I just wanted to quickly share something from my first day of observation that I found interesting. In the school that I was at, their English 8-9 and Social Studies 8-9 classes get combined into a class called Humanities 8 or 9. I have never heard of this before, so I was caught off guard a little. Apparently, at the school they have English and Socials for a whole year, but only every other day. So instead of having to change gears every other day, they just combine the two classes into one, although the students still get two separate grades - one for English and one for Socials. It seems I am going to be teaching a Humanities 8 class for my practicum.
At first I thought this was kind of weird; I had always thought of them as two separate subjects. The more I think about it though, the more excited I get. This gives me the opportunity to teach both the subjects that I love at the same time, and be able to work them off of each other. In effect, I can take the best from each subject. The only thing I am nervous about is the fact that I will have to incorporate two IRPs and PLOs in my lesson plans.
Any thoughts on this hybrid class?
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2 comments:
Hi Bridey,
Sounds like you had an exciting (and perhaps surprising?) first observation day! Hmm... a humanities class that actually incorporates English (literature, grammar, analytical skills) with socials studies (reading, writing, analyzing) -- what a concept!
Actually, that very same idea is also being implemented at my practicum school, albeit in a slightly less structured way. My practicum teacher has a social studies class that she "shares" with an English teacher, every other day for the whole year. They're reading "The Three Day Road" in their English class right now, and wouldn't you know it, the book is entirely relevant to socials as well! The socials teacher was able to structure a whole lesson around what the students were already reading in their English class.
This concept really seemed to work, not only for logistical reasons -- the students had already read the material, so the teacher could jump directly into discussions and activities -- but also for practical purposes. It offers crossover learning that synthesizes information and ideas, makes kids think about an issue from different perspectives, and gives them the opportunity to really dig into a subject area –- and that sounds like a recipe for engagement and understanding to me!
Good luck with the rest of your observation, Bridey. From what I can tell, you’re in for an awesome experience!
Cheers,
Trisha
This "new" approach has been a crucial and essential approach for the wise through the ages that is again all the rage in universities with their re-recognition of interdisciplinary studies.
Always the best approach is to knowing bring all knowledge and approaches to knowing and expereincing the world together in all "classes" or "courses" ...
Great Blog!Insightful comments!
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