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University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Graduate Research Papers Student Work 2001 Alternate reading curriculum for grade 4 Cheryl A. Werner University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright ©2001 Cheryl A. Werner Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp Part of the Gifted Education Commons Recommended Citation Werner, Cheryl A., "Alternate reading curriculum for grade 4" (2001). Graduate Research Papers. 1730. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp/1730 This Open Access Graduate Research Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Research Papers by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Alternate reading curriculum for grade 4 Abstract Dubuque Community School District (DCSD) recognized the need to create alternate reading activities for the advanced readers in its elementary schools. The core reading ~iculum did not provide for the students reading at least two years above grade level. These advanced readers, who have already demonstrated mastery of the content of the basal reading program, must spend their valuable time working with alternate materials created to address their needs in the regular classroom. This alternate reading curriculum, expanded from the core, contains opportunities rich in reading, writing, research, and student choice. These differentiated activities provide the environment necessary for advanced learners. Students work with intellectual peers, utilize higher level thinking processes, develop individual talents and curiosities, and present their final products to a real audience. This open access graduate research paper is available at UNI ScholarWorks: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp/1730 Alternate Reading Curriculum for Grade 4 A Graduate Project Submitted to the Division of Education of the Gifted Department of Curriculum and Instruction In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Education of the Gifted UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA by Cheryl A. Werner March2001 This Project by Cheryl A. Werner Titled Alternate Reading Curriculum for Grade 4 has been approved as meeting the research requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in Education. Barbara D. O'Donnell Graduate Faculty Reader Charline J. Barnes lffl.te Faculty Reader Rick Traw DaieApproved f Head, Department of Curriculum and Instruction .. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABS1R.ACT ................................................................ iv I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT ....................... 1 II. METHODOLOGY ............................................... 6 ill. THE PROJECT ................................................... 10 A. Alternate Reading Curriculum Unit 3 B. Alternate Reading Curriculum Unit 3 Appendix C. Alternate Reading Curriculum Unit 6 IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......... 15 REFERENCES ........................................................... 19 ... lll ABSTRACT Dubuque Community School District (DCSD) recognized the need to create alternate reading activities for the advanced readers in its elementary schools. The core reading ~iculum did not provide for the students reading at least two years above grade level. These advanced readers, who have already demonstrated mastery of the content of the basal reading program, must spend their valuable time working with alternate materials created to address their needs in the regular classroom. This alternate reading curriculum, expanded from the core, contains opportunities rich in reading, writing, research, and student choice. These differentiated activities provide the environment necessary for advanced learners. Students work with intellectual peers, utilize higher level thinking processes, develop individual talents and curiosities, and present their final products to a real audience. lV 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT Advanced readers have needs that could not be met by the current district reading program. The Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Spotlight on Literacy reading program offered challenge activities to be used with students reading approximately one year above grade level. Classroom teachers and G/f facilitators knew these activities were not enough to challenge and extend the learning of the gifted readers in classroom settings. Students who are reading two years or more above grade level needed to have alternate activities designed for them. So, dming the 1999-2000 school year, alternate curriculum for the Dubuque Community School District's (DCSD) sixth grade reading program was written and tested. It has been implemented this year and has proven to greatly enhance the learning opportunities for the advanced reader. Teachers at other grade levels have requested the alternate curriculum to be written for their grade level. This request was the inspiration for this project. 2 The district's philosophy about writing curriculum for advanced readers was necessary for inclusion in this project. It acknowledges both the existence of, and the planning necessary for, the students for who alternate materials are critical to meet their needs at the elementary level. The following two paragraphs were taken from the alternative curriculum for sixth grade ( Gibbs, Hirsch, Meehan, & Parkin-Werth, 2000): • These materials are intended to provide challenging reading and learning experiences for those students who have already mastered the content of the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Spotlight on Literacy reading program, or for those students whose reading, vocabulary, and language skills are advanced to such a degree that they would derive greater educational benefit from working with alternate materials. (p. 1) • Most of these units have been designed so that students may work with minimal assistance or independently. It is greatly desirable for the classroom teacher, G/f facilitator, and/or the guidance counselor to interact with the students during portions of these units. (p. 1) Julie Schmit, Carolyn Wiezorek, and I decided to create the alternate curriculum for the fourth grade reading program. We offered this proposal to our district G/f facilitator, Dorothy Gibbs, and our director of curriculum, John Burgart. Both wholeheartedly embraced the plan. We then discussed the proposal with Dr. Barbara O'Donnell at the ITAG Conference. She also endorsed the curriculum project with the stipulation that each one of us would create and write two units. 3 The three of us then met with Dorothy Gibbs (personal communication, October 23, 2000) who gave us general guidelines to follow. These guidelines were based upon recommendations by the committee who created the Sixth Grade TAG Reading Enrichment (2000) and the work by VanTassel-Baska (1994) and Tomlinson (1995): • Be built upon a theme or topic from the core curriculum • Have a broad, underlying concept which has complexity and significance to society • Be rigorous and challenging • Have a strong writing component • Build research skills • Have a cross-disciplinary focus • Require a product for a public performance or presentation • Include some use of non-print media • Have a wide reading component • Contain activities which foster higher level thinking skills • Utilize technology • Have a connection to the classroom • Tie into DCSD Standards and Benchmarks In addition to the above requirements, there are other expectations for these units. Over the course of the year, students should be exposed to a wide variety of 4 genre including fi.ctio~ non-fictio~ poetry,~ biography, myths, and legends. Each unit should be detailed in such a way that students can proceed through the unit plan with a minimum of teacher supervision. A self-evaluation component and a product portfolio for presentation to the teacher must be included. Each unit should be long enough to occupy the student productively for a period of six weeks, but be flexible enough to be shortened if necessary. Core components from the sixth grade unit needed to be included in the fourth grade curriculum: the contract, research organizer, work log, and the evaluation rubric. Research bears out the fact that gifted students need an alternate curriculum that specifically deals with their needs. Winebrenner (2000) defined alternate activities in the following way: Alternative learning experiences provide differentiation opportunities in terms of content, learning processes, products, learning environment, and assessment. · The content is different because it moves students beyond grade­ level standards. The learning processes called upon are different because they provide depth and complexity appropriate to these students' learning abilities. Products differ in that they demonstrate the students' learning at advanced levels, moving beyond typical research activities to the development of individual students' talents and curiosities and the presentation of their findings to appropriate audiences. Sometimes the learning environment is also different. Even the assessment process is different because students 5 receive full credit for what they have already mastered and do not have to complete all the work assigned to the rest of the class. (p. 55) Julie, Carolyn, and I then decided to peruse the fourth grade reading program and decide which units we were interested in writing. We also discussed the need to differentiate in the units. The current sixth grade alternative curriculum does not differentiate within the unit. "The

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