Connecting the Dots for Learning

1. Connecting the Dots for Learning A Conversation on Connecting Subject Areas to Make Learning Relevant and Meaningful

2. What subject areas are Involved in this Hershey Kiss? • Analyze what subjects had to be used to get this Kiss here today. • Were the subjects used in isolation to produce the Kiss? • Did the people producing the Kiss connect their learning or use it by subject area?

3. Why is it important to connect subjects: How the Brain Works • The brain continuously scans the world to make sense of everything it takes in. It doesn’t sort by subject areas. • It looks for relevance, connections and meaning of information as a whole. • Information without meaning diminishes by 60% in about three days.

4. Let’s talk about your work --- • Why do students come to GED Option? What are they looking for? • How do you think they learn best? • What do they want to do when they get in your class?

5. The Challenges • Moving students beyond studying for the test! • Getting them to make their own connections to their learning. • Striving to get students to work in groups to enhance the connections.

6. Relate how you teach to how the brain works - • Relevance – How does it connect for your students? Get students to identify how they will use the knowledge. • Emotion – How does it make them feel? • Connection – Does new information connect to and expand what they already know?

7. How do you build Relevance? • Change from teaching separate subject areas to integrating multiple areas in one project. • Set up lessons so they relate to real world situations including working in small groups. • Leave the “sage on the stage” role and become the one who asks questions.

8. How do you use Emotion? • Put the students in charge of their learning. • Plan lessons around hopes and dreams. • Let students identify the connection of learning to what they need for their hopes and dreams, their futures.

9. How do you make Connections? • Incorporate various subject areas in the project or problem used in the lesson. • Build lessons around “life” situations where they have to use their old and new knowledge to solve workplace problems/issues. • Design lessons so students work in groups – that’s the way it’s done in the most workplaces!

10. What would our world look like if it weren’t integrated? • Take that piece of candy: • A bit of cocoa • Some fat • A pile of salt • Could we mix it together and have something as good as a Hershey’s Kiss?

11. Where Do You Start? • Plan learning experiences to combine multiple subject areas at one time. • Group students for work to set up an environment that matches most work places. • Move expectations for students to the analysis and synthesis levels of difficulty.

12. Have students work together to review each others work, make revisions and changes based on their shared work. • Reflection on our work is powerful. • Pose learning situations that make students utilize critical thinking and processing skills (required in high performing workplaces).

13. Prepare for open-ended responses in all areas including math. • Find problems in the workplace or community that can be posed to students for solutions utilizing numerous subject areas.

14. Let’s Start the Thinking ~ • In groups of 5, work as a team to prepare an integrated project. • Count off by fives 1 = Math 2 = Science 3 = Social Studies 4 = Language Arts 5 = Reading

15. Brainstorm an integrated project where all 5 subject areas are included. • Share with the group so we can gather quick ideas of integrated projects…..

16. Parting Thoughts • Be open minded, it will take some time to being the person with the questions rather than the answers. • Anchor learning in diverse contexts. • Plan projects that require students to use prior knowledge along with new knowledge.