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Interdisciplinary Teaching

 

Breaking Down Silos and Building Connections 

ARE YOU EAGER TO BUILD an interdisciplinary course or unit, but don’t know where to start? Are you ready to try something new this school year, but need time and focus to make it happen? What might happen when you bring English and Math into the same classroom? How might teaching an integrated humanities course better emphasize skills than teaching in disciplinary silos? In this Institute, you’ll have a chance to design, build, and test interdisciplinary units, courses, and ideas. You’ll learn about pedagogical approaches to the work, explore some research on how interdisciplinary learning works, and frame your process in a “why.” Whether working with a teaching partner or on your own, you’ll have a chance to plan, create, and get feedback on your ideas for the school year ahead. 

Register Today

 

Monday

Setting the Stage

Register, get set up in your dorm room, meet the cohort for some goal-setting. Reflect on how you approach course planning and collaboration as you identify strengths, challenges, and strategies for working effectively. Then head to a cocktail hour and gourmet dinner at Pomfret's dining hall.

Tuesday

Designing with Purpose

Focus on the why and how of interdisciplinary course and unit design. Establish your goals and apply principles of backward design to start shaping your plan.

Wednesday

Building the Framework

Begin constructing your course or unit. Define what you want students to learn, experience, and achieve, and outline the steps to guide them there.

Thursday

Refining Your Plan

Continue to develop your course design and workshop your plans with the cohort, focusing on assessments, skills, and learning objectives.

 

 

Friday

Presentations and Feedback

Present your unit, course, or assessment to the group, gather feedback, and wrap up the week’s work as you prepare to move forward.

 

Meet Your Facilitators

Freya Sachs

Freya Sachs is chair of the English Department of University School of Nashville, where she teaches high school English and creative writing. She's developed and taught courses ranging from American Studies and American Literature to Advanced Creative Writing and English Seminars on Civil Discourse, Twice Told Tales, Children's Literature & Social Justice, among other topics. Her newest project is an interdisciplinary English and Math course on Storytelling with Data. She's curious about discussion as pedagogy, digital humanities, and interdisciplinary, project based learning. Her fiction reviews can be found at BookPage; her poetry can be found at Rove Poetry, Poetry Society of America, and The Rise Up Review. She holds an AB in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vanderbilt University.

 

Cindy Crenshaw

Cindy Crenshaw is the math department chair and Shmerling Chair for Excellence in Teaching at the University School of Nashville. With experience teaching all courses from Algebra I through AP Calculus and Statistics, along with creating a course in Mathematics of Sustainability, she creates student centered classroom communities that encourage multiple perspectives and collaboration. New on the horizon is creating and co-teaching Storytelling with Data — an interdisciplinary course combining English and Data Science. Employing video analysis and interdisciplinary connections, her classrooms revel in thorough hypotheses and beautiful mistakes.