Weave the THREADS: integrated planning framework

Weave the THREADS

“An integrated curriculum planning framework"

Topic/Theme

© Joy Kitt 2022

Click on the symbols to navigate this adaptable framework to help you create an integrated curriculum teaching and learning plan specific to you and your learners.. Print out the Planning Thinking Map , or create your own, to help you record the actions you will take for each strand of the THREADS framework. The purpose of learning for each curriculum area is: The principles of: - Hands on Learning - Philiosophy behind integration

opic / Theme

Share

Hands on

ands on

each

ngage

dapt

Adapt

Engage

ispositions

Reach

Dispositions

Planning Thinking Map

Read the research behind the Framework

hare

Engage

Topic / Theme

• Choose useful aspects of many parts of the curriculum.
• Make connections for your students between curriculums.
• Use skills and knowledge from one curriculm to better understand and explore another.

• This is an umbrella - it should be broad but with a clear focus.
• Different concepts and knowledge will be learned through explicit teaching from different curriculum areas so students can begin to discover independently.

Adapt

Hands on

• Be prepared to alter and adapt your plan - consider it always being a draft!
• Be ready to respond to the questions and interests of your students.
• Allow the learning to change direction and grow as required.

• Many studies show that learners benefit from being creative and experiencing real concepts in the real world.
• Don't worry about the mess! Worry about finding a

wide variety of ways for the students to 'do it themselves'.

Dispositions

• Learning styles, dispositions, preferences, needs and wants - we are all different! Spend some time thinking about how to enable students to work and learn in the best way for them while you support and encourage all learners as required.

Reach

Share

• All learners need to have opportunities to be pushed to extend their understandings and reach for the next step.
• Think about how you will support and encourage all your learners to achieve more than they think they can.

• Your learners need an audience for their learning so they can share what they know and become a teacher for others within and beyond the classroom.
• Can your students take social action with what they have learned, or apply it in the real world?

Hands on activities make theoretical knowledge into concrete understanding. Students can collaborate or be self-agentic, to accept challenges and create their own solutions

INVENT

DEMONSTRATE

EXPLORE

Hands on activities give students ownership of the learning and practical experiences.

UDL - all learners need to be able to choose how they learn and how they demonstrate their learning

TRY

EXPLAIN

Practical / Hands on / Real life learning opportunities

Problem based learning

Curriculum goals make practical activities purposeful.

Challenge based learning

COLLABORATE

APPLY

Social action

THREADS Principles

Integrated Planning

Curriclum Goals

The philosophy behind integration

So often we are ruled by a timetable that demands that we TEACH ONE CURIccULUM AREA AT A TIME and teach according to a timetable rather than than the needs of our learners.

When you integrate, The whole curriculum can be leveraged to ensure students gain w wide and deep understanding of the topic while applying skills within an authentic concept taking as much time as they need.

you can teach the whole class a specific skill or strategy, or you can call a group that needs support while others continue working independenlty.

By using literacy and maths to explore a concept rather than being seperate lessons means Everyone gets some freedom to learn and explore at their own pace with a teacher who has more time to support them as required.

A variety of ways to use lesson time

Practical / Hands on / Real life learning opportunities

Independence and self agency are the goals for all learners. The teacher uses their time to support learners as appropriate and enable learners to work at their own pace. Whole class, small group, and individual learning groups can all be managed

Additional reading ""Agency by design - an educator's playbook" - 2023 (Fre download)

Whole class, small group,and individual learning groups

Explicit lessons for teaching skills or knowledge

A variety of ways to use lesson time

- Choose the best way to deliver explicit learning.

A variety of ways to use lesson time

Teacher allows time to be elastic so that learners are enabled to work at their own pace.

Enable students to be able to work independently - this frees up time for the teacher to use for supporting learners as required

The tea

THREADS Principles

Curriculum goals can be met through explicit teaching and practical experiences. Students use reading and writing skills, or apply appropriate maths skills and strategies to solve problems, communicate ideas, or find information.

Carefully select particular strands of the various curricula that are relevant to the topic

Literacy skills (reading & writing) enable students to find and use information as independently as possible.

Curriculum goals

Mathematics skills, strategies and dispositions can be applied to problem solving, information gathering and analysing.

Assessments can be achieved throughout the learning via conferencing, student demonstration, or other tools.

THREADS Principles

Identify your topic or theme

Approach:

Problem Based Learning

What is the topic, question or issue you want to explore? Explore PBL - Problem Based Learning for insight into planning for big ideas and issues that culminate in social action.

To Do:

1. Brainstorm as many ideas as possible for your long term plan. Your list could be inspired by issues in the news, questions from the students, a book, a movie, a tv show, a world event or local concern. 2. Sort the ideas on your big list into groups with things in common to become pathways to follow in your plan. 3. Define a question that the students could find the answer for as a goal for their learning. 4. Identify the strands of relevant curricula your students will experience through their learning activities.

