The Shadow
Whether you call them integrated, blended or combined classes, they are a big part of New Tech, although they are not new.
Many of us remember the humanities class when we were in school. It was a combined English/social studies class and was offered usually to juniors.
Many of the basic principles behind the humanities class offered in the past and the New Tech integrated classes offered at Alleghany High School today are the same. Students in an integrated class are taught to see the interconnections between the subjects they are learning, improve critical and creative thinking and develop the ability to “think outside the box,” all essential skills needed in a 21st century workplace.
The linkage between some of the subjects may at first not be obvious to an outside observer, but a great deal of time and planning goes into each integrated class before it is put on the school schedule.
English and social studies is a tried and proven effective combination and most can understand the combination. It makes sense that while studying the Civil War in a U.S. history class that it would be good for the students in the 11th grade American literature class to be reading a novel such as The Red Badge of Courage at the same time.
The students quickly see the connection between literature and the events going on during the same time period, and the English teacher does not have to waste time going back over pivotal events that lead to the writing of the novel. Having the students in this kind of integrated class works well.
The combination of classes that can be combined is extensive. Schools have combined biology with health/ P.E., math and science, art and geometry and the list goes on.
Nutrition and wellness, and health are one combination students can take at AHS. When you line up their standards it is easy to see that these two classes relate on the information and skills that they impart to their students.
Spanish and health are also combined, and at first the relationship can be hard to see, but look deeper and the linkage becomes clearer.
One of the proven techniques for teaching a foreign language is Total Physical Response and has been used at AHS for 38 years. In this combination, the gym becomes an extension of the classroom. In the classroom students learn about health issues of Latinos, the nutritional value of foreign foods and how much walking is required to burn off the calories of their trip to a foreign restaurant, the paleo diet with a Spanish twist among other things.
As we prepare for our second year of New Tech, the number of integrated classes we offer will increase.
Some have said that it seems like we were moving forward too fast and we should slow down our implementation of New Tech. Our changes, however reflect the rapidly changing world we will be sending our students out into.
Who a few years ago would have thought that cashiers at stores could be replaced with self-checkouts, that social media would replace face to face communication, that cars which drive themselves would have been developed, and that you could simply tell an appliance at your home to turn on, or turn it on using your cellphone from across the country?
The good news is that just like with the changes that have taken place at AHS this year, our students adapt quickly. Members of our generation are having a harder time with it as we grew up in a world where change came slowly. More than once, we have been lost as to how to do something with a new program on our computer and had to ask a student for help.
Our students were born into a world where every few months they upgrade cell phones, computers programs and video games, and they take these changes as normal.
Moving from traditional classes to integrated classes was no harder for them than any of the other changes they deal with on an almost daily basis.
Yes, they are different from the old way of teaching, but so is our world, and we must make certain that we do everything possible to prepare our students for the world that will be living and working in tomorrow and not a world that no longer exists, even though for many of us it seemed to be there only yesterday.
