“Motivating adolescents is a concern that middle and high school educators grapple with constantly. More decision-making opportunities for students is one solution to increasing motivation.”

Brown (2011) pg. 201

I completely agree that a major concern about educating adolescents is how to actually motivate them. How can we make them think that school is meaningful and (dare I say it?) fun? No matter the subject, the teacher, or even the student’s ability, I believe that a student must truly be engaged in his or her learning to reach his or her full potential in school. That’s why I was excited to read that curriculum integration exists, but disappointed that it seems to have only been implemented in a very small number of schools. While this article’s research was limited by such having such a small group of participants, there is something about this type of learning that just intuitively feels better than traditional education. It just makes sense that students would care more about their learning if they had a voice in choosing their curriculum. It just makes sense that adolescents, who are reaching a point in their lives when they desire more independence and autonomy, would enjoy having more control over what they do in school. I believe that along with the power of choice will come the engagement that many teachers desperately wish for students to have in the classroom. This engagement will hopefully awaken a stronger love for learning that could potentially stay with the students for the rest of their lives. 

So, if curriculum integration is a superior method of teaching adolescents (or students in general), how come so few schools have actually implemented it? Is it because schools fear that their students won’t pass state-administered examinations? Is it because it would cost more money or energy? Is it because people are simply afraid of change? If a teacher feels that curriculum integration is the way to go, but she works in a school that follows a typical curriculum, is there anything she can do to promote this new system?

This last question is something that I think about a lot. I always wonder about how much power teachers realistically have to make changes within their school or within the larger scale of education. I worry that it may not be very much. How much can teachers really do in this regard and how can they go about doing it?