What is the Parallel Curriculum Model?
The Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) is a unique method of organizing your lesson plans. The PCM utilizes four main components to developing high quality lesson plans, these are: Core, Connections, Practice, and Identity.
Core:
This is where the teacher addresses the core concepts, principles, and skills necessary. This is where students learn essential understandings pertaining to a particular topic, subject, discipline, etc.
Connections:
This builds upon the core. This is the part of the plan which helps teachers and students connect overarching concepts, principles, and skills. This is to aid in student understanding of multiple concepts, content, and principles as they relate to other areas.
Practice:
Simply put, this is the piece in which students have the opportunity to practice what they have learned, and apply that knowledge to generate questions, draw conclusions, this aids students ability to act as a problem solver, creator, researcher in a field of study.
Identity:
In this piece of the PCM students have the opportunity to reflect upon the relationship between skills and ideas in a discipline and their own lives, personal growth, and development. This element is very important to the development of gifted students as it affords them the opportunity to explore and participate in a field of study as it relates to their own interests.
What makes PCM a viable option when working with gifted students?
The Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) is a unique method of organizing your lesson plans. The PCM utilizes four main components to developing high quality lesson plans, these are: Core, Connections, Practice, and Identity.
Core:
This is where the teacher addresses the core concepts, principles, and skills necessary. This is where students learn essential understandings pertaining to a particular topic, subject, discipline, etc.
Connections:
This builds upon the core. This is the part of the plan which helps teachers and students connect overarching concepts, principles, and skills. This is to aid in student understanding of multiple concepts, content, and principles as they relate to other areas.
Practice:
Simply put, this is the piece in which students have the opportunity to practice what they have learned, and apply that knowledge to generate questions, draw conclusions, this aids students ability to act as a problem solver, creator, researcher in a field of study.
Identity:
In this piece of the PCM students have the opportunity to reflect upon the relationship between skills and ideas in a discipline and their own lives, personal growth, and development. This element is very important to the development of gifted students as it affords them the opportunity to explore and participate in a field of study as it relates to their own interests.
What makes PCM a viable option when working with gifted students?
- Offers teachers the flexibility to achieve multiple purposes
- Allows flexibility to address the needs and interests of learners
- Stresses the development of talent and expertise of the fields of study
- This model does not reinforce basic knowledge, rather it goes beyond the basics to draw connections among what is known, and what is unknown.
- Allows students to assume a leadership role in conducting their own research