Creating Quality Curriculum for Gifted Learners Cindy Sheets KGTC 2008 cindysheets@smsd.org

Overview What is curriculum? What is justifiable gifted curriculum? What are the components of quality curriculum? What makes curriculum a good fit for gifted learners What makes curriculum good for life-long learners? (Is it possible to learn and have fun at the same time?)

Fluff ’n Stuff Justifiable Curriculum Meet the needs of gifted learners Differentiated from general curriculum, but based on core concepts/skills Embed skills in a larger curriculum – not isolated Gifted facilitators as leaders in curriculum design and modification

What KIND of Curriculum is Best for Gifted Learners? Content Based Curriculum (Joyce Van-Tassel Baska) Parallel Curriculum Model (Carol Tomlinson et al.) Concept-Based Curriculum (H. Lynn Erickson) Problem-Based Curriculum Multiple Menu Model (Renzulli et al.)

Some Underlying Assumptions About Curriculum . guide students in mastery key information, ideas, and the fundamental skills of the discipline. help students grapple with complex and ambiguous issues and problems. move students from a novice to an expert level of in the disciplines. provide students opportunities for original work in the disciplines. help students encounter, accept, and ultimately embrace challenge in learning

prepare students for a world in which knowledge expands and changes at a dizzying pace. help students determine constants in the past and in themselves while helping them prepare for a changing world. help students develop a sense of themselves as well as their possibilities in the world in which they live. be compelling and satisfying enough to encourage students to persist in developing their capacities. (The Parallel Curriculum Model, Carol Tomlinson et al.)

“Teachers who are beginning to implement concept-process curriculum models are discovering techniques to help students think beyond the facts. With a student population that has been trained to think more about facts than ideas, the transition can be difficult. It takes patience and perseverance on the part of the teachers, but if they persist, students will begin to understand that facts relate to bigger ideas.” (H. Lynn Erickson, Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction)

What about Standards and Objectives? And those TESTS!

Checking the “Standards” Are they really just objectives? Skill based, instead of concept-based? Discreet skill instead of big ideas? Do they challenge students to go beyond factual thinking – knowledge and comprehension?

Questions to ask yourself . . . What do you really mean when you say “I’m teaching a unit on __________”? Why are you teaching a unit on ______? What is the “big idea” or important lesson you want students to understand from this topic or unit? What do you want student to know, understand or be able to do?

Concept Based Curriculum ++ Promotes greater depth of understanding Provides transferable learning Provides structure for students Promotes higher-level thinking Less emphasis on facts Motivation!

Designing Curriculum Starting From the Big Idea What are the principles or concepts we can explore? What are the essential questions that can be asked about these concepts? What content would best illustrate these concepts? Which processes should be taught or applied?

What types of skills will students need to be able to demonstrate? What instructional products might be used to demonstrate understandings? What activities will help the students “uncover” the “big idea?”

Structure of Knowledge Facts Fact s Principles Generalizations Theory Topic Concepts

Teaching for Meaning and Understanding Understanding big ideas in content is central to the work of students Students can only find and make meaning when they are asked to inquire, think at high levels, and solve problems. Students should be expected to apply knowledge and skills in meaningful tasks within authentic contexts.

Ten Components of a Comprehensive Curriculum Unit* Content Assessment Introduction Teaching Strategies Learning Activities Grouping Strategies Products Resources Extension Activities Modification * As outlined in “The Parallel Curriculum Model” by Tomlinson, et al., 2002

Does that Make it Gifted? Is it differentiated? Is it adapted, modified, or a replacement of general education curricula? Is the pace a match to gifted learners? Are there opportunities to extend or go beyond the basic unit or curriculum? Are there opportunities to explore personal areas of interest, or to highlight personal strength areas? Does it demand sufficient depth and higher level thinking – not based just on “factual” learning?

What About the Affective Domain? Creativity Creative production Creative problem solving Understanding of Self Intrapersonal skills Social Skills and Interactions Embedded within the curriculum

Two Units Awake Curiosity!

Paleontology

Why Paleontology? Why Puzzles? Science is a process of putting together puzzle pieces until the “big picture” becomes more clear Theories change over time Inquiry science process skills Understand the nature of science Practice methodologies and skills used in the discipline

Would you like to be a Paleontologist? Fossils My, how dinosaurs have changed Careers Create-a-saurus Museum (Evolution) The Big Dig

Tyrannosaurus Charles Knight

Make-a-Saurus My Life with Raptors and Other Dinosaurs The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins

Bambiraptor – KU Museum of Natural History

From the Farmer’s Field to the White House More than fun with fruits and vegetables

A Unit for Fourth graders Data collection and analysis; graphing Creative skills Propaganda and Persuasion Tie in to election year themes or other

What are we Learning? Surveys & questions Demographics Data collection Organization Graphs and Charts Analysis, Evaluation Research Ad appeals Creative production Presentation skills Creative language and persuasion Technology skills

Is that on the Test?

More, More, More . . . Mock Trial Genetics Bridge Building Artifact Exchange Seminars Messages From Space (Astrobiology) Archaeology (DIG) (Interact) Video Production Robotics

Middle School Examples Middle School Curriculum planning Principles Template Example

Resources and References The Parallel Curriculum: A Design to Develop High Potential and Challenge High-Ability Learners, Carol Tomlinson, et al, Corwin Press, 2002 Understanding by Design, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, ASCD 1998 Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction: Teaching Beyond the Facts, by H. Lynn Erickson, Corwin Press, 2002 The Multiple Menu Model: A Practical Guide for Developing Differentiated Curriculum, by Joseph Renzulli, Jann Leppien, and Tom Hays, Creative Learning Press, 2000 Content-Based Curriculum for High Ability Learners, by Joyce Van-Tassel Baska (with Catherine A. Little) 2002