Curriculum: Thematic Curriculum

What was originally conceived in the original charter for integrated thematic instruction at James C. Wright Middle School, has yet to come to pervasive fruition. While some teachers may work collaboratively on a unit, or incorporate multiple subject areas into a unit they teach, it simply isn't done on a consistent or widespread basis. Some teachers at Wright contend the lack of thematic curriculum here is fully acceptable given the current student body; in other words the students are better served by other methods. Other staff contend it has more to do with the specific teachers currently teaching at Wright. Check out the range of staff comments pertaining to the pervasiveness of thematic curriculum found here.

For those interested in teaching thematically, there are different approaches to arriving at a theme. A Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction video, "Doing Curriculum Integration," details a method requiring a substantial amount of student input. In groups, students come up with a list of questions they have about themselves and their world. They then organize those questions into themes; and then later into learning activities where they could find answers to their questions. Themes this particular group of students came up with included Mother/Father Nature and Life & Death. The Life & Death theme originated out of questions pertaining to the students' personal longevity. They later determined they could learn about human longevity by studying birth/death rates and the emerging development of diseases.

Other approaches to theme development rely more on the teacher and colleagues to design a theme. For example, take a look at this idea of teaching through the middle school theme of a country's currency. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Robin Fogarty, T. Roger Taylor, and James Beane are all national experts in the field of interdisciplinary curriculum. WNET in New York and the Disney Learning Partnership, have developed a helpful online course about Interdisciplinary Curriculum---take a look at it.

Despite the fact that Wright Middle School has had limited experience with thematic curriculum, around the country there are teachers who have been successful in integrating curriculum thematically. Here are resources available to teachers interested in pursuing thematic instruction, as well as resources for those already immersed in the movement.

• Madison theme sites- developed by district level library media specialists, teachers submit units they are developing and sites are posted to support those units; the sites are annotated as well
  
  
• Illinois Math and Science Academy, Center for Problem Based Learning
  
  
• Connecting Students: Themes and Units across language arts, science, social studies, and mathematics.
  
  
• Multiple themes-especially good with holiday and seasonal themes
  
  
• Search Marco Polo-strong resources developed by national content associations in the sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences
  
  
• Primary & Intermediate- these thematic units were developed by teachers looking for ways to meet the needs of children with exceptional needs in their classroom
  
  
• Our Place in the World: an inquiry based approach to arts education
  
  
• Elementary units- pigs and planets to teeth-care and the Titanic
  
  
• Teacher's Corner- a combination of resources and daylong lesson plans organized by themes ranging from chocolate to chemistry.
  
  
• ICE Projects-this group of teachers in San Diego team together and have archived projects they have completed.
  
  
• Unique themes-these range from creepy crawlies and monsters to aviation and archaeology; Canadian resources too.
  
  
• Science-oriented themes-high interest science content organized around current events
  
  

• Cross-Curricular Thematic Instruction-advantages of, planning for, and assessment of...

• K-12 Thematic Units with Lesson Plans from the Solution Site
  

• Sample thematic units from the Pathways Model at Follett Software
  

• Internet resources to support thematic instruction from MMSD