Supporting Student Comprehension Through Cross-Curricular Alignment

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program title: Principles of Teaching

  Course title: Foundations of curriculum and instruction

  Course number: 8909030

  Career Cluster: Education and training

  CIP number: 0713129900

  Course type: High school career preparatory program

  CTE Standards:

  • CTE-EDU.912.8909030.11.1 Make relevant content connections between disciplines (cross-curricular lesson plans; integrated arts, etc.).
  • CTE-EDU.912.8909030.3.2 Combine critical thinking and team-building skills to address problems.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Which War?” See CPALMS resource ID# # 215395.

• Career Connection

  
  

  The lesson promotes career readiness by encouraging professional deliberation, where students practice real-world planning, teamwork, negotiation, and communication. Students increase their understanding of preparing long-range planning and mapping that accurately integrates a multitude of elements.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Plan a pacing guide of cross-curricular lessons that correlate the Social Studies and English Language Arts standards for grade 4.
  • Justify choices made to create their pacing guide (book choice, lesson activities, etc.).
  • Collaborate with colleagues to address problems in learning.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with:

  • pacing guides that are utilized in school districts for conformity and continuity across schools.
  • age appropriate learning activities for grade 4.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How do cross curricular lessons impact student learning?
  • What are some challenges and benefits of designing cross-curricular learning opportunities?
  • How can teachers work together to identify and solve issues in their classrooms?
  • What factors should be considered when developing a pacing guide?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. To introduce the lesson, put students in groups of 3 - 4. Provide each group with a copy of the Timeline Cards (see attachments and Teacher Notes). Allow teams no more than a few minutes to try to put the cards in correct chronological order.
  2. After groups have solidified their order, reveal the correct order: Boston Tea Party, signing of the Declaration of Independence, Gold Rush, American Civil War, World War I, and Buzz Aldrin walks on the moon.
  3. Discuss the difficulty of this activity and how the students likely felt about understanding the order of these events when they were 9-10 years old.
  4. Pass out copies of the case study “Which War?” See CPALMS resource ID# 215395. Allow students time to read the case study independently. Encourage students to markup the case study, highlighting important information and any relevant terms.
  5. Faciliate a whole group discussion to assess student comprehension of the case study. If needed, the following questions can be used to guide discussion:
     • What issues are the students experiencing in the case study?
     • Why do you think it’s important for the students to understand the timeline of historical events, in reference to their reading ability?
     • Why do you think it’s important for the students to understand basic geographical locations of countries and various states throughout history in the United States?
     • What do you think Ms. Williams and her teammates could do to help solve the issue?
     • How might cross-curricular learning experiences support student learning?
  6. Put students in groups of 4-5 to model the teachers on the team from the case study. Explain to students they will collaborate and develop a pacing guide that aligns the Social Studies text with the Florida reading list for grade 4.
     • Pass out copies of the Florida Reading List, Social Studies Table of Contents, and Aligning Reading and Social Studies Graphic Organizer (see attachments). Each student should have their own copy to reference as they collaborate with their team.
  7. Model for students how to align one of the Florida reading list books with a section of social studies by writing on the graphic organizer:

     Social Studies Unit and Lesson	Book
     Unit 3 Lesson 3: Pioneers	Little house on the prairie

     Explain that you have chosen this text to read during the instruction from Unit 3 Lesson 3 because the characters in Little House on the Prairie are pioneers who are traveling out west for more land a new life.
  8. Instruct students to work in their teams to select an appropriate text from the Florida reading list to align with at least 4 sections of the Social Studies text using their graphic organizer.
  9. One teams have completed the assignment, each team can present their alignment ideas and discuss why they chose the specific books they did for the various social studies topics.
     • After all teams have presented, ask students/teams if there are any changes they would make to their alignment, based on what others have shared.
     • Ask students to elaborate on why they think it is important for teachers to be able to make cross-curricular alignment decisions in their classrooms. Discuss what other topics they believe should be better aligned.
  10. To close the lesson, have students provide an individual written response to finish the sentence: “It is important for curriculum to be aligned in an elementary classroom because….”

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Multiple copies of the Timeline Cards should be printed and cut out before implementing this lesson so that there are enough for student groups.
  • If time permits, a closing discussion can be used in place of the individual written response. Students can discuss the following questions:
    • How could you incorporate what we learned today about working with your team in your career as an educator?
    • Why do you think it's valuable to be able to collaborate with your colleagues in education?