As a drama teacher, all the artistic skills and techniques are well demonstrated and documented where as we make collaboration with the home room teachers according to a specific unit that students are inquiring into. For example, grade 5 students are inquiring into their sixth unit of inquiry.

Title: Disasters

Transdisciplinary Theme: How we organize ourselves

Central Idea: Human beings devise ways to prepare for and cope with disasters.

Lines of Inquiry:

LOI 1: Disasters [(Causation) Geography]

LOI 2: Impact of disasters on humankind and environment [(Connection) Amenities]

LOI 3: Ways to manage disasters. [(Responsibility) Population]

After going through the unit of inquiry collaboratively, we share our ideas on what concepts students will be inquiring into as a team. So for drama students were inquiring into character building techniques and how we can use drama skills and techniques to solve an existing problem. This unit was integrated with the key concept of – connection.

Therefor I can simply say that both specialist teachers such as Drama, Music, Visual arts, French. Kiswahili and ICT work collaboratively with the home teacher so as to support purposeful inquiring within the units of inquiry and to avoid isolation of subjects.

When planning for learning, all teachers collaboratively look for connections between the elements of each unit and the specialist subjects are included in the planning. This is made so as to allow students experience real and authentic connections that bridge their understanding on how learning crosses boundaries and disciplines. In each unit specialist teachers works collaboratively looking for connections so as to make integration within the specific unit of inquiry, students and parents will notice and understand when specialist subjects state that they are “integrating” with the specific unit.

I was able to integrate a unit with the grade 3 students when they were exploring a unit on ‘’How we express ourselves’’, they inquired into how people have interacted and communicated with each other using drama throughout the ages. This linked to their previous unit on communication with strong connections being made to use non-verbal communication as a means of self-expression. The lessons focused on the concepts of connection and perspective. Students were exposed to several performances over the ages, with an emphasis on content, style and how acting skills have changed over time. They worked in groups researched and came up with well-defined performances based on the evolution of drama around the world.

CENTRAL IDEA: We observe and discover ourselves to show who we are.

LINES OF INQUIRY: - We discover our similarities and differences.- We explore symbolic expressions around us.- We recognize that different groups of people have own ways of expression.

 

This is one of the most successful units in transdisciplinary teaching and learning and one of my favourites.

We integrated Dance, Visual arts, Music, Math, Science and social studies to work on the final show to be presented at the end of the school year, as a summative assessment and as part of our Arts week at school.

The students chose between different rhythms of the world a rhythm to dance. In music class they studied the nature of the rhythm and created their own musical sequence. In dance class, they rehearsed their choreography to present. In Visual arts the assumed the role of fashion and costume designers, studied the usual outfits for dances of those rhythms around the world and finally decided how their costumes should look like, including accessories and hairstyles. Science teacher was working on the concept of responsibility upcycling old clothes. In math class they worked with their own body measurements and cut the patterns and finally, in social studies we invited some grandparents, who knew how to weave, knit, embroider, or sew and they taught our students how to assemble the pattern. 

Students gave us the best show ever, feeling empowered and proud of their creations, 

As teachers, this integrated unit gave us a refreshing and collaborative experience where we were working together, all connected and communicating, mixing our learning experiences with a completely new result that all the community will never forget (as it should be, however, this experience is one those which let us meet in one place and have fun, and students feel that happiness and working flow.)

CENTRAL IDEA: We discover how our actions have environmental consequences

LINES OF INQUIRY:

- We interact physically and sensorially with the environment.

- We explore Earth's environmental conditions. 

- We change our behaviour to help the environment.

- We identify environmental conditions that affect people's wellness.

 

For this unit of inquiry home-room teachers where working on animals that are in danger of extinction and connected it with the 9 most recognisable species in the forest of our school (our school is located in the east mountains of Bogota and has a complete programme of environmental responsibility, the forest is one of our learning spaces and at the beginning of  their early years, students are connected to the forest and its meaning, to the programme and makes part of our identity)

 

This unit was very important because in Visual arts we worked in the forest for 8 weeks, identifying colours materials, textures, and possibilities of creation. We planned to see where the inquiry was going to take us and focused on the students’ interests. Somehow, colour and natural materials for creating where the beginning of a creating process full of ideas and exploration. We studied land-art and practiced materialising our ideas and responsibility for the forest and the endangered animals. At some point, I covered a visual arts class for 9^th graders and realised that they were studying land art and installation eleven years ahead and focusing in more specific aspects of the subject. 

We decided to collaborate. We found the points in which both grades met, set some ground rules, and let 3-year-old students create agreements, make decisions, and create a land artwork with 9^th graders. In the and the land art experience took place in the forest, with natural materials and inspired by our environmental purpose.