"This is the age of entertainment, so much so that it seems at times that educators and parents are more engaged in show business than education… [Children's] desperate "Please help me motivate myself!" and frantic "I'm bored!" resound in the ears of all parents and educators like a cry from nature, protesting because it lacks something that is fundamental for the good of its development."[1]
-Dr. Catherine L'Ecuyer
-Dr. Catherine L'Ecuyer
Why an integrative approach? How do we go beyond integrative to a unifying approach?
We design experiences that guide students to access and develop their intrinsic motivation to learn academic concepts. Unifying the child within the lesson means to locate their natural connection to the material. InDiGO's praxis gives young people opportunities to locate the desire to learn within. Youth learn better as they discover meaning and relevance to their lives [*]. Like every point on the planet is one intersection of a more extensive, integrative system, every academic topic is one intersection of a constellation of other physical, emotional, relational, cultural, creative, intellectual, and spiritual inroads to the same concept. One major problem is that we are so busy "driving" down one particular road most of the time, we forget to pause at the intersection to examine the constellated connections.
At InDiGO, we go beyond integrative to a unifying approach by connecting Academics, with Nature, The Arts, and Social and Emotional Learning in a whole-child-centered way. It is important to note that, "Almost without exception, students in any type of interdisciplinary or integrative curriculum do as well as, and often better than, students in a conventional, departmental teaching approach."[1] The evidence to support alternative approaches has existed for decades. At InDiGO, we go with instead of against the "internal force" within each child referred to by Maria Montessori. She went on to say, "When children come into contact with nature, they reveal their strength." It is much healthier for all involved to uplift children's innate nature rather than attempt to work against it. When a child who does not sit still in class is mesmerized by a play, story, performance, butterfly, flower, or book, a profound opportunity arises to discover what it was about that experience that made the child so unified and present and build upon it.
We live in a culture that plugs us into technology while espousing a false dichotomy between nature and civilization and a false separation between us and the air, water, food, people, and places around us. Dr. Catherine L'Ecuyer spells out the core problem with mechanistic learning. "This is the age of entertainment, so much so that it seems at times that educators and parents are more engaged in show business than education… [Children's] desperate "Please help me motivate myself!" and frantic "I'm bored!" resound in the ears of all parents and educators like a cry from nature, protesting because it lacks something that is fundamental for the good of its development."[1] At InDiGO, we believe there are many doorways into the unified space within ourselves. There, we can access our power to be present, focused, calm, sensitive, and motivated to learn from others and the world around us. We guide youth and adults to find their unique doorways for themselves.
In almost all traditional educational settings, the focus on teaching "the unit" preempts situating that unit properly within the youth's minds and hearts. Unifying the child within the lesson means to locate their natural connection to the material. A much more doable feat if we, as adults, can perceive the natural connections at that particular intersection. This holistic and integrative view represents a subtle but powerful shift of our mindset: Academics are the Arts and SEL inherently. It is our separation and compartmentalization that is flawed.
At InDiGO, we go beyond integrative to a unifying approach by connecting Academics, with Nature, The Arts, and Social and Emotional Learning in a whole-child-centered way. It is important to note that, "Almost without exception, students in any type of interdisciplinary or integrative curriculum do as well as, and often better than, students in a conventional, departmental teaching approach."[1] The evidence to support alternative approaches has existed for decades. At InDiGO, we go with instead of against the "internal force" within each child referred to by Maria Montessori. She went on to say, "When children come into contact with nature, they reveal their strength." It is much healthier for all involved to uplift children's innate nature rather than attempt to work against it. When a child who does not sit still in class is mesmerized by a play, story, performance, butterfly, flower, or book, a profound opportunity arises to discover what it was about that experience that made the child so unified and present and build upon it.
We live in a culture that plugs us into technology while espousing a false dichotomy between nature and civilization and a false separation between us and the air, water, food, people, and places around us. Dr. Catherine L'Ecuyer spells out the core problem with mechanistic learning. "This is the age of entertainment, so much so that it seems at times that educators and parents are more engaged in show business than education… [Children's] desperate "Please help me motivate myself!" and frantic "I'm bored!" resound in the ears of all parents and educators like a cry from nature, protesting because it lacks something that is fundamental for the good of its development."[1] At InDiGO, we believe there are many doorways into the unified space within ourselves. There, we can access our power to be present, focused, calm, sensitive, and motivated to learn from others and the world around us. We guide youth and adults to find their unique doorways for themselves.
In almost all traditional educational settings, the focus on teaching "the unit" preempts situating that unit properly within the youth's minds and hearts. Unifying the child within the lesson means to locate their natural connection to the material. A much more doable feat if we, as adults, can perceive the natural connections at that particular intersection. This holistic and integrative view represents a subtle but powerful shift of our mindset: Academics are the Arts and SEL inherently. It is our separation and compartmentalization that is flawed.
1. G.F. Vars and J.A. Beane, Integrative Curriculum in a Standards-Based World, ED 441618, ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, 2000, p. 34.