For Example: Issue - there is too much plastic in the ocean and the whales are eating it. Brainstorm: plastic packaging, junk food wrappers, landfill, whales, turtles, plastic bags, clingfilm, microplastics, ocean currents, what is plastic? how is it made? local geography - rivers, the ocean, recycling/reusing Pathways 1. plastic packaging, food wrappers, plastic bags, microplastics, clingfilm, recycling/reusing 2. geography, rivers, ocean, water cycle (Ooh that just came to me!!), microplastics 3. what is plastic? how is it made? Focus question - How can we do something about the plastic waste we have at school? OR What happens to our waste at school?

Engage the intersections between curriculum areas.

Hands on / real life / authentic learning

Approach:

How will you engage your students interest in the beginning to show them the "WHY" of the learning? How can your students do their learning in a hands-on way?

To Do:

List 3 ways you will engage your students’ interest at the beginning? - a trip to a place? - a visit by an expert or guide? - a collection of artifacts that relate to the topic? - a news article, a video, a tv show, a book? - something a student has wondered about?

List 3 things you will enable your students to do for themselves in the learning tasks: - building, designing, inventing, making, creating - investigating, experimenting, - cooking, learning life skills , gardening, keeping animals

For Example: - look everywhere for ideas - Pinterest, the library - either IRL or digital, the community, ask your students what they would like to try to do, - is there a local issue they could solve? - could this new set of skills or interests become a long term class project. eg. a garden, a recycling system

Can the students extend their reach?

Approach:

How does the planned learning relate to the students? How will they engage with it? How will it extend their understanding and motivate them to want to do more? Can they each identify learning goals to reach for?

To Do:

1.Identify ways your students can take responsibility for their learning - plan for students to have plenty of time to learn at their own pace- how will they demostrate their progress? - enable them to go in their own directions 2. Enable choices for how they find and use information - online? - books and other print materials? - how will you support those who find learning challenging to participate fully? 3. Differentiate the time and support for learners with explicit learning for all and- small group curriculum support - extension for the gifted and talented - specialist workshops for learning specific skills

The philosophy behind integration

For Example: 1. Literacy - read about the topic. This becomes prior knowledge for learners to draw on. Skills to practise - skim and scan, note taking, summarising, finding information... Maths - measuring, analysing, graphing, designing a space, calculating, comparing... 2. Discuss possibilities with students, teach them how to use the tools, find out what online tools they would like to use 3. Aim for independence and self agency for all.

Integrated Planning - THREADS Principles

Weaving the strands of the curriculum together can create more time to learn the material throughout the day, the week and the unit. Making planning decisions that recognise where curriculum areas overlap or intersect offers deep and engaging learning opportunities.

Curriclum Goals

Practical / Hands on / Real life learning opportunities

Students can explore and express curriculum goals in more than one way. eg. research, following instructions to do something practical, work together to apply their ideas to solve a problem

A variety of ways to use lesson time

Explicit teaching to whole class or small groups provides skills that can be applied by students at their own pace.

Rather than altering each activity - the teacher differentiates the amount of time available for tasks, and the level of support each learner receives.

Engage all learners by teaching effectively across more curriculum.

Content Area Purposes

What is the big picture of each curriculum area? Where and how do they overlap?

ref Mickey Kolis "Student relevance matters: Why do I need to know this stuff ? "

Approach:

What is the purpose of the learning? Are the students going to learn and practise skills that will help them lead their lives more effectively?

Science

Social Studies

Problem noticing and problem solving

The human experience

To Do:

Music

Literacy

Select specific curriculum goals that fit your topic DON'T fit your topic into the curriculum! (Try to regard Literacy and Maths as tools for learning rather than the main curriculum areas for planning.)

Expression of the human experience in words

Expression of the human experience through sound.

Expression of the human experience in different contexts

Expression of the human experience through 2D and 3D representations

New language

Art

For Example: The issue of plastic in the ocean will need - science - how is plastic made? (chemistry), ocean currents (physics, planet earth), - social studies - history of plastic, human use of resources - maths - how big is micro plastic?, area of plastic sheeting in a whale - art - make an installation with beach clean up finds

Patterns into symbols

Decision Making

PE and Health

Mathematics

Purpose of Literacy

The purpose of English Language Literacy (reading and writing) is the expression of the human experience in words. It is a two way communication that is "relationship orientated and connection based". Literacy uses symbols (letters, words, sounds) to represent something concrete. Speaking and writing need to be received by a listener or reader whose personal experiences will affect their reception of the message. Reading begins with experiences to link abstract symbols for sounds to real things. Learning experiences need to be developmentally appropriate (Kolis, p50)

Purpose of Art

The purpose of art is “expressing the human experience through 2D and 3D representations. An expression of the inner being and isn’t able to represented by words....art is, by its very nature, beyond words” (Kolis, p75). Art of different kinds calls on different strengths, and students need opportunities to expore, play, and find out what they can do.

