IDM: Cultivating Cross-Disciplinary Connections

4th Grade Social Studies Lesson 

        In my time student teaching in Teri Crowe's classroom at St. Clement's Regional Catholic School,

one of the biggest challenges I came up against, particularly toward the end of the semester when I was 

solo teaching entire days by myself, was keeping track of and having enough time to get everything done.

There were multiple times when Teri would set me up to teach a grammar, ELA, or social studies lesson,

providing me with all that she needed the students to complete, and many times I ran over the time 

allotment and did not get to complete everything in the lesson. This was a real challenge for me for some 

time. Even as I became more and more comfortable running the classroom on my own, I found it

difficult at times to get through all of the material the students needed to finish, let alone implement some 

of the theory I'm learning at Fordham, or take a deep dive into some of the material. There is no time for a 

deep dive. In meeting all of the students varied needs, one feels lucky to have completed a lesson and have

the potential outcome of students being fully engaged and understanding the content. The majority of the

day was spent on ELA and math, and they were taught those subjects 5 days each week. Social Studies 

was covered 2-3 days a week and science 2 days (sometimes only once). This was all dependent on what 

other school activities, assemblies, special masses, birthdays in the classroom, and/or projects were taking

place at school.

        It is the lament of every teacher that there is simply not enough time. As discussed in my first blog, 

social studies has fallen to the bottom of the ladder in terms of being a priority to teachers in the 

classroom. With the pressure of having to prepare students for standardized tests focused on math and 

ELA, social studies and students competency in social studies has suffered. After having one semester

of experience as a student teacher, I am extremely excited about the possibilities of what IDM can do to 

facilitate deeper and more efficient & effective social studies lessons, as well as the potential for 

integrating it with ELA.

        Studies have not yet been done on the effectiveness of integrating social studies with ELA,

however, it is crucial that we as educators come up with creative ways of teaching social studies,

so that it no longer lags behind (Tackett, Pennington, & Fortune, 2023). Elements of the IDM offer

efficient and methodical opportunities to integrate social studies content into literacy instruction 

(Tackett, Pennington, & Fortune, 2023). Additionally, the IDM provides a platform for improving

students ELA achievement, as well as, exploring fictional children's literature and primary sources

through a social studies lens (Tackett, Pennington, & Fortune, 2023). This provides the opportunity for 

purposeful instruction aided by mentor texts which may in turn develop students into more well-

informed and considerate global citizens (Tackett, Pennington, & Fortune, 2023). 

        Veronica Zagora, a 10th grade social studies teacher, has implemented the integration of writing

within her social studies lessons. She observed that her students lacked the ability to transfer their 

writing skills into the social studies classroom (Zagora, 2011). It turns out after a brief survey, that her 

students didn't think the writing assignment was that important and they did not implement the writing 

steps they had learned (Zagora, 2011). Once she had her data and realized why this was taking place,

Veronica implemented a variety of writing assignments; exit passes, skeletons, a short persuasive essay, 

and a voter handbook (Zagora, 2011). With the increase in writing, she immediately noticed student 

buy-in, that is the students were rising to the task (Zagora, 2011). Along with providing a rubric, the daily 

writing set an expectation of quality, and the results of the persuasive essay and voter handbook seemed to 

point to the students understanding the relevance and value of writing in social studies (Zagora, 2011).

        Veronica found that the more integrated the writing was with the content, the less struggle the 

students put forth (Zagora, 2011). The students seemed to understand and glean that there was purpose in 

the writing and that it was feasible (Zagora, 2011). The integration of social studies and ELA is a triumph 

on many fronts; it provides students the opportunity to take these skills they learn in isolation and use 

them in a different contexts, just like they will in their college, career, and everyday adult life. 

Furthermore, it increases their achievement in ELA and better prepares them for standardized tests 

(Zagora, 2011). Finally, as educators, it relieves anxiety and helps us to feel more accomplished in 

our task of eagerly trying to meet all of our students needs in our fast-paced day.

        As I reflect on my meager yet heartfelt attempt to plan, implement, and assess the 4th grade

social studies lesson I created for the students of Teri Crowe's class, as well as, fit in the 

students grammar, english, and social studies lessons, I am thrilled to know that the possibility of 

integrating social studies with ELA is possible with IDM. While homeschooling my daughter from 6th to 

9th grade, I always felt that subjects should not be taught in isolation for that is not the way we live and

 learn in our daily life. The prospect of models such as IDM affording teachers the ability to make cross-

disciplinary connections and synthesizing more and more of the content they teach students each day,

not only allows us to be more effective in meeting our students needs, it creates a more exciting learning 

process for our students and better prepares them for the complex world in which we live.

        As I head to my final student teaching post in special education in May 2024, and prepare to have my 

own classroom in the Fall of 2024, I am excited to embark on my career as a teacher with IDM in my 

toolbox. Social studies was actually my favorite subject to teach last semester. With the powerful 

framework of IDM, I am excited to utilize this platform to teach social studies and to integrate ELA

within my the students social studies lessons. I plan on using mentor texts to enrich both the social

 studies and ELA content, as well as consolidate the students grammar and vocabulary within what they 

are learning in social studies as well. What a fun way for students to learn vocabulary and grammar skills, 

when it is all tied within a common lens. Literacy research tells us that students need a minimum of 12-15

opportunities to engage with vocabulary words each day for the span of 5 days in order for the words to 

enter into long-term memory. With IDM integrated with literacy and mentor books, students will have the 

opportunity and natural occurrence of encountering their vocabulary words over the 5-7 day length of the 

IDM. I'm excited to implement this and plan to look for other ways to cultivate cross-disciplinary 

connections. Is it possible to use IDM to tie in math or perhaps science as well? I believe if it is possible 

to integrate all of the students subjects within a common lens, we as teachers would have more efficient 

days and feel more accomplished in helping our students achieve their learning goals, and our children 

would be the blessed beneficiaries of such a curriculum; enabling them to be curious learners alive with 

excitement.