Cross curricular projects 2021

Planning Curriculum Embedded Units
with Real World Connections

Workshop Objectives:
• Why are we here? (rationale: WSDP, Y5-8 Curriculum
and Learning Review, David Leat ...)
• What are the benefits (and challenges) of inter-
disciplinary learning?
• How do we go about creating a unit of learning?
• How do we assess a unit?
• Where do we go from here .....

WSDP
Continue to adapt and improve the curriculum to provide effective
continuity of learning in our all through school.
Review curriculum mapping in light of Office 365 changes
Develop opportunities to teach and model the Learner Profile
characteristics
Ensuring there is a diversity of curriculum content
Broaden and deepen opportunities for collaborative, peer-to-peer working
that have a positive impact on practice and outcomes for students

What is a teacher in
the 21st century
and what does a
21st century
teacher need to
know?
A teacher is a person who has
made a decision to help to shape
the citizens of the future. This is a
decision that has a moral
component as well as an
occupational component. Teachers
therefore need to have a clear
understanding both individually
and collectively of their own
values, of the values which will
help to sustain a peaceful, fair and
just future for their students.
Ian Menter, Vice-President, British Educational Research Association.
Emeritus Professor of Teacher Education, University of Oxford

Curriculum
as written
Curriculum
as taught
Curriculum
as
experienced
David Leat and Ulrika 5
Teacher/
School
Values
Curriculum
Guidance
Assessment
Regime
Teacher
Repertoire
View of
students
Student
knowledge
Student
Motivation
Learning
Outcomes
good and bad
Curriculum as written, taught & experienced

Benefits & Challenges of
Inter-disciplinary Learning

Some of the
arguments for
and against
• Distracts from the normal
curriculum.
• How will we cover all our
subject content.
• Need to get them ready for
GCSEs.
• Some teachers might be out
of their comfort zone.
• Parents might not all like it.
• Time consuming trying to
arrange meetings across
departments/ contact
outside experts…
• Produce public events in which
student’s work is showcased & which
amazes, captivates, benefits or
challenges people in the local/wider
community.
• Develop sustainable partnerships
with local organisations.
• Place the school at the heart of the
community by serving that
community.
• Opportunity to collaborate with
colleagues & experts outside of the
department/school.
• Subject knowledge becomes more
powerful as it explains the world and
supports action in it, while at the
same time raises the social and
political consciousness of students.
• Develop student agency.
D. Leat, U. Thomas, A. Whelan - Planning Curriculum PBL with real world connections, 2021

Key aspects
Student agency
Authenticity – Question &
Outcome
Opportunity to go places ( cultural
capital)
Opportunity to meet different
people (social capital)

Creating
links inside
& outside
of school
Internal support - Amanda Nocera – Linkdin, Alumni….
Social media support - Families of BSB, Twitter..
Senior leadership support – half day block off timetable for a visit…virtual call for all Yr8s in
Lesson 6.
Good starting point -Think about what people, places & resources from outside of school
who might benefit from the project.
Creating a new project & developing links takes time. Can the project be sustained or
developed in future years? When you start to develop links – think carefully whether the
people/ person are the right fit? Do you feel comfortable negotiating expectations..
Remember it should not just be a one -way partnership – service learning.
Supports Career ideas.

Powerful Knowledge & Cross Curricular Projects
• What constitutes knowledge in
your subject discipline and how
can cross curricular projects help
to develop it?
Julie McGrane

Powerful
Knowledge &
Cross Curricular
Projects
• Why and when might you
need to teach knowledge
during a project to ensure
pupils can deploy it to
deepen their
understanding further?
Julie
McGrane

What does planning look like for
you?

