Parallel Curriculum Units for Grades K–5

"This book is comprehensive, rich, and engaging. Quality teaching follows quality planning, and this is the resource you need for cutting-edge curriculum design." —Lynn Erickson, Curriculum Consultant Mill Creek, WA "I am delighted to incorporate this book into my graduate courses as I train teachers to design instruction that guides students through rigorous and authentic learning." —Thomas P. Hébert, Professor Department of Educational Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA A powerful model for linking student learning to the world How would classrooms be different if curriculum could be qualitatively differentiated so that learners not only accumulate information, but also experience the power of knowledge? The empirically based Parallel Curriculum Model shows teachers how to create a meaningful, emotive, and engaging curriculum that helps children apply what they learn to their lives. Each chapter offers specific unit and lesson plans created by master elementary teachers that can be put into practice immediately. Included are field-tested and standards-based strategies that: Focus on parallel themes in literacy, science, mathematics, and social studies Help students deepen knowledge, think metaphorically, solve problems, and identify with subject matter Challenge all learners according to their interests and abilities Create authentic, joyful, and active student involvement All students should have the opportunity to benefit from multifaceted learning experiences, and this inspiring book gives educators the methods to make it happen. The text is rich with vignettes, visuals, samples, reproducibles, and assessment tools. The possibilities are unlimited!

Table of Contents:
About the Editor About the Contributors Introduction: A Brief History of the Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) 1. Plants Alive, by Christy D. McGee 2. Point of View Under Transition: Using the Work of Chris Van Allsburg, by Laurie Boen 3. Experience Poetry (Grades 2-5), by Leighann Pennington 4. Getting to the Heart of Mathematical Numbers and Operations (Grades 2-5), by Linda H. Eilers 5. Preserving Our Identity: Learning About the History of Our State (Intermediate), by Jennifer Beasley 6. Conundrums in Criminalistics: Clues, Culprits, and Conclusions (Grades 4-5), by Lisa DaVia Rubenstein Index

About the Author :
Marcia B. Imbeau is an associate professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she teaches graduate courses in gifted education and elementary education. She is actively involved with university/public school partnerships and teaches in a local elementary school as a university liaison. Her professional experience includes serving as a field researcher for the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, elementary teaching in the regular classroom, teaching in programs for the gifted, and coordinating university-based and Saturday programs for advanced learners. Imbeau has been a board member for the National Association for Gifted Children and has served as a governor at-large for the Council for Exceptional Children – The Association for the Gifted Division. She is a past president of Arkansans for Gifted and Talented Education, a state organization that supports appropriate instructional services for all students. Working with special education colleagues, she has coauthored How to Use Differentiated Instruction With Students with Disabilities in the General Education Classroom as a service publication for the Council for Exceptional Children. Her most recent publication may be found in Designing Services and Programs for High-Ability Learners. Imbeau is a member of the ASCD’s Differentiated Instruction Cadre, which provides support and training to schools interested in improving their efforts to meet the academically diverse learning needs of their students.

Review :
"The authors have contributed a series of exemplary instructional units that should inspire teachers to design meaningful curriculum that involves students in qualitatively differentiated learning experiences. I am delighted to incorporate this book into my graduate courses as I train teachers to design instruction that engages students in rigorous and authentic learning." "This book is comprehensive, rich and engaging. It addresses the conceptual level of understanding in addition to the factual, procedural and personal areas of development. Quality teaching follows from quality planning and this is the resource you need for cutting-edge curriculum design."