My smart padlet by Pina Gallo Maguire https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess Made with en-us 2017-04-27 03:47:20 UTC 2017-04-27 15:54:16 UTC hello@padlet.com WHAT is it? pina_gallomaguire https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168540546 Integrated curriculum is an approach to planning. You would teach core concepts and skills by connecting multiple subject areas to a unifying theme or issue. ]]> 2017-04-27 04:09:57 UTC https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168540546 I read the monograph on "Integrated Curriculum" because I think that inquiry-based learning requires the integration of many curriculum expectations. pina_gallomaguire https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168540596 2017-04-27 04:10:42 UTC https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168540596 WHY would I teach this way? pina_gallomaguire https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168541053 There are a lot of curriculum expectations to cover & assess: literacy, numeracy, environmental education, character education, the new literacies (media, critical and technological). One way to address these multiple expectations is by integrating the curriculum. ]]> 2017-04-27 04:16:27 UTC https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168541053 WILL students see it as learning, if all the subjects are imbedded in one inquiry / theme? pina_gallomaguire https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168541808 Teachers who were part of a pilot study found: 
* student engagement 
* fewer off-task & behaviour issues
*  encouraged differentiation for 
   both high-achieving and at-risk
   students 
* excitement and commitment to a 
  topic led to work beyond  
expectations
* real-world connections & 
   relevancy of learning
* rich classroom discussions &    
   higher-order thinking skills
]]> 2017-04-27 04:23:59 UTC https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168541808 HOW do I plan an INTEGRATED INQUIRY? pina_gallomaguire https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168542622 ** get student input first & along the way!
 1. Scan the relevant Ontario Curriculum documents for recurring ideas & determine what learning is most
 important (Learning Goal)
2. Focus on curriculum expectations across the subjects for your grade.
    Organize the expectations under the following criteria:
KNOW  - ie.core concepts or Big Ideas such as systems and structures
DO - ie. 21st-century skills such as research and critical thinking
BE -ie. ethical issues in the context of self and community 
3. Choose an appropriate issue/theme/inquiry
4. Brainstorm possible activities based on curriculum expectations 
5. Create a rich assessment task for a culminating activity - challenging, relevant, involves more than one 
    subject , students will be able to demonstrate that they have met expectations and achieved the KDB,
    and allows encourages diverse ways for students to demonstrate learning (e 
6. Create two to three Big Questions & organize daily instruction around them ]]> 2017-04-27 04:33:15 UTC https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168542622 I MIGHT BE NERVOUS to try this ... how hard will it be to complete a progress report on separate skills if all the learning is embedded, and if each inquiry takes so long to complete? pina_gallomaguire https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168544466 The article stated that, "teachers found that reporting grades on summative tasks presented some challenges. However, since the curriculum was always linked to expectations, teachers could identify different subject areas within a rich assessment task and increase their use of formative assessment to prepare students for this task. A plus for teachers was that one assessment task could serve more than one subject. As one teacher said, “You can mark two or three things and get the same information as you would from marking many things.” (quoted from the monogram).
MY CONCLUSION - it seems time-consuming to backward plan with many curriculums in mind; it's open-ended so I will need to be more flexible and good at making connections; it includes a lot of social learning/ scaffolding/differentiation ... it will be a lot of work, but worth the effort in the end...maybe I will start small by integrating two curriculums first, and then add on in subsequent units as I get more comfortable with this teaching method.]]> 2017-04-27 04:54:07 UTC https://padlet.com/pina_gallomaguire/oxjucd7v1ess/wish/168544466