C40 (Challenge): Creating Transdisciplinary Connections with Standards

​Welcome to the third transdisciplinary challenge!

​In this challenge, we are going to further examine how to make connections with our standards or guidelines by transforming them from subjects to categories. Just like our cake, we are taking random ingredients and putting them together to create something new. 

​In previous episodes, we have explored using a set of 2nd grade content standards.  We will continue to use them to build our understanding and make connections.  Here they are again as separate content areas. 
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​One of the ways to make our teaching more transdisciplinary is by looking and treating our standards differently.  We can start by taking the four columns of standards and putting them into one pile.  Remove the label of science, social studies, ELA, and math.  This is how we make our metaphorical cake. 

From the pile, we try to put the standards together in a new grouping that is driven by a category heading.  This heading will probably not reveal itself until the end, so don’t worry.  Just go with your gut instinct of what standards will go best together. Here is my sorting example. 
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​As you can see, I’ve gone from four subject areas to three groups.  This was largely driven by the connections I made between content areas. This does take a minute to do. 

Your Task

Map Content Standards: If you don’t have any standards mapped for your unit, this is the first place to start.  Then, take them and follow the steps above to re-work how they look and feel together. 

Re-Map Standards: If you have mapped your standards, consider re-working them into different categories above.  Try to break away from content areas towards more conceptual thinking.  

Post it on Twitter @thinkchat2020 or LinkedIn at Lu Gerlach.  

Remember, we create our own meaning from learning, so there is no one right answer.  Have fun with it and I can’t wait to see what you create!