"X" tending Your Curriculum, 3

Reveiw and comments by Chuck Downing, Ph.D.

Because this was part of an interdisciplinary project, there were days when the directors held half–day "seminars" where all 130 students remained together and did not go to individual classes. With the exception of the seminar times, the impression given in the article is that all project work was done outside of class time. A student reaction to the project as a whole (written at Thompson's request) is included.

Assessment was broken down as follows: The dossier and memo account for 60% of each team's overall grade…. Thirty percent of each agent's grade derives from the directors' evaluation of his or her portion of the team's final presentation, and the final 10% is derived form the team's evaluation of itself (p. 102).

Rubrics (see ""Ruminating on Rubrics"" elsewhere in this section of the Access Excellence site) were provided for students from the beginning of the project. Unfortunately, they are not provided as part of the article. So what? I don't teach in an interdisciplinary team. I can't have all my students cut their other classes for a half-day seminar. It is unrealistic to expect all this work to be done outside class by my students. Okay. So you modify this type project to meet your parameters. The point is that some interdisciplinary work will help your students in all their schoolwork. Maybe they won't experience the apparently seamless integration implied in this project. But some experience with interdisciplinary work is essential for all students.

As a beginning for an ""X–Files"" project, ask one of your English teachers to provide a day of basic instruction on coding and decoding messages to each of your classes. Show portions of Sagan's Cosmos—specifically that dealing with probability of extraterrestrial life. Provide some background of how the brain works in developing speech patterns (See Newsweek: Feb. 19, 1996). Finally, ask one of your world history teachers to provide a day of basic instruction on non-verbal communication examples from various cultures (e.g., music, dance, ritual, environmental design). Offer to do something science–related in your colleagues' classes on the days they take your classes.

You can start working interdisciplinarily more simply by using old Twilight Zone episodes as prompts for science writing. Most TZ episodes are designed with an O'Henry–ish ending. If you stop the videotape at an appropriate spot, students can predict the outcome and write an ending.

Another "take off" on this semester–long activity would be to have students document evidence that something they have been studying exists. The process of research and documentation of culpable evidence is an intriguing one. Students often mistake testimony as evidence. Once you define evidence, they begin to understand that a person can say anything, but even being under oath does not guarantee "the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Their search must include reliable sources of evidence. You might even want to help them understand what circumstantial evidence is.

Whether you use X–Files, Twilight Zone, another Hollywood production, or an invention of your own, consider the benefits of these non–traditional type projects. Admittedly, the initial investment of your time an effort is significant, but the pay off, particularly for some of your normally less–motivated students, can be significant.

(Note: If you would like to read Thompson's article in toto, there is a good chance one of the English teachers at your school is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and subscribes to English Journal.)

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