Cross Disciplinary Thinking or Noisy Distraction? The Significance of Transformative Teaching and Its Application in Language Arts and History

This paper attempts to tease out the many meanings of the term “transformation in teaching.” First, the author studied dictionary usages, then reviewed literature in various disciplines, and finally examined what the term means in the field of education. Cross disciplinary thinking suggests that the broad meaning of this term is a principle that consists of two basic levels. The first is a personal level in which the perspectives of instructor and textbook editor are brought together. The second is a pedagogical level in which effective teaching methods are developed to transform students’ experiences. The author applies these principles to the teaching of language arts and history as reference material for teachers.