Adventures in Integrative Education: Multimedia Tools for Success in the Primary Grades

Copyright © 2015 by Jan Magray.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2015919480

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5144-2832-0

                Softcover        978-1-5144-2831-3

                eBook             978-1-5144-2830-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 11/30/2015

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CONTENTS

PART I

The What, Why, and How of Integrative Education

Introduction

Chapter 1 In the Beginning

Contemporary education requires new ways of packaging and presenting information. All learning centers require hands-on, affordable, and efficient programs to implement. There is a critical need for innovative tools that support and engage quality learning. Students are diverse in all aspects of development and need adaptable materials. Purposeful creative activities maintain engagement in academic preparation and practice.

Chapter 2 Readiness

The design and implementation of meaningful activities must meet standardized curriculum expectations. Students need an understandable reference to their social/cultural context to gain comprehension and maintain memory. Cross-curricular learning occurs when students are personally involved in production. Academic skills can be practiced within immersion learning through stories and drama.

Chapter 3 The Whole Child

There are seven recognized types of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intra-personal. There is a great need for reliable and efficient presentation platforms that engage all levels of intelligence, such as the ancillary DVD, that provide continuity with content, social interaction, and artistic expression.

Chapter 4 The Special Child

Current philosophy contends that all individuals, regardless of distinctions or challenges, should be included in the traditional school environment. However, specific learning challenges necessitate the presentation of content in nontraditional ways. Leading educators suggest experience-based learning that offers creative thinking and visual imagery that can best serve special students. The video song presentation format provides kinesthetic, physical, visual, and auditory inputs simultaneously to all students and can be easily adapted for individual levels of perception, application, and expansion.

Chapter 5 Multi-Sensory Input

Multi-sensory stimulation usually means the use of auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic experience to reinforce the skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and moving. The arts provide this type of stimulation. Studies have determined that students who participate in the arts outperform those who don’t on virtually every measure. Multi-sensory learning has also been successful for students with reading challenges.

Chapter 6 Resonance

The greatest value in music is the sound that is produced. Listening to music, playing instruments, and writing compositions engage nearly every area of the brain. The background music in the DVD was produced to support kinesthetic movement and emotional response.

Chapter 7 Implementation

We acknowledge that it can be difficult to bring about a change in concepts that have been in place for a long time. When implementing new modes of instruction, planning and communication with others are essential steps, as is clearly communicating the purpose and learning objectives of the new method. Successful implementation of the video songs must include physical movement and purposeful play as integral aspects of the program.

Chapter 8 Socialization

Children must first feel a sense of belonging in order for them to be open to learning new things. Too much information presented at a specific time can result in confusion and lack of understanding for what needs to be remembered. Students remember experiences that are associated with emotions longer than those considered only facts. Memory is dependent upon the student’s personal focus and his ability to pay attention to the information and bring it to conscious awareness. Strategies to support retaining information include: storytelling, centering learning on celebration, using debate and role-playing, as well as participating in games, music, and drama.

Chapter 9 Integrative Learning & Assessment

Integrative learning was developed for the purpose of synthesizing current knowledge. Research shows that the integration of all brain functions can better support learning. It is essential to identify a new curriculum that includes concepts such as collaborative work skills and compassion for others, as well as facts. A new curriculum design that implements an integrative mode of learning can also serve for successful assessment.

Chapter 10 Impetus for New Pedagogy

The current crisis in educational systems is worldwide. Now is the time to utilize the multimedia and technological advances to create a better way of learning. Education is the key to successful coexistence and purposeful development. Impetus is another word for spring-boarding or pushing forward. Therefore, this is not the end—it is just the beginning.

PART II

Implementing the Program

Introduction

The Multimedia Platform

Preparation Questions And Answers

The Video Songs: Guides to Implementation

About The Author

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

PART I

The What, Why, and How of Integrative Education

Introduction

Climbing the steps to the Royal Theater in Midtown, St. Petersburg, I could not imagine the world of discovery hidden behind the large double doors. This book shares the story of how a retired teacher and some energetic and talented children worked together to develop an innovative system of content presentation based on the concept of Integrative Education.

