In an effort to give students a more integrated freshman year with math, science, ELA and Social Studies, three other teacher, and I, created an inquiry-based learning team, sharing common teachers, integrated curriculum and block scheduling. The unifying theme is centered around a growth mindset and critical thinking. This group utilizes blended learning (a combination of digital and traditional instructions with cross-curricular integration) and a mastery learning idea to allow students to work at the pace necessary for each individual student’s educational path.

COMPONENTS OF WHAT WE DO:

• Design: We use an integrated design model on this team.  Like engineers, artists, and scientists, our students use a design process that is connected across all disciplines. We strive to use common language across the team, to allow students to make those connections.

• Mastery Learning: Grades reflect mastery of skills and standards. Students have multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of required coursework. 

• Honors Weight: Rubrics will be used to allow students the opportunity to earn honors weight for courses.

• Conduct team activities, designed to enrich, facilitate connections with the larger world and the current day, and/or enrichment activities built to create a familial atmosphere, espirit de corps, expose students to different cultures, and empathy.

• Meet daily to collaborate on student needs, intervention strategies, student successes, inter-curricular integration, team activities, parent communication, and to coordinate our courses for optimal student success.

Practices: A big part of what we do is integrating our curriculums.  This model is one we use to see overlaps in practices in the classroom.