SPIRIT Journey: Integration
“Integration”, means “the act of bringing together the parts of a whole,” from Late Latin integrationem “renewal, restoration,” and from past participle stem of Latin integrare “make whole, renew, begin again”.
There is a lot of talk in education about integration, but in many different, and sometimes confusing, ways.
Integration (with inclusion) means that exceptional students are being partially taught in the mainstream classroom and that activities are adapted so that these students can “fit in” with their mainstream peers…to make part of the whole.
Then, there is an integrated curriculum, which allows children to pursue learning in a holistic (whole) way and brings out the interconnectedness of all curricular areas.
Integrated skills focuses on the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking through a holistic communicative language teaching approach bringing all these skills together and not used in isolation.
There’s also integrated lessons, integrated technology, integrated classroom, integrated schools, integrated teaching, integrated learning, integrated data, integrated systems, integrated “you name it”.
There are so many buzz words in education that incorporate the word "integrated". So, why is that? And is the word "integration" related to the word "integrity"?
The concept of making connections and bringing those parts together to make a whole lot of sense out of things when learning so that we can move up Bloom’s Taxonomy and apply them to our lives and the real world is the key to lifelong learning and becoming a whole, well-rounded, self-actualized (Maslow’s Hierarchy) human being.
But are we truly applying the concept of integration faithfully and truly in education? Are we maintaining our integrity in the use and application of the word?
