Integration, The Skill That Binds
Michael Burgess and Joseph Cummins
Guide Entry to 85.08.01
This unit deals with the adolescent in an urban city education system. From our personal experiences teaching in New Haven and in particular at the Urban Youth Center, a high school for highly disruptive youths, we have put together a unit which deals with the learning patterns of these types of students, problems they encounter in middle and high school, and from our first hand experiences some suggestions as to alternative strategies in teaching disruptive high school students in particular and urban high school students in general. This unit presents our basic philosophy in teaching urban students and that is an integrated approach to learning. Whenever possible, we would like to show the students the connection between subjects taught in school rather than isolation of the academic disciplines.
Our lesson plans are such that they can be used in various courses rather than in just, for example, mathematics courses. Hopefully these plans can help foster the idea of learning as a unified idea rather than isolated entities.
(Recommended for Interdisciplinary classes, grades 9 through 12)
Key Words
Teaching Principles Education