Planning a cross curricular unit
of work with real world
connections

Planning
1. June 2020 – Global Issue -read bbc article
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-
51300515
Set up Teams meeting with Emma Adams
2. June 2020 -EA contacted the Head of Geography (
PC) & Biology (MS) & discussed the possibility with
them via Teams.
CL set up a Wakelet - staff can share resources.
EA set up a Project group in Teams –staff can easily
communicate about the project.
3.September 2020 - EA & CL contacted Amanda
(AN) our school’s Employer Engagement officer and
asked her to contact experts who could possibly be
an authentic audience for the students.
How is different to normal lesson
planning?
1. CL knew there was a lot of overlap between KS3
Geography and Biology.
You can make the process easier by looking for
common themes/overlaps that already exist
between departments.
2. We decided to start the project in October, so
that we all had time to carry out effective
planning.
Sharing ideas between departments.
3. We started contacting experts which we
wouldn’t normally do this for a new SOW.

Planning
4. September 2020 - Lunchtime meeting with MS,
PC, CL, EA & AN to discuss experts, possible links
with the English department, and more importantly
what each department would roughly cover in the
project, to ensure no overlap.
We set a date where we could share our rough
plans/ideas. We discussed the possibility of a virtual
museum so we can then share our work with an
authentic audience/educate the wider community.
We also discussed embedding a story, which the
students can relate to ( hook). Possibility of an
indigenous story?
Ideas were then shared back in separate
departmental meetings.
planning?
• Normally only Geographers would
meet to plan and wouldn’t normally
talk about overlaps/links.
• We normally like to start a course with
a hook, but wouldn’t normally be
thinking about an authentic audience
& consulting experts.

Planning
• 5. October 2020 - Calls were set with the experts,
Hadn’t managed to meet as a department. CL &
PC had to meet over lunch to put in place a rough
sequence of lessons, before calling the experts.
• CL speaks to X3 UN experts The rough Geography
plan is shared, feedback is given by the experts,
they also share resources linked to the plan and
agree to be part of an expert panel.
• PC contacts JK to set up the logistics of the expert
panel. He also suggests an Amazon day.
• EA offers support and asks us to share our plans
via a Team Chat, so each department can view &
comment.
• CL, PC, LT spend a whole PL afternoon reviewing
the plan –only manage to tackle 6 lessons. Need
more time after half term. We set up folders for
each lesson. LA & CL have agreed to add
resources to each folder / a loose plan, which
allows for teacher autonomy.
planning?
• Hard to find extra meeting times.
• Wouldn’t normally consult experts when planning a
SOW nor would we share our plans and ask for advice..
• Arranging calls isn’t always easy with the time
differences.
• Valuable getting the experts opinions on planning, &
shared new resources.
• Be prepared to give up time to arrange these meeting.
• Despite starting in June, we only started planning the
lessons in detail 2 days before the October holidays.
• Making a new project requires a lot of enthusiasm from
the department, as well as energy and time.
• It was really nice & exciting planning out a unit together
as a department. 3 heads is certainly better than one.
• I enjoyed checking out the new resources the experts
had recommended to me. I probably would never have
used/found the Ted Talk about the flying River in
Brazilian.

Highlights of the Project
Virtual Expert Panel
Included UN experts
from Brazil, Panama
& Brussels, plus
Vitor an Indigenous
Rights Researcher
The students being able to post their
own questions to the experts, which
shaped the virtual panel.
The online forum and UN debate. Both
8Le and 8Bf posted x100 posts on the
first day of their pre-conference forum
opened.
The students sharing their own
researc on Teams.
Students staying behind at the end
of online lessons to ask how they
can help.
Celebrating their work –
virtual museum for parents
& BSB Instagram

Outstanding work
The students were informed from the
beginning of the project that we would
be creating a virtual museum for
parents & that we would be sharing
the best work with the UN experts –
Authentic Audience!

Amazing Indigenous Poems /
Speeches

More Highlights – Creative work to accompany
their indigenous poems/ speeches

What did 8Le
and 8Bf say
about their
Amazon &
Ocean
Projects?

