Integrated Cirriculum

I think that the main thing that was reinforced to me during this presentation was the fact that you can't just teach for the sake of teaching. There needs to be a point and some sort of an emotional connection between the students and the material that you expect them to learn. Try and connect your subject to real world examples and get the really strong learning. There are still some times where you need to teach some boring facts and or dates but for the most part there should be more to the lesson than just facts.
I learned the big difference between a thematic unit and an integrated unit. A thematic unit is much easier and more realistic. Thematic units are the way most teachers are teaching. However, the integrated lessons and units are amazing for the students because they get to actually connect two or more different subject matters together. Also, these units can help students find other ways to connect to a weaker subject by using the stronger subject in connection. These units take a lot more work, so it is nearly impossible for teachers to teach these units all year long. Also, these units incorporate a lot more of the multiple intelligences and can make a real emotional connection to the students. The worst question to get while you're teaching is "when are we going to use this?" or "why are we learning this?" so these integrated units can really stop these questions from arising.