Curriculum Integration

When it comes to curriculum integration, I feel that this is an automatic process that happens in my field. Health education relates to everything. Health is so broad, and there is nothing more important than an individual’s wellness and overall well-being that it makes it very easy to bring in other subject matters. The love-hate relationship I have with this field is that it connects to everything and is constantly changing, while at the same time I always feel like I’m behind on information. The reason I get behind is because of all the other content areas that focus on finding and improving information. I often find myself thinking so deep into health, that I get completely confused because I have gone into another subject matter that I do not understand. Whether it is writing descriptions of the human body, stats off food labels, history of diseases, or the biology and chemistry of general adoption syndrome, it is very important that you understand other subjects, so that you can fully understand health.
My practicum teacher was very good at understanding terms that she could use from other subjects in a relationship towards the health content. Though I recognize that health is made up of all the subjects, I often found myself not understanding the terms she used until she explained it to the class. This is one problem I do have, I am not that smart when it comes to subjects outside of health. Though I will be a life long learner, I feel there is no way I could be like my practicum teacher. There were times I would think she was a science and math teacher in her previous life. I believe in curriculum integration one hundred percent, it only makes sense. The students will understand it so much easier not just for my class, but the other subjects as well. It is part of the differentiated teaching I will do. I just have a lot more to learn from my other subjects before I can start using other terms in the classroom, but at the same time, to be a successful health teacher, you need to use and understand other areas.