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Schoolutions: Curious Educators. Evidence-Based Strategies. Classrooms Where Every Child Thrives.

The Step-by-Step Process to Build Your Own Integrated Curriculum

July 24 · 39 min · Season 2 · Episode 35 · 28.3 MB
0:00-39:15

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Leah Mermelstein returns to Schoolutions for S2E35 to make the case for bending curriculum instead of buying a new one for literacy instruction every few years. She walks me through the exact process she uses with school districts to build integrated units of study, work that pulls reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar together around real content like a kindergarten animal unit or a fourth-grade historical fiction study tied to local history.

The conversation covers:
💫What teaching with fidelity actually means (hint: it's not "follow the script")
💫How to form a teacher cadre that drives instructional coaching and professional development
💫Why starting with a school's mission statement changes the whole planning process. 

Leah even lays out six concrete steps: form a cadre, root the work in the mission statement, set priority goals, connect grammar and vocabulary to what's already being taught, build in cumulative and spaced practice, and plan for real independence.

Episode Mentions:

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Leah Mermelstein returns
1:10 Cornelius Minor: being in time, bending curriculum, pro-kid
4:30 The NAEP scores and why they matter here
7:15 What integrated curriculum looks like: the animal unit
11:00 Teaching with fidelity vs. bending curriculum
15:20 Step 1: Forming a curriculum cadre
17:40 Step 2: Starting with the mission statement
19:30 Step 3: Priority goals and enduring understandings
22:00 Step 4: Connecting grammar and vocabulary
23:18 Step 5: Cumulative and spaced-out practice
27:00 Step 6: Planning for purposeful independence
31:00 Reading student writing to guide instruction
33:45 Nell Duke's Active View of Reading and the "We-Do" model
36:30 Reboot, Revamp, Refresh Writing Summit, June 14th
38:00 How to reach Leah Mermelstein
39:00 Dialogue, not debate
40:00 Closing thoughts

Schoolutions is the podcast for educators and school leaders, families and homeschoolers, and the coaches, counselors, and mentors who believe every student deserves to thrive. Join our community of educators committed to cultivating student success, inspired teaching, and creating inclusive classrooms with a pro-kid mindset focused on the whole child.

🌿Ready to grow alongside your children? Book a coaching session with me here. We'll unlock the expert who is already within you and surround you with a community of educators committed to forever getting better through collective expertise.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

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When teachers, coaches, administrators, and families grow together, they create schools where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged, supported, and ready to thrive.