What did 8Le and
8Bf say about their
Amazon & Ocean
Projects?
What didn’t you enjoy? What do we need to
improve?
• More freedom of choice
• More & better social capital
• Worksheets
• Assessment – tests & PEEL paragraphs.
• Time consuming at times
• More cultural capital
• Teachers should collaborate more

What did 8Le and
8Bf say about their
Amazon & Ocean
Projects?
Anything else you would like to add?
• More subjects
• More whole class projects
• Enjoyment
• Only occasionally
• Project + test

How do we go about
creating a unit?

Use the “dimmer
switch” approach.
Amazon Project
Oceans Project

1. Developing your hook question

2. Launching the project
• Launching a project can take a variety of forms and can range in
complexity, but the fundamental point is that it is intended to act as an
inspirational start that will spark your students’ curiosity and desire to
learn more. The launch has several purposes:
• It sets the tone for the project
• It tries to engage all students
• It might introduce the driving question/ challenge
• It provides some initial context and subject content (students and
teachers)
• It initiates the enquiry process and generates questions which can then
be followed up with what

3. Products
Working towards the creation of a product is a fundamental part of a
project. It gives the project direction and an end point. However, as with all
aspects of your planning the product can range in complexity.
• It can be one that is easy to create in your lesson, or one that will require
the support of colleagues or external partners.
• It can be a prescribed product or one that is left open for the students to
determine i.e. where the students select what they consider to be an
appropriate product to showcase their work.
• For authenticity it is important to make this work public.
• To ensure quality of final piece you may want to co- design a marking
rubric with the students & provide opportunities for peer
assessment/feedback.

4. Showcases
• A real-world audience
• Raises the quality of the work
• Make the most of opportunities

5. Where possible
go places to
develop cultural
capital
A visit will provide your students with rich and memorable
experiences which will hopefully inspire the learning back at school
as well as broaden horizons. It will develop their cultural capital.
It can provide a ‘wow factor’ launch to your project;
It can provide some of the subject content knowledge that will be
required to complete the project;
It can provide the context for the project;
It can provide an opportunity to put into practice the learning from
the project.

6. Where
possible
meet people
and develop
social capital
• Yr8 students in my former school talked to
shipyard workers & miners about their
experiences.
• Yr9 students talked to people who had lived
through WW2 in their history lessons. In art
they worked together with their visitors to
build trenches… & in Food Technology they
produced a thank you tea party.
• Year 12 students during CAS ( Service
Learning) offered tailored IT lessons to the
visitors.
• It is may also be possible to build in links to
FE colleges, Universities and employers.

Keeping the students on track
Provide the student with a
clear project
success/assessment criteria.
Deadlines – provide these at
the start & link to success
criteria. Not just final but
weekly or fortnightly.
Project walls – tasks could
be outlined on a board and
student could sign up to task
using post its.
Visits from and or
communication with
external partner - they may
check up on their work and
provide feedback.
Subject content input –
expert lecture, workshop or
skills session at points
through the project to help
with motivation.
Throw in a curve ball –
introduce new information
half -way through.

7. Feedback &
Assessment
Ron Berger has described it: Be
Kind, Be Helpful, Be Specific
Build in lots of opportunities.
• Gallery walks with post it
notes ( WWW, EBI) .
• Work with a thought
partner/s.

Assessment & Feedback
• Regular assessment • Reflective blog - tracking skills

Create
criteria for
your
project

https://www.thomastallisschool.com/uploads/2/2/8/7/2287089/t
he_creative_habits_of_mind_assessment_wheel_final_june_2013
_colour.pdf

Could we
make our
rubrics more
personal?

