Education - Interdisciplinary Learning

Building a curriculum that matters

"The study of literature and composition, which should be a study of society and ideas, can get reduced to a search for technical details -- chasing motifs and symbols at the expense of the big ideas. How do we live our lives as moral citizens of the world, how do we make the world a better place? What can we learn from literature and history that helps us understand the complex problems confronting us today: Gender violence, the corruption and inequality exposed by Hurricane Katrina, the rise of gangs and youth violence, the skyrocketing incarceration of men of color?...If we intend to create citizens of the world...then we need to teach students how to use their knowledge to create change...we must construct academic ways for students to use the curriculum, to authentically tie student learning to the world."

(from: Teaching Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom by Linda Christensen, 2009, pp.7&8. (428.00712 ChT 2009)).