Interdisciplinary Teaching - 402: Session 4

History is a subject that lends itself to interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Utilizing literature, visual arts, music, and various other subjects come so naturally to teaching history that it almost seems impossible to avoid using resources from other subjects. One area of United States History that particularly lends itself to interdisciplinary learning is the Harlem Renaissance. A time in history when American experienced an explosion of art, literature, poetry, philosophy, and all other forms of culture from an African American community that was re-defining itself as it cast off the previous identity of slave and victim of Jim Crow. To teach the Harlem Renaissance without including other subjects is not teaching the Harlem Renaissance at all. However, to make it truly interdisciplinary, I could move beyond reading a Langston Hughes poem and showing a Palmer Hayden painting in my own classroom. I could sit and plan with the English and Art teachers to see if we can’t align our curriculum so that the students are seeing various aspects of the Harlem Renaissance in three of their classes at the same time.

Given the logistical challenges of organizing the schedule and curriculum multiple teachers, it is much more realistic for me to think about how to pull other disciplines into my class to enhance student understanding of the Harlem Renaissance. As I said above, having the students read a poem such as The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes (link below), incorporates english/literature into a history classroom to enrich student understanding. Additionally, giving students an opportunity to view the painting The Janitor Who Paints by Palmer Hayden (link below), uses visual art to deepen student understanding of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Students could read this poem and look at this painting and interpret the meaning behind each piece of art as it relates to the African American experience in the Harlem Renaissance. Students would be encouraged to think why these artists created these specific pieces of art at this particular time. Students would use what they know about the Harlem Renaissance to gain a deeper understanding of the art, and in turn use the art to gain a deeper understanding of the Harlem Renaissance. 

I think it is a powerful tool any time you can use other disciplines to support your own content. Bringing in resources that traditionally belong in other classes gives the students an opportunity to approach your content from various angles and dig into the multiple layers of the subject area. Again, history is a perfect subject to utilize resources from various disciplines and the Harlem Renaissance, in particular, is ripe for such opportunities. 

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173693

The Janitor Who Paints

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=10126


I commented on Eirik Kingston's blog post - eirik234smc.blogspot.com