1. Getting to Our Best Ideas:
Towards Transdisciplinary Curriculum
in the Middle School
Mark Silberberg
msilberberg@lrei.org - @silberbergmark
Sarah Barlow & Sara-Momii Roberts
sbarlow@lrei.org & smroberts@lrei.org

2. “What is the worst consequence of
your best idea?” - Chris Lehmann
• For the purpose of this
exercise “best” idea is moving
towards a more integrated
curriculum.
• Write down your response to
the question (anonymously or
you can sign).
• Put your card on the table
and take a card put down by
one of your colleagues.
• On the back of the card, write
a response that turns the
worst consequence into an
opportunity in support of the
"best" idea (i.e., see
obstacles as opportunities).

3. Are You Out of Sync With
Your Values?
-from Edgar Schein

4. Are You Out of Sync With
Your Values?
When all three levels are in alignment, you have
a powerful organizational culture.
“What we say is how we behave and the stuff
around us supports the cultural experience.”

5. Some espoused values
at LREI: Inquiry . . .
• a recursive questioning process
• a tool to unpack meaning
• opens us to the wonder inspired by the world around us
• an incubator for our innate ability to be curious and to seek
connections
• as structure to help us to live in the uncomfortable space
where we don't know the answer
• as vehicle for transforming culture

8. Where we want to be . . .
• More teacher conversation/co-planning
• Co-teaching interdisciplinary units
• Teaching around "affinities and passions"
• Learning with students
• Working on really rich problems.
• Seeing kids for longer blocks of time.
• More authentic; more like the real world
• Content serving problems/projects/skills
• Inquiry driving authentic learning

9. Where kids want to be . . .
• Investigating topics of personal interest
independently
• Investigating topics of personal interest in a group
with others who are interested in the same topic
• More “making" things and more connections across
classes
• More independent work time; more time for working
on projects
• A broader audience to share my work with
• Deciding what homework I need to do to improve my
learning

10. From disciplines as silos to lenses

13. our social justice
inquiry
work

14. 5th Grade:
Examine ancient civilizations through the lens
of archaeological inquiry.

15. What is civilization/culture?

16. Contemporary connection:
Social justice implications of modern
food production.

17. 6th Grade:
Exploration of Europe and Middle East
in the Middle Ages

18. Religion as lens for inquiry
Culture/civilization as dynamic process

19. Contemporary connection:
How does an understanding of historic
social justice issues inform our understanding of the
present condition?

20. 7th Grade:
Examines pre-colonial US history through
drafting of the Constitution

21. Cultures in contact:
Native Americans, Africans, Europeans
History as narrative - whose story is represented?

22. Contemporary connection:
Utopia vs.dystopia - How are the ideals expressed in the
Charters of Freedom reflected in our current American
society?

23. 8th Grade:
Exploration of Civil War though Civil Rights Era
around the theme of "Choosing to Participate."

24. Power and politics as lens for inquiry
Who has power and how is power contested?

25. Our thematic exploration of individuals who had
"chosen to participate" raised a compelling
problem for us . . .

26. We had not created a meaningful context for
students to "choose to participate"

27. A starting place . . .

28. Students learn letter writing, phone calling,
email and interview skills that they use to
identify partner organizations

29. Some of our partners . . .
• New York Immigration Coalition • Housing Works
• Mercy Corps Action Center • Invisible Children
• Geoffrey Canada, • Ishmael Beah Foundation
• Promise Academy, Harlem • “It Gets Better" Project
Children’s Zone • GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and
• UN Conference on the Straight Education Network)
Millennium Goals • The Innocence Project
• NYC Million Trees • CAPP (Child Abuse Prevention
• Patricia McCormick Program)
• SPARK • GEMS (Girls Education and
• Common Ground Mentoring Services)
• Office of Disarmament Affairs • Global Kids
at the United Nations • Food Bank of New York

30. Groups create web sites on our Elgg social
media site to document their work

31. They blog about their site visits, interviews and
their developing understanding of the issues.
Peers and partners comment on their posts.

32. They join in with and initiate actions to
support their partner organizations

33. They create PSA in their art class

34. They plan workshops to teach 5th-7th
graders about their issue for our annual
Social Justice Teach-In

35. And in the end . . .

36. Narrowing the distance between the
classroom and world beyond . . .

37. Our Obstacles and
Opportunities
• Where does the project demonstrate integration of various
disciplines?
• Where are there gaps? How can we better integrate with other
disciplines?
• Where have turned obstacles into opportunities?
• What's been tricky? What's been great? Where has this been
pushed?
• Privilege piece
• Logistics piece
• Time/Schedule piece for fieldwork and joint planning with other
teachers
• “Do the kids really care?” piece and/or what do they gain?

38. from “Unstuck”, SYP Partners

40. Getting to Our Best Ideas:
Towards Transdisciplinary Curriculum
in the Middle School
Mark Silberberg
msilberberg@lrei.org - @silberbergmark
Sarah Barlow & Sara-Momii Roberts
sbarlow@lrei.org & smroberts@lrei.org