RDNG 6335
Chapter 8: Ascending Intellectual Demand in the PCM
Devotional
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
Drawn in 1690, the detail of the map seen above is amazing. The superior system of longitude and latitude is present but old ways are difficult to discard as you notice the compass rose in the middle of the Oceanu Chinensis and another beyond the boundaries of the picture in the Gulfe of Bengala. These are part of the older triangular projection system of measuring distances. The legend has been lost, but if it was present, we might have a better understanding of the differences in the colored regions. The details in these regions are far superior to the area of present day China which is hidden by the banner, a common trick when the cartographer lacked enough information to draw in details. After nearly four hundred years, spelling has changed but we can still identify India and recognize the Orient. Conjuring images of adventure, the exotic Orient has often been considered mysterious, a region of unknown opportunities. At the time this map was drawn, it would have taken a sailing ship from Northern Europe nearly a year to navigate the globe to reach the exotic Far East.
John Eldredge (2005) believes the heart also takes a journey to discover the mysterious source of this innate longing within us for adventure and intimacy. "Philosophers call this Romance, this heart yearning set within us, the longing for transcendence; the desire to be part of something larger than ourselves, to be part of something out of the ordinary" (The Sacred Romance, p. 19). I Corinthians 4:5 tells us the Lord searches and exposes the motives of individual hearts. "Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God." Out of our motives flows the attitude we approach life and learning, revealing a great deal about our character. As educators, this attitude influences the heart we bring into the classroom and into the adventure of learning for our students.
Let us pray that we will never forget the attitude of mystery involved with learning new things!
Curtis, B. & Eldredge, J. (1997). The sacred romance. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Eldredge, J. (2005). The ransomed heart: A collection of devotional readings. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books
Something I learned by completing my Parallel Curriculum assignments...
- Think about something you learned by completing the 3 assignments from the last class session.
- Talk to your partner using the sentence stem above.
Components of a Comprehensive Curriculum Plan p.122-125
Content:
What we specify students should come to know, understand, and apply as a result of their participation in a lesson, unit of study, or a year in the classroom (the standards).
Assessment:
Tasks assigned to students in order to determine the extent to which they have acquired the knowledge and/or skills embedded within a performance standard or content goal.
Introductory Activities:
Created by the teacher and offered to students in order to acquaint them with a new unit or lesson, its content, and teacher expectations during the unit.
Teaching Methods:
Strategies or techniques, selected purposefully, that teachers use to instruct students or connect them with the content (see list of teaching methods on pp. 49-51).
Learning Activities:
Tasks designed to develop the knowledge, understanding, and skills specified in the content goals. They help students perceive, process, rehearse, store, and transfer new information and skills (see list of learning activities on pp. 53-55).
Grouping Strategies:
Strategies that enable teachers to arrange students in configurations most likely to enhance the acquisition of content and skills.
Resources:
A tool, data set, learning opportunity, or source of information for teachers and students. They should provoke thinking and promote clarity of understanding about content goals (see list of resources on p. 56).
Products:
A well-designed product or assignment produces tangible evidence of student learning. It is usually an assessment tool as well as a learning activity (see list of products on p. 58).
Extensions Activities:
Preplanned or serendipitous experiences that teachers orchestrate for individuals, small groups, or the entire class that expand the basic unit plans and emerge from the unit's content goals as well as students' interests.
Differentiation:
Planning instruction on the basis of students' unique characteristics: interest, readiness, learning styles, etc.
Lesson and Unit Closure:
Enables the teachers to focus student attention on what matters most—on how the lesson makes sense and how it relates to the students' knowledge, experiences, and lives.
I used to think...but now I think...
Think about something that you have learned in your life...
- Did I like what I was learning?
- Who are the professionals that use this knowledge in their daily lives?
- Would I want to become like these professionals?
Identity Parallel
- Read the 2 scenarios.
- Discuss in your groups using the following questions:
Ascending Intellectual Demand in the Parallel Curriculum Model
- Read the introduction on p. 233.
