Blog Post #4: Steps to Creating Cross-Curricular Lessons

Hey everyone! I'm back! :) 

Today I am going to be discussing the steps involved in creating a cross-curricular lesson. Sure, we kno
w that cross-curricular learning is beneficial to student engagement and learning, however, this isn't a walk in the park. So where do you begin?

The first step would be to figure out which subject area you would like to connect your lesson to. Think about the different subject areas, like geography, history, English, French, music, art, phys-ed, science. Does one stand out to you that you think would be great to make connections to?

The second step would be to find a teacher in the school, in that subject area, who would be willing to
discuss their curriculum and share their expertise. As math teachers, we are strong teachers in our subject areas, but we don't know everything, especially in other subject areas. If you decide to make connections to a science course, reach out to some of the science teachers in your school to see if they would be willing to share their ideas with you. At this time, explore the curriculum expectations and discuss some of their lessons and ideas that you could implement in your math lesson.

The third step is to select standards or expectations that you want to focus on in your lesson. If you are unsure which expectations to decide on, ask your colleagues about types of activities that they have used in their class to cover the expectations, and see how you may adapt the activities to fit into a math course. What aspects can be transferable to the math class? Think about the goals that you want to achieve by making connections to this subject area.

Now that you have standards, expectations and goals determined, the fourth step is to identify which skills
and strategies are essential for this lesson. When you are teaching a unit, you build a foundation of knowledge, so that you ensure all students have prior knowledge to each lesson. If you are suddenly teaching a math and science lesson, determine which skills and prior knowledge would be needed to understand and engage in the cross-curricular lesson. Make sure all students will understand the content, and ensure there will be no barriers to hinder certain students.

Now that you have prepared for your lesson, you can develop the lesson itself, and deliver the lesson to your students. Make sure that you are knowledgeable about the new subject area, and that you ease into the cross-curricular lesson. Try your best to use the connections as context, so that students are able to relate to the topic, rather than seeing it as another type of question.

The last step of cross-curricular learning is reflection. After your lesson, reflect on how the lesson went by considering the interactions, the reactions, student work, and the positive and negative sides of the lesson. In order to improve, we have to realize what worked and what didn't work, so that you can adapt your lesson for next time, and you can see what should be done differently, next time you create a cross-curricular lesson.

I hope that these steps are helpful in creating your own cross-curricular lessons!

Here are some resources that may help you plan cross-curricular lessons:


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