STEP  ONE - BRAINSTORMING  IDEAS 1 to 2 meetings
Introduction		First, review and keep in mind the criteria for a topnotch interdisciplinary unit:
Process			1.  The unit needs to be an investigation, a set of activities through which students gather information, experiences, and ideas that help them answer a key question. Often, the richest units seem to have a social studies focus even though all content areas have deep connections to the key question.
Step One
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Step Three			2.  The unit needs to have rigor in all content areas.  If the topic seems exciting in science, English, and social studies but the mathematics connections are weak, then the topic should be discarded.  Every teacher must be convinced that the unit is worth the class time it will take.  Sometimes, it is helpful to call an educational resource person in a content area to pick her brain for ideas about connecting a content area to a topic.
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Step Seven Step Eight			3.  Technology needs to be embedded in the unit in a way that all students have a chance to get their hands on it. Do not think only about how the teachers can use technology to manage the unit; think about how students will use technology to gather, interpret, and present information.  The culminating task for the students uses technology to communicate the results of the students’ investigation.
			4.  The topic must have relevance to students.  Relevance arises when the topic is an issue with some bearing on their lives, or when the topic has a deep local tie-in, or when the topic deals with events of national or international significance.  All of the units highlighted here make strong use of local resources.
		Second,  brainstorm ideas about topics.
		You will need several copies of this Topic Brainstormer.
		Don’t worry about the four criteria at first, but keep them in mind.  Each teacher probably has one or two ideas - give everyone a chance to share ideas.  Perhaps a cruise through the local newspaper will give ideas about issues that would be good topics.  As the list of possible topics grows, consider these questions:
		Can the teacher in each content area see connections between the topic and his subject?  Is there some excitement about the topic as the team discusses it?
		Do a few resources beyond the textbook come to mind as the team discusses a topic?  Do these include community people and agencies, media, electronic technology?
		Would students like this topic?  Will they be able to connect to it because it is a current issue?  local?  relevant to their lives?
		Third, pick the team's one or two favorites, but keep all of your ideas.  At this point, stay flexible.  You may like an idea that will need to be discarded.  You may come up with a new and better idea.
		If you are stuck, push the STUCK button to learn about the brainstorming experiences of some of the pilot teams.
		Fourth, discuss the logistics of teaching the unit and begin to consider these questions:
			How long a unit does the team want to develop?  How much class time should be devoted to it?  The team should eventually reach consensus on this.
			When would be a logical time of year to teach the unit?  The time of year may depend on the topic ultimately chosen. A pilot team teacher found unit timing to be important.
		This is the end of Step One.
		Save three minutes for NEXT MEETING.
		Take three or four minutes to pause and Reflect on how the meeting went.