Preparing Pre-service Teachers for the Twenty-First Century: A Dual-Disciplinary Approach for Business and English Education

Three teacher educators piloted an integrated curriculum project with two methods courses in business education and English education in support of current trends in team teaching and multidisciplinary studies such as the Interdisciplinary Teacherʹs Handbook (1996), the Pennsylvania Keystone Integrated Framework (1997), and the Improving Americaʹs School Act (1994). The 25 students in the 2 combined classes formed 9 smaller teams and engaged in developing a 10-day unit plan that integrated business and English curricula for high school students. The student teams had 12 weeks to work on the units in and outside of class; they then used both technology and oral communications skills to deliver a 20-minute presentation discussing the units to the combined classes. This study explains the goals and requirements of the integrated curriculum projects and discusses the subjects and topics the students selected. The study also discusses the advantages and disadvantages to having pre-service teachers engage in an integrated curriculum activity and shares the discoveries of the instructors of these methods courses.