Model Overview Intellectual Benefits Academic Benefits Social-Emotional Benefits

Parallel Curriculum

This is a good representation of the
four parallels in this model. The
core in our case is the common core
curriculum. It is where the teacher
goes to know what the students
need to know and where their
learning should be headed for
further understanding in higher
grades. The connections come
from making the learning connect
to more than one area of the
curriculum. This means that social
studies topics can be taught in
language, math and science. It
helps make the information more
useful and applicable to their life
experiences. The practice is
allowing the students to have hands
on interactions with material to
help them gain concrete
understanding as well as practice
like professionals in the field. The
identity component allows the
student to feel competent in their
understanding. This may lead to a
peaked interest.
This model has a lot of benefits for
young learners. The connections
and practice components help guide
young learner to the importance
and application of what they are
learning. They are able to have
more conversations about what
they are learning because the
content is incorporated throughout
the classroom. The practice offers
concrete opportunities for them to
use tools and manipulate materials
like the professionals in the field.
The emphasis on working like the
professionals demonstrates for
them why the learning in relevant
and applicable. It also lets them
know that there is more to learn so
that they can continue to learn and
gather more information on their
own.




This model helps the teacher
focus on the whole child and a
comprehensive way to design a
lesson for the students. It will
help with differentiation because
there are at least four areas of
the lesson that can be tailored to
small groups or individual
students. This means that
students are able to learn at
different paces, learn deeper
content and be assessed using
various methods.
The opportunities to plan for
students to work in different ways
are numerous in this model.
Students can demonstrate
understanding of the concepts in all
areas of the classroom which means
that they can work in groups to
create presentations, write a play or
even debate. Students can also do
independent research to write
papers, contact experts and do
demonstrations. Because the
content is presented in all of the
areas the students should come out
of the unit feeling confident in what
they have learned and experienced
throughout the unit.
Integrated Curriculum This model has three integrated
dimensions: 1. Emphasizing
advanced content knowledge,
where the level of challenge offer is
advanced from the initial planning
of the unit. 2. Providing high-order
thinking and processing. This is
where the students are expected to
work using the more complex
models of thinking such as Pauls
Elements of Reasoning (1992)
Students will not be asked to just
recall information. The emphasis
will be on the ability to synthesize
and apply understanding to
complete new task. 3. The lessons
and units are designed around
complex issues and themes that will
help make the learning relevant and
applicable.

This model is innately rigorous. It is
a model designed specifically to
meet the needs of gifted students.
It supports the way they learn,
supports those who may display a
keen interest and also supports
accelerated learners.
The benefits of this model for
students at the primary level is
that it keeps the teacher focused
on the higher level of questioning
and assessing that may be
overlooked because a lot of the
learning that usually takes place
at this level is based on the
students ability to recall
information.











The expectations of this model for
higher levels of learning make it
necessary that students be able to
collaborate. This level of
collaboration may be a little
advanced for primary students to do
without adult assistance. It does
offer the opportunity for students
to begin to practice some
conversational skills that are
emphasized by the common core
curriculum.


















Multiple Menu The main planning focus of this
model is having students gain
understanding in three different
areas of knowledge acquisition.
The first is a basic understanding
where the learner is acquainted
with a topic. This is called the
knowledge-of where they have
heard about it, can give a general
definition and may be able to tell a
few things about the topic.
The next level of understanding
called knowledge-about, which is
where more in depth knowledge is
gained. The teacher uses the
multiple menus as a checklist to
make sure this type of in depth
learning is taking place. The last
level of understanding is called
knowledge-how, where the
student is able to develop the field
through investigative methods.
This is when all the learning and
lessons of the past spark a
questioning attitude in the student
about a topic. This usually happens
over the course of many years so in
these early years it is up to the
teacher to expose the student to
rich learning experiences.
Because this model is so focused on
the acquisition of knowledge in a
systematic fashion, students
understanding can be tracked on
the menus and the students can
move through the lesson at their
own pace. It also makes the teacher
keep in mind the appropriateness of
the type of knowledge that will be
acquired based on the age and
ability of the learners.
The lesson developer can track
the students knowledge gains in
several different areas of focus.
This helps lead to a rounded level
of understanding of the topic.
Students are also given the
opportunity to create concrete
representations of their
understanding that best fits or
challenges their learning styles.
This is a great model to use with
kindergarten students because it
helps touch on different learning
methods so that the teacher and
student get a better
understanding of the learners
style. It lets the student try
different methods of representing
and presenting their
understanding.
The menu options allow for
students to work in different
configurations. The developer
and/or the student can pick how
they work. The teacher and student
can work together to make sure the
student gets a balance of
socialization opportunities over the
course of the lesson or unit.

Sources:
Renzulli, Joseph S. "The Multiple Menu Model for Developing Differentiated Curriculum for the Gifted and Talented." Gifted Child Quarterly Fall. 1988: 299-309.
VanTassel-Baska, Joyce, and Susannah Wood. "The Integrated Curriculum Model." Learning and Individual Differences Vol 20(4). Aug. 2010: 345-357. Web. 6 Aug.
2014. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608009001125>.
Tomlinson, Carol A. The Parallel Curriculum in the Classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin, 2005. Print.