In education 410, we will be learning about integration and assessment. Integration, as described by ascd.org, "is about making meaningful connections between topics or skills that are usually addressed in different subject areas." Although this seems fairly easy to understand, how to approach integration can mean different things to different educators. For example, some educators think integration involves using a "small unit of study" to integrate subjects, while others push for a "fully integrated day in an entire school" (see link at bottom). I did not realize that there were degrees of integration, and I think that the idea of integrating the entire school day is very interesting and something that educators should consider looking into more. This connects directly with the North Carolina Teacher Candidate Standards (NCTCS), specifically with standard four, which states that "teachers facilitate learning for their students." By integrating subjects, educators are able to connect everything the students are learning, which will help them to see the relevancy of their learning. It will also help them remember what they are learning if they can connect their learning for multiple subjects. In my future classroom, I hope to integrate as often as possible in order to create that connection for my students. I believe that this will make them more attentive to what they are learning as well as help them to remember what they have learned.
Assessment is also very important in the field of education. Assessment is related to standard five of the NCTCS, which states that "teachers reflect on their practice." Both formative and summative assessments are majorly important for educators to use in order to make sure that students are understanding the material that is being taught. Without assessments, teachers would not know if their teaching strategies were helping students learn. In education 410, I hope to continue to learn about assessment in order to properly gain feedback from my future students.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/curriculum-handbook/425/chapters/Overview.aspx
I have never thought about the fact that there were different degrees of integration either. It really puts it into a new perspective when you think about it. But I agree, that more schools should look into the idea of integrating the entire school, as well. Assessments are also extremely important, if not for assessments how do we as teachers expect to see if our students are growing and understanding the material we are teaching or not?
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