Our Cross-Curricular Unit Begins

Through trial and error, false starts, and big flops, we are continually trying to reach
the kids, to get them truly interested in the material. We’ve seen great success with
this in our World War II Unit. This cross-curricular unit is one that the students look
forward to each year. They ask questions about it a year in advance, and somehow
that excitement seems to eclipse the amount of work we ask from them.

A big part of the build-up for this is how we decorate the hallway and our classrooms.
During this unit, we transform our entire hallway into an interactive display. It contains
work from some previous years and morphs each year into something a little different.
The unit centers on our subject areas of English and US History. The students read
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, and study people, events, and locations from the
war itself.

Because of the importance of colors in the novel, we add different colored plastic
tablecloths to give the symbolism of the colors a tangible feeling in the hallway.

Death, who is surrounded by the books Liesel finds/steals in the novel looks
on as students walk into their English classroom, while the steam from the train
that decorates the door goes across the hallway to the social studies classroom,
which is blacked out to represent the devastation caused during the war and
serves as a solemn reminder of the lives lost during the Holocaust.

The hall is even more exciting with the addition of R/C model airplanes.

Check back over the next couple of weeks when we show you the display with
the student work from this year added.

A Walk on the Wild Side

Sometimes to take a journey all you need is a great book, but sometimes you have
to actually move your feet. Recently, inspired by a brief case study in the textbook,
you know the pages between the regular sections that student pretend do not exist,
I decided it was time to get my students moving. I love experiential learning, I love
hands on, but I also love the structure of a more traditional classroom setting. I
struggle with creating balance for my students and my sanity.

Inspired by the story of an American scientist who braved the African forest, I
decided I could brave the wilderness of our school neighborhood. Before we
left the classroom, I told the students we were going outside. Instantly the noise
increased and excitement began to build. In their mind outside at school meant
extra recess. For me it meant connecting to scientific skills, making them take on
the role of a cartographer, writer, and data collection specialist. To begin I shared
just briefly the story of mapping the African forests. We discussed what that might
have been like. The students were amazed that anyone would be willing to make
such a journey. None seemed to think they would follow this example and set off on
a similar path.

My school is in a residential setting. There are no forests to explore nearby, but we
do have a lovely little garden complete with chickens, vegetable and flower beds, a
few trees, and opportunity. Their instructions before leaving the classroom were simple. . .
observe everything you can. Listen, look, breath deeply, but don’t talk because you
might miss something. Our entire journey took about 20 minutes. When we made
our way back to the room the students learned of the real purpose and the task that
was before them. I got the collective groan, several questions, and a little pushback,
but as a class, we gained the opportunity to talk about the perspective and difficulty
of map making, the variation of data collected, and make connections to their English
class as we talked about descriptive writing. None of this would have been as meaningful
to the students if we had simply read the case study. Yes, it took an entire class
period for what could have been done quicker. Yes, I will have to read all the journal
entries and that will take more of my time. Yes, there were a million other ways to have
done this activity or I could have skipped it all together, but some lessons are worth
taking the first step.

The students submitted their maps and writing. Some were beautifully drawn and
detailed, others were less so, but every single student learned something, and that
after all is the point.

Stepping Out There

I have a secret… I can’t dance. I mean, it’s bad. I am uncoordinated, two left feet. So when it’s time to teach the Jazz Age it gets interesting. I want my students to experience something from the decade. The easiest way was to incorporate some of the moves from the time. I decided to teach the students to dance, but I can’t dance. In order to do this, I first had to change the physical space of the classroom. The students were surprised to walk in and find no desks in the classroom. The wide open space became our dance floor. I took it one step further and came in costume, dressed as a flapper. At first the students stared in disbelief, some laughed nervously. I was a little unsure of myself. Thankfully, the internet helped teach the moves. The students and I learned the Charleston and later the Fox Trot in class. We laughed, a lot! We looked silly. We faced our fears! The students learned.

