Running head: CONTENT KNOWLEDGE INTERDISCIPLINARY 1

Content Knowledge in Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Kelly Smalley
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Fall 2017

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Introduction

With language arts and mathematics taking precedence in education, there is often little

time left for science and social studies. This is unfortunate; both subjects are vitally important for

understanding our world and knowing how to make it a better place. Teachers often struggle to

fit all of the content curriculum requirements into the short amount of time that they are given to

teach those subjects. The answer to this dilemma is to create an interdisciplinary curriculum.

Artifacts and Rationale for Selection

My first artifact is a language arts lesson on nonfiction text features and main idea of

nonfiction texts, which addresses Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) 3.6 (students will

demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction texts by using text features and summarizing major

points of the text). Since I was also getting ready to start a science unit on matter, addressing

science SOL 3.3 (students will investigate and understand that objects are made of materials that

can be described by their physical properties), I used nonfiction articles relating to that topic to

teach the language arts concepts. I discussed how authors of nonfiction texts use different text

features to help their readers understand what they are reading, and then I modeled how to pick

out key points to discover the main idea of a passage. The students had the opportunity to

practice this concept with my support, and then they practiced independently using a second

article. As they read the articles, they were also learning about matter.

This lesson demonstrates effective integration of content by using a language arts lesson

to help students learn about a required content topic. Although the focus of the lesson was not

matter, the students read about it, and we still discussed it while we were figuring out the main

idea of each section of the article. Ultimately, the students not only learned about nonfiction text

features and discovering the main idea, but they gained valuable information about matter, which
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helped them to build a base of knowledge on the subject. In turn, I was able to delve more deeply

into the subject during the science lesson later that day.

My second artifact is a small-group math activity on rounding and ordering numbers,

which addresses mathematics SOL 3.1 (students will round whole numbers to the nearest

hundred, ten, and thousand and compare whole numbers). This lesson incorporated history and

social science SOL 3.5.a (the students will position and label the seven continents and five

oceans to create a world map), a geography topic that the students would be learning that quarter.

The students were given a list of the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents, and they

had to put them in order from shortest to tallest as well as round their heights to the nearest

thousand. They were also given a labeled world map that had each mountain listed with a circle

next to it to write its rank according to their list of shortest to tallest mountains. During the

activity, I not only built upon the idea of ordering from least to greatest by discussing other terms

that could be used, like shortest to tallest and lowest to highest, but I also pointed out each of the

seven continents on the map and made sure that students recognized that we live on the continent

of North America.

This artifact not only demonstrates integration of content, but it also shows that effective

integration of content does not necessarily have to be done in a substantial way; students can be

introduced to content topics in small, but significant ways throughout the curriculum. This

activity was not as detailed as the lesson previously discussed, but it still helped to introduce the

seven continents to the students in a meaningful way. Through the activity, the students were

able to begin building background knowledge on what they would be learning in geography the

following week. Building this type of background knowledge before beginning a lesson on the
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topic gives students more confidence in learning the topic because they already know something

about it.

Reflection on Theory and Practices

Creating lessons and activities that are interdisciplinary in nature can have a profound

effect on a students ability to learn. Interdisciplinary instruction has become a necessity as

language arts and mathematics have taken precedence over science and social studies.

Cunningham and Allington (2007) caution that children who have not had regular science and

social studies instruction usually enter the intermediate grades with huge vocabulary deficits (p.

8). This is because science and social studies help students to increase the size and depth of

their meaning vocabularies (Cunningham and Allington, 2007, p. 8), which, in turn, helps to

grow their reading comprehension. Moreover, interdisciplinary lessons also help to build prior

knowledge for when topics are discussed in depth. Studies have shown that when students have

prior knowledge of a topic, they learn new material about that same topic more easily (Bergin

& Bergin, 2015, p. 158).

Integrating curriculum can seem like a daunting task, but it is worth the time and effort

that goes into its careful planning so that students have every opportunity to succeed. I know that

when I help my students build connections between different subjects, they will remember and

retrieve information more easily because there are more ways for their knowledge to be activated

(Bergin & Bergin, 2015, p. 159); this results in better overall academic performance. Knowing

that this benefit exists, it is up to me find ways to make the task of integrating curriculum less

dauntingone way is by collaborating with other teachers.

When teachers work together, it is much easier to find ways to connect content with

language and math objectives. My team and I will benefit from discussing how to integrate
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vocabulary across subject areas, how to find themes that cut across topics, and how to

provide opportunities for writing across the curriculum (Vansant, 2014), among other topics. I

may have ideas that my team of teachers may not have thought of, and they may have ideas that I

can use. No matter how it is accomplished, creating a curriculum that is interdisciplinary in

nature is imperative to student growth and achievement.

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References

Bergin, C. C. & Bergin, A. D. (2015). Child and adolescent development in your classroom (2nd

ed.). Stamford, CT: Cenage Learning.

