C42 (Challenge): Transdisciplinary Learning Across the School

Welcome to the fourth transdisciplinary challenge! 

You are now able to create a dynamic cake that is rich with learning from across the school, not just your classroom. This provides a depth to the learning, because learners are able to concepts being applied in a variety of ways.  We are ready to decorate our cake to make it unique and memorable. This all begins with a conceptual central idea and lines of inquiry.

Changing the Lens

​When we are trying to make transdisciplinary connections, we often leave out the specialist (Art, PE, etc.) and support (EAL, Special Needs) teachers from the process.  Since transdisciplinary means across all disciplines, we should be incorporating everyone into the process, not just our content from the homeroom classroom perspectives. How can we do this authentically? 

If you proceed to the task and it’s difficult for you, consider going back Confession #41 for some practical ideas to jumpstart your thinking.  Our goal is to become better, but it may take more than 20 minutes. 

Your Task

​In this week’s challenge, we are going to dig deeper into your program by zooming at a single unit of inquiry.  I would choose one that your team agrees needs to be changed, so you receive less resistance when presenting proposed changes.  Thinking smarter, not harder. 

Central Idea

​Look at your central idea and answer these questions

• Is it specific to a subject area that I am teaching? 
• Is it solely driven by content standards or guidelines? 
• Is it limited in scope? 

Here is an example of a central idea that may be solely driven by your content and have limited scope, which makes it difficult for the specialist and supporting teachers to connect.

• Migration initiates change

Although this central idea has concepts, it does limit the connections to outside teachers.  How do we correct this?  Just change a few concepts and you will see a huge difference.
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• Movement can bring about challenges and opportunities

Now, the scope of the central is broader, so you are able to connect more easily.  Now, I can connect to the following: 

• PE:  Different moves in a game can change the outcome
• EAL:  Moving letters in a word creates a change in sound
• Music:  Using a variety rhythm patterns can create movement in music
• Dance:  Changes in choreography impacts the feeling of the performance
• Visual Art:  Using shapes and lighting can create movement 

There are so many more ways to connect just by making a simple switch from migration to movement.  

Lines of Inquiry

Look at your lines of inquiry, know and do part of your unit, and determine if they are equally conceptual and broad.  We will apply the same questions that we used in the central idea.

• Are they specific to a subject area that I am teaching? 
• Are they solely driven by content standards or guidelines? 
• Are they limited in scope? 

Here is an example of some lines of inquiry that may be solely driven by your content and have limited scope, which makes it difficult for the specialist and supporting teachers to connect.

• The ways social networks affect personal journeys
• How adaptation leads us to certain destinations
• How the interconnectedness of the world affects individuals

Let’s look at a more conceptual example
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• Relationships and events affect outcomes
• Adaptation creates opportunity for growth
• Interconnectedness often shapes identity

These lines of inquiry are a bit more broad, so our specialist and support teachers are able to make deeper connections to their content.  This process does take time in a quiet space with your team to make these changes, but it’s possible.

As always, feel free to post your ideas on Twitter @thinkchat2020 or Linkedin at Lu Gerlach.  I will create a video message of our challenge and you can tag your response to it. 

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!