Learning on One Leg

Teachers Mr. Noori and Mr. Creger challenge a reliance on standardized curriculum

Staff Writer

“In the past, English and history were connected,” said AHS World History teacher Mr. Noori. “Mr. Creger and I for many years had a cohort of students [in a course] called Sophomore Global Studies.”

This specific cohort shared the same teacher and classmates in their tenth grade English and History classes. Why organize classes into specified learning groups? “There’s a community that cohorts establish, and so you’re able to do joint projects. For some students, the academic units are not engaging enough,” said Mr. Noori.

Mr. Noori believes joint projects lead to more well-rounded courses. “Typically, teachers only push forward the academic leg, which is the vocabulary, academic terms and the units, but they don’t push the other leg, which is the developmental end of the child and how they fit into the story. So that’s the idea of a two-legged curriculum,” he said.

“You’ve got the academic leg and the developmental leg. You’ve got essays and novels, conversation and reading skills on the academic leg,” said Mr. Creger. “And the developmental leg, through the year we’re having all kinds of discussions about helping [student] minds, sense of who you are, and your interactions with others develop.”

This development leg includes projects such as the Personal History Project in Social Studies and the Personal Creed Project in English. “I’ve been doing [the Personal History] project for nine years and it creates an element of engagement that is unparalleled because they are able to focus on their own personal stories, and see how it applies to history,” said Mr. Noori. “I would love to see a return of connected classrooms. We [teachers] strategize together and work together on what works best for students.”

The deviation from a standardized curriculum also gives teachers the opportunity to adapt to the needs and interests of their students.

“In the [connected] classes that I was able to teach we could take a whole quarter and explore one question,” said Mr. Creger. “Now, unfortunately the history department’s married to its sequence of units they have to follow.”

Mr. Creger, who attempted to find another English teacher for Sophomore Global studies following his retirement, said, “The number of students in the school has doubled since those days which also makes it more challenging with the schedule. Linking classes requires a lot of commitment from administration.”

Mr. Creger offered his solution. “The first thing you need to start a program like this is two teachers who want to cultivate a friendship across the curriculum. Teachers should decide to do this then approach administration with the request.”

“Teachers need to ask themselves a question,” said Mr. Noori. “Am I only addressing academic units, or is the [developmental] leg being addressed as well in my classroom?”

Caption: This diagram demonstrates the approach of two-legged learning described by Mr. Noori and Mr. Creger. “In blue you have your academic leg: essays and novels, reading and conversation skills, entry and exit assessments. [In green] is the developmental leg: we’re having all kinds of discussions about helping [student] minds, sense of who you are, and your interactions with others develop. And all that you weave it throughout the year,” said Mr. Creger. (PC: John Creger)