Structured Inquiry
Unit Design
#InquiryMin
dset
#InquiryMin
Grade: Subject: Duration: How long will the
inquiry be?
Inquiry Cycle: This unit planner supports these phases of inquiry.
Concept/Focus of the inquiry: UnGoogleable Question:
The concept/focus of the inquiry must be evident in this question. This question will
frame the unit.
Spark Curiosities
What provocations will you use?
(images, videos, gifs, artifacts,
people, place/community,
technology). Is it a standalone
provocation or a sequence?
Which curricular objectives are
the provocations surfacing?
Identify Wonderings
What Thinking Routines will
surface student wonderings? How
will this thinking be documented,
evidenced, and curated for future
reflection? How are these
Thinking Routines scaffolding the
inquiry?
Brainstorm Questions
What equitable questioning
techniques will you use? How will
you gather evidence of student
generated questions? How will
you make these questions
visible? How can you categorize
these questions and look for
clusters, trends, and
connections?
Create Research
Pathways
What will you explore to deepen
your understanding of the
UnGoogleable Question? What
research pathways will you
utilize? How can you make this
research authentic and
contextual? How will students
document their findings? What
research skills will be used?
Competency
Development
What competencies will students
flex throughout this inquiry? How
do you plan on making these
competencies visible? How will
you coach them? How can you
encourage reflection and
documentation of the
competencies being used?
Co-Design the Learning
What can you co-design in this
inquiry? What are you doing for
your students that they should be
doing for themselves?
Assessment Intent

Concept or Theme
Values/Guiding Statements
Content – Knowledge and
Understanding
Science/DT Geography History Art PHSE
Skills Science/DT Geography History Art PHSE
Link texts
Inspirational People
Creativity
CAS (service / authentic
audience)
Coherence – links to other
year groups
Builds on… Leads to…
Context – real life
EAL pre-teaching
opportunities
EAL teachers – In class –
Vocabulary Tier 2: Tier 3:
Assessment Opportunities
Outline Process (getting
started and stepping stones).
Resources: -
BSB Primary School
Unit of Discovery
Plan

Building upon projects & the introduction of
new projects New Climate Change
Project in Year 9
Year 8 Amazon Project
Personal rubrics for both projects.
More choice over key assessment.
Changes based on student feedback.

Mitigating
risk
Make time for planning
Plan projects at a manageable level that develop PBL practice and
that of your students, thereby building confidence and theirs.
Discuss your project plan with others.
Accept that both you and your students will feel anxious as you
embark on this new way of working.
Embrace ‘going with the flow’ – flexibility is key.
Think through some of the risks.

Sources
• D. Leat, U. Thomas, A. Whelan ( 2021) - Planning Curriculum PBL with real world connections, Going places,
meeting people and doing things, https://research.ncl.ac.uk/pblgoestouniversity/
Download a copy: https://www.edge.co.uk/documents/198/PBL-guide-MediumRes_June_21.pdf
• K.Martin ( 2021) – Evolving Education:Shifting to a Learner-Centred Paradigm, IMPress Books
• G. Claxton ( 2021) – The Future of Teaching and the Myths that hold it back, Routledge
• T. Mckenzie ( 2021) Inquiry Mindset Assessment Edition: Scaffolding a Partnership for Equity and Agency in
Learning, Elevate Books Edu
• B. Lucas & E Spencer ( 2020) Zest For Learning: Developing curious learners who relish real-world challenges,
Crown House Publishing
• D. Kidd ( 2020) – A Curriculum of Hope: As rich in humility as in knowledge, Independent Thinking Press
• G. Claxton & G. Powell ( 2019) – Powering up Students: The learning power approach to high school teaching,
Crown House Publishing
• High Tech High examples of student projects https://www.hightechhigh.org/student-work/student-projects/
20/8/2018
• https://www.thomastallisschool.com/uploads/2/2/8/7/2287089/the_creative_habits_of_mind_assessment_whe
el_final_june_2013_colour.pdf

Cross curricular projects 2021

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Was ist angesagt?

Was ist angesagt? (20)

Ähnlich wie Cross curricular projects 2021

Ähnlich wie Cross curricular projects 2021 (20)

Mehr von clemaitre

Mehr von clemaitre (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Cross curricular projects 2021

Hinweis der Redaktion