsecondary programs and students’ career goals. • Meet the diverse learning needs of students and motivate more students to graduate. • Broaden the definition of rigor to include the application of academic skills in a variety of contexts. • Support strategies to improve low performing high schools

4. CTE and High School Reform • Align high school programs to collegeand career readiness standards • Multiple programs of study to prepare students for college and a career • Policy framework to develop CTE and academic programs that link high school to college and a career or a blend of academic and technical studies • Assess contributions of CTE to improving academic and technical achievement • Prepare CTE instructors to teach academic skills through authentic problems, projects, and activities

5. What is an integrated curriculum? Making Connections. . . • Instruction offered across disciplines • Relate instructional examples to real life • Learning should be knowledge-based on practicalapplications

6. Integrated Curriculum Assumptions • Integration is a strategyfor reinforcing and expanding uponcomprehensive educational programs. • The integrated messages/content add value to the subject being taught.

7. Integrated Curriculum Approach • Engage the entire faculty in developinga plan to integrateappropriate activities throughout the curriculum. • Put the resulting plan in writing and conduct periodic check-ins on the progress.

8. 21st Century Skills • Information and Media Literacy Skills • Communication skills • Critical Thinking and Systems Thinking • Problem Identification, formulation and solution • Creativity and Intellectual Curiosity • Interpersonal and Collaborative Skills • Self-direction • Accountability and Adaptability • Social Responsibility

9. Formal Definition of Integration • ...education that is organized in such a way that it cuts across subject-matter lines, bringing together various aspects of the curriculum into meaningful association to focus upon broad areas of study. It views learning and teaching in a holistic way and reflects the real world, which is interactive.

10. Learning the Whole Thing • It has been said, "If the brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't." Isolating subjects in the curriculum robs the brain of what it does best--integrate and make connections that apply to solving problems.  Knowledge of facts and skills, essential foundational ingredients in an integrated curriculum, is best learned in relationship to a WHOLE that gives purpose to the learning.

11. Ways Students Learn • It is taken for granted,apparently, that in timestudents will see for themselves how thingsfit together. Unfortunately,the reality of the situation is that they tend to learn what we teach. If we teach connectedness and integration, they learn that. If we teach separation and discontinuity, that is what they learn. To suppose otherwise would be incorrect.

12. What will students need to be successful in today’s world? • A high capacity for abstract, conceptual thinking • The ability to apply thisthinking to real worldproblems • The ability to function in an environment where communication skills are vital • The ability to work easily and well with others to resolve conflict and to work well without close supervision. • The ability to use technology effectively.

13. Student-centered learning with real-world connections • More is learned if the student perceives thecontent as relevant. • More learning is retained if the learning is acquired through discovery or doing. • Attention is selective. Information that is not selected for attention is forever lost and never learned.

14. Integrated Curriculum Research • Students taught with integrated curriculum reported that they specifically liked working in teams and indicated improvements in both attitude and work habits. • Students taught with integrated curriculum had better self-direction, higher attendance, and improved levels of homework completion.

15. Meaningful Learning Environment • Hands-On Environment • Real World Applications • What skills are needed below?

16. Integrated Learning • Single Course – Use academic content in a career and technical course • Across Departments – Select academic concepts for inclusion in career and technical course • Interdisciplinary – Team teaching and long-term projects completed in clusters

17. Instructional Strategies • Hands-On Activities • Show connection between instruction and career needs • Teacher is a manager of learning • Clear goals and objectives with clear assessment standards • Parent and community involvement in the educational program where possible

18. Integration Objectives • Integration matches how people live and work in the real world • Integration combines career and technical and academic areas to be more meaningful • Shows career and technical student why they need to know the academic content • Raises student achievement because students see the need for learning

19. Ingredients for Integration • Raise the bar and students will meet the standards • Students use academic content and skills in career and technical courses • Academic projects must involve students on work related projects • Give teachers time to plan and collaborate together

20. Typical Organizational Structure • Instructors observe in each other’s classes • Instructors share information on how each area compliments the other area • Instructors jointly participate in short and long term projects that combine academic and career and technical content • Instructors incorporate students’ career interests into course content development

21. Http://www.rcampus.com

22. Steps for Integration • Select a Unit for Integration • Determine the unit’s focus • Determine vocational and academic skills needed to complete the unit • Select a theme for the unit • Develop rubric to assess learning outcomes • Evaluate and revise the unit as needed

23. Sample Animal Study Unit • Reading stories such as Charlotte's Web, Flicka, etc. (Literature) • Writing stories about animals (Creative writing, capitalization, punctuation, etc.) • Learning about the classification of animals (Science) • Learning new words such as vertebra and invertebrate (Vocabulary) • Finding out which animals live on which continents (Geography) • Examining man's relationship with animals throughout history (History)

24. One example: Tour of the world--Africa

25. Famous African Proverbs – What do these mean in English? • A man who has bread to eat does not appreciate the severity of a famine • It takes a village to raise a child • Do not insult the crocodile until you cross the water • A big blanket encourages sleeping in the morning • A bird that is eating guinea-corn keeps quiet • A hippopotamus can be made invisible in dark water • Talking does not fill the basket in the farm

26. More African Proverbs • Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped • If you do not stand for something, you will fall for something • The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel before them • It is a bad child who does not take advice • Quarrels end, but words spoken never end • If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem

27. Comment From a Teacher • The integrated curriculum is a great gift to experienced teachers. It's like getting a new pair of lenses that make teaching a lot more exciting and help us look forward into the next century. It is helping students take control of their own learning.

28. Comment From a Student • I am learning more in this course, and I am doing better than I used to do when business and English were taught separately.

29. Ideal Classroom • Assume that you are asked to draw a picture of an ideal classroom • Think about what should be included in the classroom and the environment that should exist in the ideal classroom • Take a few minutes to provide a depiction of your ideal classroom

30. Ideal Classroom Observations • Where was the teacher located? • How were the students arranged? • What were the surroundings? • How was the furniture arranged? • Where was the classroom location? • What were students doing in the class? • What was the teacher doing in the class? • Does it match a classroom in your school?

31. Integrated Unit Components • Name for the Unit • Brief Description of the Unit • Itemized Objectives – Targeted Group • Rationale – Focus on Why • Theme – Perspectives and Boundaries • Learning Outcomes – Knowledges and Skills – Use Bloom’s Taxonomy Terms • Activity or Instructional Unit Content Materials • Evaluation and Assessment - Rubric • Technology Component • References (if any)

32. View of the Integrated Curriculum • This session is about bridging accountability measures and the need for relevancy through integrated curriculum. For me the relationship between the two is… • Please take two minutes to write your answer.

33. Approaches to Integration • Curriculum integration builds the bridge between CTE and academic Instruction

34. Integrated Curriculum Culture • Many instructors tend to think first about teaching in terms of the learning activities. • How do you think this integrated design process might change the way they thinkabout teaching?

35. Questions and Comments