Purpose of Mathematics

The purpose of mathematics is “to notice and explain patterns using symbols". (Kolis, p65). Humans like patterns as they are predictable. Mathematics gives names to patterns and explores relationships. Learning activities need lots of concrete examples and the use of materials with repetition and experiences built in to assist the learning of new concepts at all levels.

Purpose of learning a new language

The purpose of learning a new language is “the expression of the human experience in different contexts” (Kolis, p83) It is about code switching - adapting your communication style for your audience. Each group we communicate with: parents, colleagues, friends, authority; have their own codes, language, culture and vocabulary. Students learn that diversity is not an issue of being right or wrong, but is the result of ‘the luck of the draw’.

Purpose of PE and Health

The purpose of the Health and PE curriculum is about “decision making and the strategies by which good decisions are made” (Kolis, p69). Games and sports offer many teachable moments as the consequences of decisions can be seen and felt very quickly. Learning that rules are reached by consensus, and are the criteria we live by.

Purpose of learning Music

The purpose of music is the “expression of human experience through sounds.....and communicates in a way words cannot." (Kolis p 77). Consider the emotional effect of particular songs or music. Music is made up of patterns and has a relationship with mathematics. Playing music, listening to music, composing music - in a group or alone, have different learning outcomes.

Purpose of Science

The purpose of science is problem noticing and problem solving.

“A process... that encourages awareness, curiosity and is action orientated" (Kolis, p57) The steps to problem solving: Observation : Teachable skills, learning to look Curiosity: Imagination personalises the learning State the problem: Taking action with a clear goal puts students in charge of their learning Gathering information: What is already known Hypothesis formation: Predict, educated guess, more questions Experimentation : Try out ideas, the answers are unknown Data analysis: Bring data together and display, look for patterns Conclusion: What did we learn?

Purpose of Social Studies

The purpose of social studies is learning about the human experience - what it means to be human in different times and places. What is normal? Why am I like this? What is expected of me? The study of other humans and how they dealt with an issue. ( Kolis, p55)

Are you ready to adapt your plan?

Approach:

Regard what you planned at the beginning of the year or term as a starting place.....now be ready to adapt and change that plan as the learning develops!

To Do:

Think about what you want for your learners from this plan. Be prepared to add or subtract ideas you had at the beginning to adapt the plan to student progress, interests and needs. Listen to what students are asking about. Ensure you are adapting the demands of the curriculum to the needs and interests of your students in this learning. Identify which skills or ideas need further development or specific teaching.

Or: Use the 5E's Inquiry Model. The 5 E's are Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate. Each E helps ensure deep learning and reflection can take place. Elaborate and Evaluate enable a planned response to the students' learning so far.

For Example: Question wall : Designate an area on the wall in the classroom. to be a place where questions can be written when they come up during discussion. They will need an answer but not right now. Students can choose to take responsibility for finding an answer then teaching everyone else as part of increasing their OR you can plan the next learning from these wonderings

reach.

How are your learners disposed to learn ?

Approach:

Determine what the learning dispositions/learning styles of your learners are. Adapt the learning opportunities to accomodate as many as possible. Do they have choices about - where they work? - who they work with? - how much time they have to do their work ? - can they work digitally or by hand ? - how they present their work? - can they choose the way they demonstrate their learning eg. a poster, a video, an artifact? - have you delivered the options in multiple ways?

To Do:

Have your learners self-assess their preferred mode of learning. OR adminster a learning styles assessment. OR use your school's values or dispositions assessment SO THAT you have a way of ensuring that the choices you offer your students ensures all of them feel that the teaching and learning embraces them in some way.

For Example:

7 Learning dispostions

A philosophy of Integration

Can your students choose how they share their learning?

Approach:

Motivate the desire to learn by giving students the chance to share what they have learned with an audience. This will also be the basis of any assessment eg. Scientists do not keep their knowledge to themselves but share it with society. Can they take action in the real world with what they have learned?

To Do:

Co-construct choices students will have to share their work for feedback and assessment. Identify the audience. Plan to provide for individual Enable collaboration. Coach students to manage their time and self-pace their learning. Negogiate a way for students to get their learning out in the world as social action.

learning needs

For Example: Check out the "Periodic Table for Education Technology" for useful apps your students can use to share their work. Look for the clickable pdf to download on the website Ensure the learning outcome for each curriculum area is explicit and referred to regularly.

Planning Thinking Map

Hands on

Reach

Topic

Share

Engage: Remember to think about your learning activities first. Then select the goals for each strand of the curriculum your plan will explore.

Maths

Literacy

Dispositions: Take note of the learning styles you need to keep in mind as you plan

Adaptation: you may want to start a new page/plan for your new directions..