Running head: INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULUM

Interdisciplinary Curriculum
Candice Milam
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2015

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Introduction
Interdisciplinary curriculum is a method of teaching that involves more than one
curricular discipline. This method helps students create connections with new learning
material making learning more meaningful. Integrated teaching also helps keep students
engaged in the content. It is our jobs as teachers to provide our students with an education
that they deserve. Students respond better when the content is meaningful and relevant.
Rationale for Selection of Artifacts
Interdisciplinary instruction is something most educators do naturally everyday in
their classrooms. In my student teaching experience I have integrated instruction once a
day. I try to link subjects together to make learning content more meaningful to my
students. The artifacts I chose for this competency include a guided reading lesson plan,
the book that the reading group read, a math lesson on coins, and a booklet called Hops
to the Shops that my first grade class filled out on coins which included rhyming.
I chose these artifacts because money was integrated into both reading and math.
During reading groups we read the book, Looking at Money, which describes each coin in
detail. After we were done reading the book I asked the students different questions about
each coin. The math booklet included rhyming which is also a concept that they have to
know in first grade. Therefore, my reading lesson included math instruction and my math
lesson included Language arts instruction.

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Reflection on Theory and Practice
Regent University has a great Interdisciplinary Studies program. It has equipped
me with skills and strategies to help me include integrated instruction throughout each
school day. Whether I am intentionally involving Language arts with a math lesson or if I
am teaching a spontaneous mini lesson on Abraham Lincoln on the Penny, I am
connecting multiple subject matters which is interdisciplinary studies. Regent has also
taught me the importance of integrating curriculum content with the teaching of skills and
thinking processes. Every lesson should incorporate various skill developments: reading,
writing, or thinking skills applied to content. I have noticed that as I have more time
instructing in the classroom it becomes more natural to include multiple subjects in one
lesson. Paula Rutherford (2008) explains, Elementary teachers are masters of this
approach [interdisciplinary curriculum] because they each teach many curricula and
naturally build bridges between what can sometimes seem like fragmented subject areas
(p. 48). Building bridges is very important in the classroom. The most important thing
about interdisciplinary instruction Regent has taught me is the focus while designing a
curriculum should be that content is relevant, standards based, and meaningful. It should
also help students connect content to real world applications. Students want to know that
they will need content outside of school. Interdisciplinary curriculum is a method that
every elementary teacher uses on a daily basis in order to help students connect with the
subject contents.
References

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Rutherford, P. (2008). Instruction for All Students (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Just ASK
Publications.