Transdisciplinary Teaching and Learning are the Lessons of Today
Abstract: This paper examines a general approach to teaching and learning through the case examples of two honors ELA/History courses (World and US History). Both English Language Arts and History are about the self and society, collective and personal narratives, the construction of memory and the act of remembering, and the choice of words and stated details in storytelling. This is tied to psychologies, fears, and acts of questioning, empathizing, reacting, listening and again questioning. In order to best connect with today's youth, to make knowledge and understanding gained "stick" and obviously relevant, I propose a transdisciplinary or anthropological approach guided by the concept of participant-observation, the study of bias through mixed mediums of communication, and the examination of the architectural, musical, dance, literary, philosophical, religious, economic and political stories that are our history and our present.