Integrated Courses Change Students' Perspectives

New Tech offers a new way of learning that involves active inquiry and real-world projects. At Bloomington and Zebra New Tech High Schools, teachers are integrating literature and history courses to bring learning to life. In part three of a series of articles on integrated courses, teachers share their experiences in melding diverse coursework to engage students in learning.

Bloomington New Tech High
The American Studies course at Bloomington New Tech takes a nontraditional learning approach by combining freshman literature and American history.

“Normally students don’t take U.S. history until their junior year,” English teacher Drew Schrader said. “We would prefer that our students look at history from a U.S. perspective, then a world perspective,”

This combination of classes was chosen because it helps students gain a better perspective of history, Schrader said.

“We wanted them to come from eighth grade and start with the idea that history is more local, which is more immediate for them than world history.”

Currently, the students are working on a project for Wiley House, a local museum in Bloomington.

“They’re creating Photo Stories for the museum to provide contextual information for museum visitors. Photo Stories is a very basic presentation tool that let’s you string pictures and audio together; it’s like a documentary,” Schrader said. “They do research then write scripts around a particular topic. Then, they record a mini-documentary for the museum.”

Schrader finds that integrated courses also help students develop cross-functional skills.

“The advantage is helping them see a connection between all these subject areas. Ultimately it teaches them some critical thinking and processing skills that translate from one course to another.”

Schrader finds that integrated courses also offer some benefits to teachers. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s a great way to teach,” he said.

Zebra New Tech High School
Zebra New Tech High School in Rochester also offers an American Studies course combining American literature and history.

Tony Stesiak, a history teacher at the school, said that teachers find that this combination of classes helps students review important information and develops leadership skills.

Students are currently working on a project about the American Revolution entitled, “These Are the Times.” Their final project will include interactive timelines which will be posted online.

English teacher Dan McCarthy finds value in the way integrated courses change students’ perspectives about learning. “They see learning as not broken into different parts, but connected throughout curricula.”

Integrated courses also offer advantages to teachers. “It gives teachers permission not to put their subject matter in a box,” McCarthy said.