9-12 Cluster Assignment

For the scope and sequence assignment, I chose American History for a 9-12 cluster. High school clusters are quite different from other grade clusters, but they also hold some similarities. For example, high school clusters are subject specific, for example history/ social studies, math, etc. Grades 6-8 are similar in that courses are also subject specific. In PK-2 and 3-5 clusters, however, clusters are based on grades, not subjects, thus making studies interdisciplinary. Because of this, scope and sequence is different. In a high school, cluster planning is done based on an individual subject or topic (such as World History and American History being two separate courses), whereas at an elementary level, planning can be done by mixing multiple subjects in one. For example, an English and social studies unit at elementary level can be incorporated by writing about different community helpers (i.e. teachers, police, doctors, etc).

I will provide two examples I have personally observed. This month is Spanish heritage month, and at work the elementary Spanish and music teacher have teamed together to integrate Spanish heritage and music. In music, students have been learning about Spanish musicians and learning Spanish songs. My second example is from high school, and shows that collaboration can happen at all levels and between all subjects. My junior year of high school my American History teacher and English teacher collaborated on a research project. Students were to pick a topic from the song “We Didn 't Start the Fire,” and research the historical topic and write a paper based on it (I chose Watergate, if you were