Learn to design exemplary Parallel Curriculum Units from the experts―classroom teachers! What is the best way to incorporate the four parallels into your Parallel Curriculum Unit? How do teachers using the Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) craft units based on the PCM and why do they utilize certain elements and downplay others? What does a complete Parallel Curriculum Unit look like? This compilation of Parallel Curriculum Units provides a close-up look into the development of PCM units and how those units work in actual classroom settings. The Parallel Curriculum in the Classroom, Book 2 reflects a variety of Parallel Curriculum units spanning primary, elementary, middle, and high school levels of instruction and encompassing the disciplines of social studies, science, art, math, and language arts. Across each unit, the authors present a framework of three essential components in an effective Parallel Curriculum Unit: The big picture of grade level, subject, goals, and standards - The unpacking, or step-by-step explanation of the unit - The reasoning behind the unit design Whether using each parallel independently or combining all four parallels into curriculum design, teachers will find the units included here are exemplary models for creating their own parallel curriculum units. Use them as professional development tools to help plan thoughtful curriculum based upon the Parallel Curriculum Model! "You will ′hear′ the thinking of curriculum developers about how and why they crafted the units based on the PCM model, the requirements of their teaching context, and the needs of their students." ―From Book 2 -- From Book 2 Published On: 2009-01-21 Carol Ann Tomlinson ‘s career as an educator includes 21 years as a public school teacher. She taught in high school, preschool, and middle school, and worked with heterogeneous classes as well as special classes for students identified as gifted and students with learning difficulties. Her public school career also included 12 years as a program administrator of special services for advanced and struggling learners. She was Virginia’s Teacher of the Year in 1974. She is professor of educational leadership, foundations, and pol­icy at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education; a researcher for the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented; a codirec­tor of the University of Virginia’s Summer Institute on Academic Diversity; and president of the National Association for Gifted Children. Special interests through­out her career have included curriculum and instruction for advanced learners and struggling learners, effective instruction in heterogeneous settings, and bridging the fields of general education and gifted education. She is author of over 100 articles, book chapters, books, and other professional development materials, including How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, Leadership for Differentiated Schools and Classrooms , the facilitator’s guide for the video staff development sets called Differentiating Instruction , and At Work in the Differentiated Classroom , as well as a professional inquiry kit on differentiation. She works throughout the United States and abroad with teachers whose goal is to develop more responsive heterogeneous classrooms. Sandra N. Kaplan has been a teacher and administrator of gifted programs in an urban school district in California. Currently, she is clinical professor in learning and instruction at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. She has authored articles and books on the nature and scope of differenti­ated curriculum for gifted students. Her primary area of concern is modifying the core and differentiated curriculum to meet the needs of inner-city, urban, gifted learners. She is a past president of the California Association for the Gifted (CAG) and the National Asso­ciation for Gifted Children (NAGC). She has been nationally recognized for her con­tributions to gifted education. Jeanne H. Purcell is the consultant to the Connecticut State Depart­ment 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 Con­necticut. Prior to her work at the State Department of Connecticut, she was an administrator for Rocky Hill Public Schools (CT); a pro­gram 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 En­glish teacher, community service coordinator, and teacher of the g