KELLOUGH Chapter 5: The Curriculum

How Did You Do This?

I love the scene Jurassic Park when composer John William's theme reaches a crescendo, Sam Neill drops to the ground, and we see the island teaming with dinosaurs. In that moment, both the characters and the movie viewer are filled with amazement and want to know more. Integrated thematic units and great movie themes are dynamic because they summarily communicate what the experience means.

In January 2012, I attended an Illinois state conference for social studies teachers and had the opportunity to participate in a workshop put on by Lincoln-Way East High School. Their Civic U.S. History Curriculum is thematically based under eight headings and one introductory unit. One example is the Enemy Within: To what extent should individual freedom be compromised to ensure national security? Under which 19 different historical moments in U.S. history are covered, from the Salem Witch Trials to Sputnik to the Democratic National Convention of 1968. Having never attended a school where central themes were used to teach major concepts, I was excited by how I could use this method in my own lesson writing. In addition, it struck at the heart of my teaching philosophy and procedures (which incorporate the theories of Jerome Bruner) - that instruction should be pragmatic and use images/symbols for simplification and ease of memorization.