For five years, when I taught at Kahuku High and Intermediate School, we piloted a cross-curriculum model for seventh grade, integrating four core subjects, for all students from gifted and talented to special education.
We coordinated content units, homework, testing and projects. It was challenging, satisfying work for students and teachers.
We utilized a daily extra prep period to collaborate and plan. After the first few years, administration could not justify the expense and pressure that extra preps put on the rest of the system, and brought our success to an end.
We tried to keep our beautiful ball rolling, dedicating two lunch periods per week and then after-school meetings for collaboration.
The final blow was “No Child Left Behind,” with its emphasis on math and reading test scores. Teachers couldn’t handle the extra workload, although we knew students would be the losers. We went back into our own “silos,” always regretting what we knew could be best (“For their students’ sake, teachers must coordinate efforts,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, May 23).
Poppy Vaioleti
Kahuku
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