Interdisciplinary Bridge-Building through Co-Teaching and Learning
By Melinda Franke
The faculty at The Downtown School wear a variety of teaching and administrative hats, an organizational aspect that makes our school truly unique. For the 10th grade fall intensive this year, I taught “Introduction to Digital Media” with humanities instructor Mari O' Meara and physics and math instructor Daniel Wicklund. With my background lying in Spanish language, it was no surprise I felt out of my element.
While during those three weeks teaching the course I was aware of the new digital media skills I learned, it was not until recently—when I assigned a creative project in my Spanish 2 course—that I fully understood the far-reaching value of this experience. Co-teaching an unfamiliar topic alongside those with different pedagogical backgrounds armed me with tools to later implement in my "regular" classes. In particular, Dan and Mari taught me the importance of scaffolding a creative project. Frequent and regular low-stakes assignments not only motivate students to stay on track; they also provide teachers the opportunity to give feedback on different components of the project.
To conclude our unit focused on the body and health in Spanish 2, I assigned the students the task of creating an informercial that promoted an invented medicine or procedure. Taking a page out of Dan and Mari's book, I had the students submit a project proposal in which they laid out their schedule for planning, filming, and editing the video, along with an accompanying script on which I was able to provide feedback. From my own recently uncovered knowledge of Canva, an online graphic design platform, I was able to provide support for the closing element of the project: the infomercial was to be complete with a graphic that boasted a logo, photo of the product, and a phone number. To top it all off, many of my Spanish 2 students had taken the 10th grade fall intensive a few months prior. They were well suited with the filming, editing, and graphic design skills needed for the project. Equally as important, The Downtown School students are well versed in the art of collaboration, meaning they were able to share this knowledge with younger students who had not yet completed the digital media intensive.
The result? Some well-scripted, playfully performed, and hilarious infomercials. While one group advertised hair growth gummies (with the primary side effect being hair loss, of course), another promoted a cure for phone addiction (free hammer thrown in, should you feel so inclined to break your phone!). Students employed their video editing skills and even sped up the audio near the end of their videos to give them a true infomercial feel.
The Downtown School's special administrative structure pushes faculty out of their comfort zones, allowing for moments of co-learning and growth. In turn, we too encourage students to step into the unknown and reap the benefits.