Integrated Studies 8 & 9 Proposal Integrated Studies 8 & 9 (IS) uses the same structure as SESM.

The main difference is that its teachers and students are committed to each other for two years. ILD would like two or four SESM classes to run as IS in the fall of 2013. SESM and grade 9 teachers who are interested would volunteer and commit to trying to incorporate the following pedagogical ideas: Focus on fewer PLOs and fewer assignments to facilitate depth Emphasis on authentic performance tasks that frame the learning (ex. Project based learning) Offering more student voice/ choice Integrate the SESM courses wherever practical Students have frequent opportunities to collaborate Culture of excellence (Ron Berger book) Culture of revision and serious peer critique Kids have the opportunity to focus on a passion (to shine) Some of the authentic tasks contribute to the community Opportunities for critical thinking across the curriculum Teach tools to create more self-regulated learners Create closer relationships with kids because of the two year cycle End of grade 9 assessment that shows mastery of core competencies (reading, writing, numeracy, critical thinking, metacognition) Team teaching wherever possible Teacher collaboration time

Of course, many of these ideas are already happening throughout our school. Whats different is that the ILD team would work to support IS in various ways. Some possible means of support include: Have an extra teacher for one linear block/ two SESM classes paid for by ILD in the first two years (weve already committed funds to this) Release time for collaborative planning Various pro-d opportunities A common prep for collaboration Working with Iain Fisher Working with Roland Case and the Critical Thinking Consortium These and further supports will be discussed extensively once a team of IS teachers is in place. Possible Extension Assuming that the affected departments (SESM, Eng, SS, Ma, Sc) are supportive of Integrated Studies, and that we have SESM teachers willing to volunteer, we also plan to explore additional integration possibilities with other subjects. These would have to work within the current timetable and would rely on volunteer teachers currently teaching Grade 8/9 courses. For example, if an art teacher wanted to work with IS, all students who selected Art 8 could be scheduled into the same Integrated Studies class and then the Art and IS teachers could collaborate on one or more lessons/ units during the year.