Parallel Curriculum Units for Social Studies, Grades 6-12

Jeanne H. Purcell is the consultant to the Connecticut State Depart-ment of Education for gifted and talented education. She is also director of UConn Mentor Connection, a nationally recognized summer mentorship program for talented teenagers that is part of the NEAG Center for Talent Development at the University of Con-necticut. Prior to her work at the State Department of Connecticut, she was an administrator for Rocky Hill Public Schools (CT); a pro-gram specialist with the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, where she worked collaboratively with other researchers on national issues related to high-achieving young people; an instructor of Teaching the Talented, a graduate-level program in gifted education; and a staff developer to school districts across the country and Canada. She has been an En-glish teacher, community service coordinator, and teacher of the gifted, K-12, for 18 years in Connecticut school districts and has published many articles that have appeared in Educational Leadership, Gifted Child Quarterly, Roeper Review, Educa-tional and Psychological Measurement, National Association of Secondary School Principals' Bulletin, Our Children: The National PTA Magazine, Parenting for High Potential, and Journal for the Education of the Gifted. She is active in the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and serves on the Awards Committee and the Curriculum Committee of NAGC, for which she is the co-chair for the annual Curriculum Awards Competition. Jann Leppien served as a gifted and talented coordinator in Montana prior to attending the University of Connecticut, where she earned her doctorate in gifted education and worked as a research assistant at the National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented. She has been a teacher for 24 years, spending 14 of those years working as a classroom teacher, enrichment specialist, and coordinator of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Montana. She is past president of the Montana Association for Gifted and Tal-ented Education. Currently, she is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Great Falls in Montana. Leppien teaches graduate and under-graduate courses in gifted education, educational research, curriculum and assess-ment, creativity, and methods courses in math, science, and social studies. Her research interests include teacher collaboration, curriculum design, underachievement, and planning instruction for advanced learners. Leppien works as a consultant to teachers in the field of gifted education and as a national trainer for the Talents Unlimited Program. She is coauthor of The Multiple Menu Model: A Par-allel Guide for Developing Differentiated Curriculum. She is active in the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), serving as a board member and newsletter editor of the Curriculum Division, and a board member of the Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students.

About the Editors About the Contributors Introduction: A Brief History of the Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) 1. Becoming a Geographer (Grade 6) - Heather Burke Background Information Content Framework Unit Assessments Overview of the Unit Lesson 1: Climate and Seasons Lesson 2: Investigating World Populations Lesson 3: Shop Around the Globe Lesson 4: The Culture of Geography 2. Through the Looking Glass: A Unit for Reading/Writing/Social Studies Intervention Classes (Middle School) - Dawn Vier, Lisa L. Ward Introduction to the Unit Content Framework Unit Assessments Background Information Unit Sequence, Description, and Teacher Reflections Lesson 1: Introduction?"Who Am I?" Lesson 2: The Pursuit of Happiness Lesson 3: Authentic Authors Lesson 4: Sociocentrism Lesson 5: The City Lesson 6: The Great Depression Lesson 7: A Sign of the Times Lesson 8: Persuade Me! Lesson 9: Planet Earth 3. Subversion and Controversy: Sociological Considerations of Humor, a Cross-Curricular Unit in Sociology and Literature (Grades 7 and 8) - Kelly M. Dausel Background Information Content Framework Guiding Questions for Each Parallel Unit Assessments Overview of the Unit Unit Sequence, Description, and Teacher Reflections Lesson 1: Introduction to Sociology and How Sociologists Think Lesson 2: Humor in Society Lesson 3: Humor in Communication Lesson 4: Sociological Research Lesson 5: Curriculum of Identity Creative Extension 4. True Story-Telling: How Historians Construct the Past, Grade 10 - Catherine Little Background Information Content Framework Unit Assessments Overview of Key Lesson Ideas/Purposes Lesson 1: Selective Memory Lesson 2: Constructing History Lesson 3: The Past Through Many Eyes Lesson 4: Who Writes History? Lesson 5: What Makes the History Books? Resources Index

"There is a freshness to Purcell and Leppien's approach transforming the curriculum into a platform for active investigation of our rapidly changing world. Your learners become 21st-century social scientists as they engage in probing timely issues and problems." -- Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Curriculum Expert and Author "All teachers want to provide high-quality curriculum for their students, but this goal is often not easily accomplished. The four social studies units in this book provide a clear view of what high-quality curriculum based on the Parallel Curriculum Model should look like and how it should be implemented. The units include high-end achievement targets; highly engaging lessons; innovative instructional strategies; activities that stimulate high-level thinking; and pre-, formative, and summative assessments. After reading these units, teachers will have a clear understanding of what makes high-quality curriculum." -- Karen L. Westberg, Associate Professor of Education