I heard from parents that evening. The kids came home and taught their families. They left my classroom and performed for other teachers. They may not remember Warren G. Harding and the Teapot Dome Scandal, but they experienced authentic learning and shared it with others.

It took me pushing through my fears, being willing to look foolish with them, and embracing a little chaos in the classroom. In short, I stepped out of my comfort zone and everyone benefited. Now, I have to try to recreate this magic as often as possible.

Why We Decided to Blog

I have heard that teachers should be blogging with their students for quite a while now, and it is one of those things that I have always meant to begin but the day-to-day mechanics of making a classroom and household run continually get in the way. Until now. It took the urging of a fellow teacher to get my mind to shift gears long enough to focus on it, and a brainstorm session with another teacher to actually make me begin to type words. But here I am typing and putting ideas out there. The first step, of course, is having an idea with which to begin that is “worthy” enough to share. Recent PD and podcasts that I have been consuming almost non-stop since Matt Miller’s Ditch That Summit (a big shout out and thank you to him for not only putting this free PD out there, but providing us with such wonderful presenters that my mind has not quite stopped reeling and creating since) have urged me to believe that perhaps I do, in fact, have something to share. All it took was asking one of my fellow faculty members what she thought of my idea and the ball started rolling with collaboration at its finest. She added to my idea, we talked, took notes, and all of a sudden a mediocre seed of a thought has grown into a collaborative project that I am not quite sure we even know where it is going to go yet. Challenge number one: start a blog. Check. Challenge number two: submit proposals to conferences to begin presenting. Check. We were just accepted for our first conference. Challenge three (but not really a challenge since both of us have presented at national conferences) begin presenting. We can visualize this. I feel that we are well on our way. Please visit again to see our ideas begin to take shape, and feel free to give us honest feedback. I believe that is crucial to the success of any venture.

So with what exactly did the seed of our joint idea begin? The desire to increase student engagement, even, and maybe even especially, when we as teachers step outside our own comfort zones to meet the kids where they are and to challenge them. (There is an empathy component to this as well). We do not want our fears of not being able to do something to hinder their learning, so this year in particular we have made sure to push our comfort boundaries.

The first thing I did was help establish a robotics club for our school. This is waaaaaay outside of my area of expertise or even near my comfort zone. I teach English. We talk about grammar, empathy, emotions, and morality. Programming robots????? Not even on my radar, but the interest was there, the need was apparent, so a mother and two other teachers agreed to take the plunge with me and we jumped in feet first. The astounding thing is that the kids did not even expect us to be the experts. They are using the tools at their disposal to create and learn, and when they get stuck they will occasionally ask for our help, but most of the time they depend on each other. It is a thing of beauty to watch. And to think if I had let my fears tell me I could not do it, then these kids would have missed out on a great opportunity, as would I!

Who We Are

Heather Olvey is a junior high English teacher who currently teaches at Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Heather has been published in scholarly journals and magazines, as well as co-authored book chapters and co-edited two books on the efficacy of young adult literature in the classroom. She is a strong proponent of using young adult literature not only because of its effectiveness but also because of the way in which it can be used to teach social justice and empathy to teens. Since working at Holy Souls, Heather has enjoyed creating cross-curricular lessons with the social studies teacher, Terri Files. She likes to be innovative and try new things with her students. She has been an AP Language and AP Literature teacher, a National Honor Society chapter advisor, a Philosophy Club sponsor and Ethics Bowl Coach, a Poetry Out Loud co-sponsor, and is currently a volleyball and robotics coach and has helped found the robotics program for Holy Souls School.





Terri Files is a junior high social studies teacher who currently teaches at Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Terri has taught in a variety of classroom settings ranging in age from kindergarten to college freshmen. She believes that history offers a unique lens through which lessons of humanity and social justice can be more fully explored. The opportunity to collaborate with her colleagues further enriches her teaching style and student learning. Terri is constantly challenging herself to bring new techniques and strategies to the classroom with the goal of reaching each student.