- On a post-it note, jot down your thoughts on the following two questions:
- What are the challenges teachers face in designing curriculum?
- How does the Parallel Curriculum Model address these challenges?
Stages of the Continuum
- Using the "Double Entry Journal", read about the stage assigned to your group.
- Use the left side of the journal to jot down what you read and the left side of the journal to reflect on what you think about the reading.
- Using a sheet of chart paper, write down your stage at the top and jot down the notes from the "what you read" side of your double entry journal.
- When you are finished, place your chart paper on the wall.
- When all charts are up, complete your double entry journal by walking around to read about all of the stages in the continuum.
Ascending Intellectual Demand
We are now at the end of the Parallel Curriculum text, and it is time to put everything together. The final chapter, written by two practicing teachers, shows how the heart of the Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) “is the notion that each learner should be challenged with incremental sophistication” (p. 233). Rather than creating a situation where teachers have to decide which new learning tool they must use and which ones must be dismissed as too hard to manage, the PCM gives teachers a “thoughtful blend of the best of what we know about high-quality curriculum and instruction” (p. 233).
In the PCM, Curriculum and Instruction is
- Conceptually based
- Rigorous
- Meaningful to the learner
- Engaging
- Authentic to the discipline.
The final chapter reminds teachers that we must make good decisions when selecting projects, activities, strategies, and instructional events that allow for every student to be successful at increasingly higher levels of sophistication. We want them to move along a continuum from novice to expert in the following areas:
- Knowledge
- Understanding
- Skills
- Habits of mind (dispositions)
Just like the example of white water rafting, teachers must make activities that allow the novice to be successful (without drowning) and the expert to be challenged (while in the same raft as the novice).
The authors remind us that the Ascending Intellectual Demand model (AID) is built upon five key assumptions.
- The primary goal of high quality curriculum and instruction is the development of knowledge, understanding, skills, and dispositions associated with expertise in all learners.
- The foundation for expertise is developed in K-12 classrooms with careful alignment of content, models, strategies, scaffolds, and learner needs.
- Expertise is developed over time with careful attention to balancing appropriate levels of challenge and support.
- The process of expertise development is highly personalized to the learner.
- The teacher continuously assesses the learner at each stage of the continuum to determine learner characteristics, learner needs, and the most efficient and effective instructional responses.
As you read through this chapter, you may want to make copies of the figures that show the movement from novice to apprentice to practitioner to expert. You will notice that they give examples of each of these categories in the four main content areas we teach in school. For this class, we will focus on the English/Language Arts, but some of you will surely be interested in math, science, and social science. Putting these descriptors alongside your local, state, and/or national curriculum standards will give you a sense of where students should be heading in school.
On a side note – consider your position as a curriculum writer and developer…
Novice: Some of you have already mentioned that you have very little experience writing and designing curriculum and you are unsure of some of the answers to questions in the discussion board or journal. Many of you are seeking additional support, encouragement and guidance as you work through the assignments for the class. Some have even stated that they are a little “lost” with some of the terminology and research. Your goal is to move from novice up to apprentice or practitioner.
Apprentice: Others of you may feel that you have mastered some of the basic elements and skills that frame the discipline of curriculum writing. You are beginning to interpret generalizations and themes that connect the concepts that frame this discipline. You are beginning to develop ownership of this topic, which is creating more questions for you in terms of how to use this new knowledge in your current professional role.
Practitioner: At this point, some of you are self-directed and independent in extending your knowledge of curriculum development. You have had experience in writing curriculum, and you are seeing hundreds of ways to use the information from the book and the class as you apply it to your current professional role. You are showing great task commitment and persistence in getting the assignments done and you are becoming more reflective with regards to content and skills in order to improve your understanding and performance.