Integrated learning is the term used to explain how multiple subjects connect in such a way that they promote understanding and awareness for the whole child. It is about providing opportunity for students to receive knowledge while expressing emotions and responding to purposeful actions. It means that educators incorporate the necessary aspects of childhood development along with academic content in a unified, comprehensive, and continuous manner. The question is not what so much as it is how to make this event occur in the contemporary classroom.

The development of a multimedia tool that supports individual teachers and varying subjects while presenting intellectual content is the outcome of my experience in an inner-city after-school program. This technological tool is an uplifting group of video songs that serve as a vehicle to address the needs of the total child and include opportunities for cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and aesthetic experiences. These platforms on which the teacher can integrate numerous subjects are adaptable for diverse learning needs and ages. The video songs can be utilized for supplemental or enhanced instructional experiences or implemented as the foundation for a comprehensive curriculum. Such use is determined by the teacher and school system and is based on individual requirements and objectives.

This book is about the challenges and opportunities now available for the pursuit of excellence in the ongoing educational reform movement. I have reviewed and presented established concepts of child development while incorporating the information with my experiences in an inner-city after-school program. All the references for experts are supplied as a starting point and are not meant to be a comprehensive analysis of research.

This overview explains the value of integrative learning by providing notable research findings and outcomes in neuropsychology, educational theory, and the behavior sciences. It is intended reading for prospective teachers, experienced classroom teachers, curriculum designers, parents, governmental decision makers, and everyone involved in the hope for the development of a successful educational experience for American’s student population.

Teachers and students deserve support materials that provide innovative modes of instruction. This book aims to explain why a more consistent and reliable form of content presentation is essential for today’s classroom. The research proves that children acquire and retain more information when emotional and physical expression are included in the learning process. They discover how to practice essential skills such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, following directions and cooperative efforts when engaged in experiential study that connects content to real life experiences.

What sets this book apart from others is that it offers the solution to the challenge by providing the creative hands-on program for such implementation. It is all well and good to explain how to achieve combining meaningful subjects—in which diverse learning abilities can perceive information at the same time—but it is necessary to understand that such design for teaching takes both expertise and time. Teachers in the classroom don’t have this luxury.

It is vitally important that current educational systems have the opportunity to work with the appropriate governmental agencies and society at large to produce comprehensive understanding for not just what the students should be learning but how they can be supported in the process. It is imperative that curriculum designers produce tools that provide the multi-sensory stimulation necessary for motivational presentation of content.

Interspersed with the research findings and testimonials from educators are true stories of how the students in an after-school program responded to the video songs as their learning structure and guide. These students from the under-served part of the community came to gain renewed enthusiasm and hope for their identity and achievement.

The concepts described in this book can serve as a guide for those who determine the goals and outcomes for educational curricula. It is directed to the primary grades, one through four, but contains information that is important to the assimilation of knowledge at all levels of learning. Integrative learning is a fulfilling way to connect mind, body, and spirit as it meets the needs of the whole child, the special child, the typical child, and the child of the world.

My hope is that the information provided will be easily readable by those not so well- versed in educational philosophy, pedagogy, and practice. I have tried to make the content accessible with the goal that it will supply a guide and be useful to parents, PTA groups, and home school advocates as well. There are many highly impressive rigorous publications on educational ideologies referenced which can be utilized for further study by all those who are interested.

Learning can be a joyous adventure or it can be filled with drudgery and resistance. It is my fervent dream that the concept of using audio-visual platforms to set the scene and establish the story-line, characters, and challenges of learning activities will offer the aspect of adventure, joy, and interactive exploration to the learning process. Allowing the teacher to step out of the role of lecturer and into the position of meddler in the middle offers the adventure to the educator as well as the students. I believe that this is what will make our schools thrive and return to the place of high recognition in the world-wide educational community.

Learning is lifelong. It is ultimately what allows one to participate in meaningful relationship in school and community. I invite you to join me in the endeavor to create healthy classrooms, world-class teachers, and knowledgeable communities that work together for the grand design of fulfilling our deepest human needs.

- Jan Magray, July 2nd, 2015, St. Petersburg, Florida

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

"Please, please, please, Br’er Fox, don’t fling me

in dat Briar Patch!"

The fable of "How Mr. Rabbit Was Too