6 Ways to Implement Integrated Studies as a Music Teacher

Combining concepts from different disciplines has a history of advocacy. As with any educational initiative, the distance between theory and application can become so significant that the purpose and benefits of the initiative get obscured. Teachers may start to feel that subjects are superficially joined together or that integrating another subject means taking away from the original discipline.

For me, integrating subjects has been a successful way to connect with other teachers in my building and maximize learning. In my own practice of being a music teacher, I have six things in mind to keep me grounded as I plan, execute, and evaluate integrated studies learning experiences.

1. Identify Real-Life Intersections

I begin by thinking about where subjects overlap. I look for concepts that are important to multiple disciplines. At times, this overlap isn’t seen in the posted learning standards, but as I break them down, I’m able to identify areas where they intersect.

For example, I found overlap between a fifth-grade learning standard for reading and music in Ohio:

Reading: Literature 5.4 (Literature): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, specifically distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

Music 5.3PE (Performing): Sing a varied repertoire with accurate rhythm and pitch, appropriate expressive qualities, good posture, and breath control.

Learning about figurative language is an important learning component of language arts and music. In order to sing with “appropriate expressive qualities,” it’s important for students to understand the meanings of words and phrases, so that they can distinguish literal from figurative language. In the song “Love Is an Open Door” (from the movie Frozen), singers need to understand the wordplay between the doors that they’re dancing through and the metaphor that the song expresses.

2. Be Flexible

I find that there’s often a great deal of flexibility in standards, which provides many opportunities for integrated studies.

Music 2.4 PE (Performing): Play a variety of classroom instruments, alone and with others, and demonstrate proper techniques.

Second-grade students were reading about John Henry in language arts class while the school choir was also singing “This Old Hammer,” which is about John Henry’s life. The second graders listened to the choir’s performance and added a triangle part to the song.

There are many options for meeting the music standard. By combining the work of the choir and the second graders’ language arts class, students got a deeper learning experience and connected to other students in our school. It also gave me a bigger return on the effort that I had put in to teach the choir the song.

3. Conserve Your Time

Teachers often lament that there isn’t enough time to do everything that’s required of them: meeting learning standards, implementing building initiatives, and managing many additional expectations. Teams of teachers can save time by overlapping content in several learning experiences by integrating subjects through intersection and flexibility.

I’ve recently been doing science of sound experiment rotations as part of the fifth-grade music classes to give students deeper context. As a result of planning and communication among the teachers, the fifth-grade science teaching team will spend less time than they otherwise would have on that concept, which frees them up to teach other standards.

4. Prioritize Reciprocity

Sometimes, I have to ask teachers to give up instructional time in their content areas for learning opportunities in music such as guest artist concerts and in-school performances. Because I integrate other content areas into these events and music class in general, these scheduled interruptions are now seen as opportunities for cooperation and not competition.

In the spring, we do an “International Day” performance. Each grade level sings one song from each continent, and we spend time in music class talking about continents and countries. Between each song, we show videos of planes flying across the world. We also post maps of the world featuring pictures of school community members placed on their corresponding country.

In addition to reinforcing general standards about geography and maps, International Day provides a very thorough introduction to the kindergarten unit on continents in the last quarter of the school year. Music class reciprocates the instructional time that teachers are giving up.

5. A Little Communication Can Go A Long Way

Integrated studies is sometimes thought of as a product of lots of in-depth planning and communication between teams. Meaningful integrated learning experiences can also take place with just a little communication when teachers are ready and responsive.

A few years ago, I learned that the kindergartners were taking a field trip to the zoo to culminate their continent unit. Our local zoo, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, is organized by continents. For years, I had been singing a song with kindergartners about how animals move and doing an activity where we used a map with animals labeled with the country they are found in. I added continent names to the handout I was using and moved the activity to spring to coordinate with their zoo trip. This allowed both the singing activity, the zoo trip, and the continent unit to be more meaningful based on just an e-mail letting me know about the field trip.

6. Growth Builds on Previous Growth

Integrated content grows like vines. Vines grow unevenly, fixing onto whatever supports are available, and often take unexpected turns. Vine growth is slow because it is self-supporting; growth is based off of previous growth. One of the joys of being a veteran teacher in a building with low teacher turnover is that integrated units become based on individual teachers’ strengths in addition to addressing building and community priorities. Great integrated learning takes time to develop through iteration and personalization.

Integrated Studies Support Learning That Lasts

One of the transformative ideas from the Ikea furniture company is flat pack furniture. Transporting it in smaller, easier-to-carry shapes allows it to be assembled just about anywhere. This is also what integrated studies does with learning. Presenting a particular topic from a variety of angles increases students’ cognition. Students then construct this information to create meaning and develop new insights. Integrated studies act as the delivery mechanism and the assembly process that supports deep, lasting learning.