Divided…they fall.

 I recently read an entry by a fellow classmate that mentioned the division of academic topics in primary and secondary education.  Chris Michaels went into a detailed discussion over this issue on his blog found here.

I wanted to mention his post because I too am perplexed as to why classroom schedules are divided by topic.  Students are given designated time periods for reading, math, science, social studies, and resource activities including art, music, pe, and computer lab.  I find it disconcerting that their time in school is sectioned by topic.  Rather than incorporating activities in the classroom that cross the disciplines, it often seems as though instructors shift from subject to subject with minimum connectivity.  Although we live in a world where math, social studies, science, and language arts are all intermingled, the structure of the school curriculums continue to divide the topics.

For the past semester I have worked with a classroom of first grade students observing and teaching a variety of math and science activities.  Because even in the School of Education, the idea of single academic topics dominates the course requirements.  Although we are encouraged to find connections with other subjects in our our lesson plans and activities, the courses remain separate.  We are required to complete twenty hours of practicum hours for each academic subject and although math and science often have similar components, overlapping time logs are discouraged.  I understand the rationale that math and science each have instructional strategies and techniques, but is it realistic to educate future teachers in only one subject matter at a time?  Even in practicum settings, School of Education students encounter classroom lessons focused on language arts and social studies when they are only taking science and math.  Perhaps a change should be made to allow college students to begin learning about all of the topics during the same semester, even if this means they will have to complete two semesters embodying the topics.

I agree with Chris that elementary school instructors should attempt to create links and connections in their lessons, but I do not know whether it is truly feasible.  Yes, science involves history, math, technology, and language arts, but are the educators and the educational structure ready to teach children in this manner.  With all of the curriculum guidelines, I do not know if it is even possible to get rid of the daily scheduled periods for each subject.  One major suggestion that Chris made and that I support is to create connections whenever, however, and wherever it is possible.  Allow students to do activities that involve more than one academic subject and create units of activities that reach beyond the typical divisions.  One example of a way that elementary school educators can incorporate language arts with math and science would be to have students read and write stories based on math/science lessons.

I highly doubt that schools will discontinue the use of daily schedules for classrooms, but I do know that as an educator I will definitely work to create interdisciplinary lessons.