Expert: Some of you hope to one day be considered experts in the field of curriculum development based on your knowledge and experience. You are the individuals who will be the scholars and researchers. (You may write the next textbook for this class!) You will be producing the knowledge within the field and you understand the need to continue to learn and grow in order to maintain expertise. You want the discipline to evolve and progress, and while you are independent and self-directed, you are also “humbled by the vastness of the discipline and seek opportunity to collaborate with other experts, particularly those who have a different set of experiences or viewpoint.” (p. 244) You will become completely engaged by the work and you will need honest feedback.
(As the instructor of this course, your professor sees that there is a continuum of expertise in the class, and responds accordingly. While everyone may have begun at a different starting point – everyone is encouraged to continue to learn to move up the continuum towards expert status.)
Since we are focusing primarily on the English/Language Arts component of this chapter on ascending intellectual demand, it makes sense to present some information relating specifically to a literacy classroom. The following information is presented by one of your textbook authors in another book she wrote. Carol Ann Tomlinson is the researcher who gave us the concept of differentiated instruction. Recognizing that not all students begin at the same level of literacy, she advocates differentiating the instruction to give all students the best chance of success. What follows is a brief overview of her differentiated instruction model. The examples are from literacy, but could be easily applied to all content areas. This is a good complement to the final chapter of our text.
A Differentiated Classroom
In a differentiated classroom, teachers differentiate content, process and product according to a student's readiness, interest and learning profile.
- Content- what the teacher wants the student to learn and the materials or resources through which that is accomplished
- Process- activities designed to ensure that students use key skills to make sense out of essential ideas and information
- Products- vehicles through which students demonstrate and extend what they have learned
- Readiness- a student's entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill
- Interest - student's imagination and curiosity is tapped
- Learning Profile- how an individual student learns
In differentiated classrooms, students demonstrating a need for
instruction beyond that of the general education curriculum should
be offered a range of instructional and management opportunities such as:
Compacting
Students are allowed to demonstrate proficiency in curriculum outcomes,
units or courses and progress to more appropriate/challenging instruction.
This reduces redundancy and allows for advanced programming.
Enrichment Clusters
Students are grouped according to ability for instructional purposes. Enrichment
clusters stress student choice and students as producers of useful products.
Interest Centers
A center within the classroom that links curriculum topics to areas
of student talent and interest in depth and breadth.
Tiered Assignments
Assignments designed for varying ability levels.
More complex assignments better meet the needs of high-ability learners.
Tiered Products
Products specially designed to demonstrate understanding
of a topic in a more in-depth manner.
Graduated Rubrics
The standard and level of student proficiency and accomplishments designed
for students and teachers to measure learning outcomes. Graduated rubrics
offer clear expectations for quality and levels of excellence to encourage high-quality work among high-ability learners.
Independent Study
Topics selected by students for in-depth study including a statement of the student's
objective, research, and planned presentation. Students design products to
demonstrate their understanding of a topic. Independent study encourages
student autonomy in planning and problem solving.
Alternative Assessments
Students are offered opportunities to demonstrate their understanding
of material learned in "real-world" ways.
There Are Lots of Ways to Differentiate....
AID Continuum
For your final component of your Curriculum Development Project based on the Parallel Curriculum Model, you will be developing an AID continuum for one of your previous curriculum projects. Take either the Core Curriculum, Curriculum of Connection, or Curriculum of Practice document you have already developed for this class, and write descriptors for novice, apprentice, practitioner, and expert for this project. You will also be developing a strategy that could allow for differentiation in the classroom
See the Assignment Sheet for the AID component of your Curriculum Development Project under Course Material for further explanation.
This marks the end of our work with the Parallel Curriculum Model. Next week, we will begin reading the Systems of Change in Literacy Education book. The information we learned from this text will be valuable as we begin to discover how to assist a school in developing the best curriculum model they can.
AID Example
Using Multiple Parallels
- Look at some examples of combining parallels within a unit of study.
- Discuss with a partner why it would be important to use multiple parallels in a unit.
Final Reflection
- Complete the final self-reflection.
- Share one reflection with the entire group.