Collaboration with Social Studies Department Head

The colleague I chose to work with on my integrated unit has been working closely with the social studies department head for the past couple of years. They work together in their planning so that their curricula are in line and their students have the same basic experience no matter who they have as a teacher.

Because my colleague and I are now working on an integrated approach, we thought that it would be wise to include the social studies department head in on our planning. This teacher turned out to be a gret resource in helping us to think about the span of topics and issues covered over the course of the year. She has also approached me in the last week with a video version of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. I have not viewed this tape as of yet, but I think that it could definitely be useful.

The important aspect of this connection and collaboration is not so much the sharing of a video, but the sharing of resources and ideas in general. There is a lot that can come from a single hour spent brainstorming with peers. I often connect in this way with content-like colleagues, but this hardly ever happens in such a planned-out manner with teachers of other contents. I don't know that I've ever set aside a prep period to plan with a teacher of another discipline. Hopefully, this will all translate to a more transparent set of goals and objectives for students, a closer connection to more and more colleagues, and the opportunity to integrate with representatives of other disciplines in the future.