Curriculum-
My school curriculum revolves around 3 main strands: Math, English, and Topic (Science and Social Studies). As a teacher, I have a lot of freedom to plan Topic around student questions, the way that Rogovin (2015) describes, as long as I can assess for the list of skills prescribed in the school's Topic curriculum. While the English curriculum is quite rigid and prescriptive, the Math curriculum can be restructured so that different math skills can be taught together with the appropriate Topic units)
Math
Main focus on 4 operations, as well as statistics and data presentation (charts). The math curriculum also covers introductory skills in measurement, geometry, and fractions. While the school currently has a schedule in which the separate math units are taught, this can be changed.
As seen in (CITE), service learning and inquiry learning often requires the knoweldge and application of math skills, especially the four operations and statistics, to understand and solve problems.
English
Myths and Legends, persuasive writing, information and explanation writing, playscripts, poetry.
Rogovin (2015) suggests the use of plays, public speaking, and poetry as part of inquiry topics where the aim of students is to bring social issues to public attention.
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Service-learning projects are highly encouraged and admin provides high support for such initiatives. Kozak and Elliot (2014) suggest that it is beneficial for learning to be integrated and cross ssubject matter (Math, English, Science, etc) lines. This would require different methods of assessment so that teachers could keep track of the different skills involved.
The biggest potential challenge is that planning in school is structured around teaching teams, and it is important that what is done across classes is quite standardized. This makes it hard to tailor curriculum specifically to the interests of one class. At the same time, it is possible that units then be collaborative across the whole grade level, opening up possibilities for students to learn about communication and responsibility (Kozak and Elliot, 2014)