Cunningham, P. M. & Allington, R. L. (2007). Classrooms that work (4th ed.). Boston, MA:

Pearson

Vansant, S. B. (2014). Integrating curriculum for meaningful learning. Association for Middle

Level Education. Retrieved from https://www.amle.org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/

WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/267/Integrating-Curriculum-for-Meaningful-

Learning.aspx
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Artifact 1: Lesson plan and sample articlelanguage arts and science

Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Kelly Smalley Date: October 3, 2017

Title of Lesson: Non-Fiction Text Features Cooperating Teacher: Beth Kelly

Core Components
Subject, Content Area, or Topic
Language Arts: Reading
Science: Matter
Student Population
19 Students
Learning Objectives
Students will recognize text features of nonfiction texts (headings, illustrations or
photographs, captions), be able to state the main idea of a non-fiction text by creating
headings, and be able to use captions to add information about pictures found in nonfiction
texts.
Students will be able to state the three states of mattersolid, liquid, gasand various
physical changes to matter.
Virginia Essential Knowledge and Skills (SOL)
ELA 3.6 The student will continue to read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction
texts. b) Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning. c) Preview and
use text features. d) Ask and answer questions about what is read. e) Draw conclusions
based on text. f) Summarize major points found in nonfiction texts. g) Identify the main idea.
h) Identify supporting details.
SCI 3.3 The student will investigate and understand that objects are made of materials that
can be described by their physical properties. Key concepts include a) objects are made of
one or more materials; b) physical properties remain the same as the material is changed in
visible size; and c) visible physical changes are identified.
VDOE Technology Standards
English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)
Materials/Resources
Science Techbook Videoaccess through Clever Portal (or use another short video
on the states of matter)
Science Techbook article (Changes to Matter from VBPS curriculum site, Grade 3
Quarter 1 Unit 1; attached)
Additional practice article on matter (Why Does Matter Matter? from VBPS
curriculum site, Grade 3 Quarter 1 Unit 1; attached)
Interactive white board
Document camera
High Yield Instructional Strategies Used (Marzano, 2001)
Check if Used Strategy Return
Identifying Similarities & Differences 45%
Summarizing & Note Taking 34%
Reinforcing Efforts & Providing Recognition 29%
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Homework & Practice 28%

Nonlinguistic Representations 27%
Cooperative Learning 23%
Setting Goals & Providing Feedback 23%
Generating & Testing Hypothesis 23%
Questions, Cues, & Advanced Organizers 22%
DOES YOUR INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT & MODELING YIELD THE POSITIVE
RETURNS YOU WANT FOR YOUR STUDENTS?
Check if Used Strategy Return
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning 95%
Practice by Doing 75%
Discussion 50%
Demonstration 30%
Audio Visual 20%
Reading 10%
Lecture 05%
Safety (if applicable)

Time
(min.) Process Components
*Anticipatory Set
5 Show techbook video
*State the Objectives (grade-level terms)
<1 Today you will be learning about some of the text features found in nonfiction
books and articles and working more on summarizing what you have read.
Since we are also starting our unit on matter, you will be working with articles
relating to that topic.
*Instructional Input or Procedure
10 TTW pass out the Changes to Matter article.
TTW read section 1 with the students.
TSW follow along as the teacher reads.
TTW stop after section one to model creating a heading by summarizing
what was read (see modeling).
After the first modeling, TTW say: Authors also include other text features in
non-fiction texts like pictures or photographs to help readers understand and
visualize the facts and details in the text. (refer to the article) In this article,
there is a glass of ice water next to the first section. What would be a good
caption to add to this picture to give more information and connect it to the
text? (example: Melting ice is turning back into water. This is a physical
change.)
TSW work with the teacher to generate a caption.
*Modeling
3 After reading, TTW do a think-aloud to retell/recall the information that was
read.
TTW use the main idea to create a heading for the section (example:
Physical Changes to Water)
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TSW record the heading on the article (use document camera to show on
interactive white board)
*Check for Understanding
n/a Check for understanding at the beginning of guided practice when students
turn and talk.
*Guided Practice
17 TTW read the second section.
After reading, TTW have students turn and talk with a partner to recall the
facts from the section and come up with a main idea.
TSW share their main idea with the class (voluntarily) and TTW facilitate a
discussion about the best heading for that section of the article.
TTW record the agree-upon heading on the board.
TSW work with their shoulder partner to create a heading for the last section
as well as create a caption for a picture relating to the section of the article
that they will draw; TTW provide support as needed.
*Independent Practice
20 TSW complete the second article Why Does Matter Matter? by adding
headings and captions as appropriate.
Assessment
n/a Observation of students working
Articles turned in at end of lesson
*Closure
5 TTW will say: Today we read an article about matter that did not have any
headings. Authors include headings in non-fiction texts to help readers
predict and categorize the facts and information in a text. We added headings
to each section after identifying the main idea. Authors also use other text
features such as pictures, graphs, and photographs to help readers
understand parts of text.
TTW ask if students have any questions about what they have just learned
Differentiation Strategies (enrichment, accommodations, remediation, or by learning style).
If students work on second article independently, call developing proficiency readers to small
group for support; if working in pairs, pair proficient readers with those developing proficiency.
Classroom Management Issues (optional)
Have video tabbed for quick access. Make sure students know where to turn in articles when
they are finished.
Lesson Critique. To be completed following the lesson. Did your students meet the objective(s)? What
part of the lesson would you change? Why? Lesson went well; need to walk around the room to
ensure students are filling in their papers; use highlighters to highlight main points (or have
students underline) so that they remember them better.

*Denotes Madeline Hunter lesson plan elements.

Intern Signature Cooperating Teacher Date

Signature
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Artifact 2: Tallest mountain activitymathematics and geography

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