There’s a new unit at Taft coming called the Interdisciplinary Unit. This is a unit to help students transition into their new year and introduce sophomores to the Varsity Campus. Sophomores, freshmen, seventh graders, and eighth graders are the students included in this unit. The purpose of the unit is to help students explore and experience change.
There’s one teacher per subject and per grade level planning the unit: they’re teachers who teach different subjects: Math, English, Science, and History.
Language and Literature teacher Maggie Madden is part of the IDU team at the sophomore level. Madden said the goal is to ensure all students understand Taft is an IB school. Madden stated, “I think that students will hopefully get an answer to the question, ‘How will I use this outside of the classroom?’”
Madden wants students to use the skills and knowledge that they learn in the classroom in the real world. She said the goal was to ensure that all MYP students understand that Taft is an IB school.
Math teacher Michele Saporito is another teacher participating in the IDU team at the sophomore level. Saporito is optimistic about the unit and believes that they’ll have fun with it. She said the goal was for students to explore Taft’s identity and transition to the Varsity Campus. Her contribution to the program is teaching students about data analysis and how to survey.
Chemistry teacher Niki Safakas is planning the science curriculum of the unit for the sophomore level. She’s optimistic about the unit and said, “It’s a really cool idea, Interdisciplinary Units are required by the IB.” She believes that it’s ambitious that there are four subjects: English, math, science, and history. She said she helped develop the chemistry side of the unit and will help combine science and chemistry.
Safakas believes that the unit will help students strengthen their identity at Taft and what it means to be an IB student. She believes that students will be able to use their academic knowledge in different classes and outside of school. The end goal for students is to be open-minded and obtain skills.
Seventh through tenth grade students can look forward to starting their year with the Interdisciplinary Unit this August!
