Welcome to the Interdisciplinary Learning Hub
Empowering Educators, Nurturing Lifelong Learners
Are you an educator or curriculum designer seeking innovative ways to inspire your students and foster a holistic approach to learning? So am I! My name is Cierra Maguire and I welcome you to the Interdisciplinary Learning Hub, your destination for crafting dynamic, interdisciplinary curriculum units that ignite curiosity and drive meaningful connections across subjects. Please use the links in the menu above to check out my Research, Resources, and Presentations about "Interdisciplinary Learning Goals" - a project I am developing to support Interdisciplinary practices in all disciplines and classrooms. If you would like to learn more about me - including other resources I provide for Art and English Language Art Education - I invite you to check out the About link in the navigation menu above.
I believe that learning should transcend traditional silos.Â
My mission is to help educators develop interdisciplinary curricula that meet academic standards while fostering 21st-century skills and an appreciation for how different fields of knowledge interconnect. This website offers resources, research, and materials to support your interdisciplinary journey. My ultimate goal is to enhance interdisciplinary learning by providing tools that enable educators to both learn and teach across disciplines.
My approach to teaching interdisciplinary learning focuses on training educators to think across disciplines, blending various educational standards into proven standard-and-assessment based practices.I have broken my system into two phases:
Phase One: Creating Interdisciplinary Learning Goals (ILGs)
Our journey begins with Phase One, where we embark on the process of designing Interdisciplinary Learning Goals (ILGs). I emphasize the following essential steps:
Selecting Standards Sets: Identify your primary academic discipline and explore exemplary standards within that domain.... but don't stop there! Consider other fields of interest: Weave a tapestry of knowledge and consider integrating Art standards as the "glue" between disciplines. To nurture well-rounded learners, consider the inclusion of Technology and Social Emotional Learning standards, too!
Standard Crosswalk Process: Identify the linguistic threads shared among diverse standards: Nouns guide the content and big ideas, while verbs drive actions and objectives!
Identifying Common Features: Pinpoint common linguistic features across different standards sets - these are the keys to developing an interdisciplinary appraoch to education!
Creating Unique ILGs: Use the language extracted from the standards to craft distinctive Interdisciplinary Learning Goals that encapsulate the desired learning outcomes. Our goal is to help you develop 3-4 ILGs to enrich any unit-of-study.
Phase Two: Developing ILG Unit-of-Study
In Phase Two, we take your ILGs and transform them into engaging two-week Units-of-Study. With my strong background in Professional Learning Communities, I advocate for the application of the Understanding by Design (UbD) or other Backwards Planning formats, though you may find a plethora of other ways to weave your Interdisiplinary Learhing Goals into your education practice! This phase unfolds as follows:
Assessment Development: Craft formative and summative assessments aligned with your ILGs to gauge student mastery. Establish a baseline of understanding with informal assessments, and employ assessment data to guide targeted interventions and enriching opportunities. Cap off the unit with a formal summative assessment, complete with a rubric for objective evaluation.
Activity Selection: Choose from a diverse array of individual and collaborative activities, fostering engagement and interaction.
Resource Curation: Curate relevant texts, materials, products, and multi-modal resources to enrich the learning journey.
Continuous Assessment: Throughout the unit, continually assess student progress and reflect on the effectiveness of assessments, the extent of learning and comprehension, and the success of intervention and enrichment strategies.
At the Interdisciplinary Learning Hub, I am committed to helping educators like you unlock the potential of interdisciplinary education. Join me in creating a vibrant learning experience that prepares students for a complex, interconnected world.
Explore my resources, discover your own insights, and embark on a journey of educational transformation. Together, let's nurture inquisitive minds, foster creativity, and build the future of education, one interdisciplinary unit at a time.
Welcome to the Interdisciplinary Learning Hub.