Integrated Unit Final Reflection

Margaret Nerney
EDU 584 – Dr. Grace Ward
December 9, 2009

This has been a very long process wrought with testing frustrations and budget tensions, yet through it all we have been able to develop, and effectively begin to execute, our integrated Wabanaki perspective unit. Paula Roy, Tom Piekart, and I have met on a regular basis to make this project a reality. We will not truly see its outcome until some time in January, but our hope is that the work and time are worth it.
We were not able to get started with our units when we had first anticipated. This was largely a result of NWEA and NECAP testing that took up most of the months of September and October. In actuality, the students were first truly introduced to the unit during their field trip to the ABBE Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine on October 23, 2009. This was not the way that I had originally planned to start the unit, nor would it be the way that I would want to start it again. The kids were not as knowledgeable of the background information that was necessary to truly appreciate the materials and information that they were being exposed to there. According to the kids, the trip was worthwhile and allowed them to better understand the Wabanaki people and their cultural aspects, but they were less informed of the history. Knowing the history would have added to their understanding and bridged stronger connections for them. Tom Piekart, Paula Roy, and I have even discussed ways that we could recreate the experience of the museum at our own school instead of taking the long trip to the museum. It appears that we have most of the resources necessary to do a shared presentation similar to the trade presentation that we attended.
Aside from the field trip, we have spent a great deal of time reading and discussing the book, “Out of the Depths” by Isabelle Knockwood. This novel has worked well as a hook. The kids were certainly pulled in by the heart wrenching stories of the students who attended the schools, which led to passionate discussions and questions about the reasons the school was there and the long-term effects on the people and our society. Their double entry diaries were absolutely amazing. These kids really thought a lot about the perspective of the students, the abusers, and even themselves. Their average scores on this strategy showed that they not only “got it”, but could effectively express it.
The book became a starting point for work with the wiki and connections to the other classes. Our students are starting to explore the life that the Native students left behind through a “seven-year movie” in social studies and the belief systems of the Native hunters through their hunter safety unit in science. We are then able to discuss the differences at the residential school in English. Currently, the wiki is in its beginning stages. I am taking the lead in this area. I have given presentations on how to create the wiki and even signed them all up with accounts. In fact, the account sign-up did not go as smoothly this year, so it took a couple of class periods to do this. After many failed attempts, I even made the beginning wiki for each group and then gave them permission to make changes to it. This seems to be working, as we are almost done with the first full page of the wiki in each group. I just keep reminding myself that this is a new process and there will be issues as we work out the bugs. My colleagues are comfortable and flexible with this as well. They seem to be comfortable having me show them how to use and create this new product, so I am leading the implementation of the unit across the board.
I feel that the integrated team has worked hard together to set clear and achievable goals. We have secured time during workshop days and meet frequently after school. I even chose these same two colleagues to help me with the resource wiki. We work well together because of our unique dynamic. Whenever I needed to touch base with them about something, I just let them know and we stayed to work on it. These colleagues are more than willing to try new things and support others, including me as I struggle through my academic ventures. I think the integrated unit only helped to affirm their dedication to the process as we debriefed about the templates and checked in with each other frequently. We all walked away with the same goals for the implementation of this unit and our students felt the rewards. They know that their three teachers are all working together to make the connections between the three content areas as transparent as possible. In fact, they are eager to start their wiki pages for their social studies and science sections. The activities and materials have proven successful thus far. The students are engaged and excited about learning.