Prelude - A game of discovery and learning.

Cross Curricular Teaching: A New Approach

January 10, 2010

A wonderful grassroots innovation is unfolding at Place Cartier. This Adult Education Centre in Beaconsfield Quebec is part of the Lester B Pearson School Board. Place Cartier offers classes year-round for adult students to complete high school, prepare for CEGEP or vocational education.

A quartet of intrepid Place Cartier teachers – Gail Gagnon, Peggy Grant, Elizabeth Iten, and Janice Newton - has developed a new approach for cross-curricular team teaching. Each shares a common subject, but each teaches it from a different perspective. The program began last fall with Planet Earth as the theme. Sub-themes included ethics, art, conservation and sustainability. Each quartet teacher worked with four groups of students, with each teacher taking one group at a time, and teaching them for one month.  Then the groups rotated to a new teacher.  Over a semester, they rotated four times.

The overall teaching experience and student outcomes were positive and encouraging. As a result the teachers are repeating the program again this semester. The new 2010 program theme is Leadership. This time, all four teachers will be teaching the same topic for the first module. And, they will begin with Prelude. They see the game’s focus on fostering individual and group social and emotional skills as a natural start-point  for the program’s multiple learning goals.  Gail Klinck provided online training for all four teachers, thanks to ongoing support from Massey-Vanier High School and the Eastern Townships School Board. The teachers will then rotate and each teach their respective specialities.

This is very much a pioneering grassroots effort. The ‘Quartet’ are refining the program as it evolves. They are also planning two events for the entire school with respective themes of diversity and environment week. We will keep you posted on further exciting developments…