IMPLEMENTING A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH AT YOUR SCHOOL

​Implementing a multidisciplinary approach may seem like a tall order; however, with the right planning tools and software program, a team of teachers can easily do so! Before getting started on how, it’s important to note that for the purposes of this article, multidisciplinary planning refers to an approach wherein a singular topic is studied from the perspective of multiple curriculums. 

​That said, what would the ideal planning tool to support a multidisciplinary approach look like? It would be a 2-in-1 unit/lesson planner that would allow teachers to plan collaboratively on a shared template, as shown in the sample below:

(planner extends vertically until the end of the unit)

This template was designed using our upcoming software, ESBPlanners. When looking at the template, you will note that the top half (above Week 1) serves as the unit planner and the bottom half (below Week 1) is the lesson planning portion. Using our “shared planner” feature, this single template could be filled in by a team, with each teacher having the ability to fill in the required information on the planner for their own subject area. After deciding on the topic and the duration of the unit, each teacher would then brainstorm ideas for how concepts from their respective subject area (math, language arts or science) could serve to support the topic and list learning outcomes that connect to it. From there each teacher would list possible lesson and assessment ideas that relate to the topic and note any materials that may be needed throughout the unit. With the unit planner complete, the team could then use the lesson planner portion on the bottom half to plan daily lessons for the week. In the above scenario, teachers are on a 2-day schedule, and thus have been provided with the space to plan for lessons twice a week and the template would extend vertically per week until the end of the unit. Because the unit planner is attached, the team can easily refer to brainstormed ideas when planning individual lessons, and because all three teachers are planning on a singular document, there is complete transparency amongst the team: they can all see how the topic they have chosen is being addressed in each individual subject area – imagine the power in that! 

Interested in using the above template at your school? This multidisciplinary planner will be available on ESBPlanners in 2022 in our template bank and can be searched by using the following tags: #multidisciplinary #2-in-1 planner. This template can be saved into your personal account and modified to suit your needs – happy planning!