curriculum compacting
Curriculum Compacting involves accelerating certain aspects of the curriculum for individual students who have mastered certain material before it has even been taught. Curriculum Compacting provides gifted students with the opportunity to learn advanced concepts rather than sitting through instruction they don't need.
To make Curriculum Compacting effective, pre-assessments are necessary. You must ensure that a student has mastered the grade level material before allowing them to skip instruction and pursue a higher level of material. Students may have mastered most, but not all of the grade level material. In this case, the teacher should make arrangements to provide instruction on concepts the students is not fully understanding. Letting the gifted students who have mastered the majority of the content sit idly being taught things they already know does not serve them well.
Once the teacher has identified the students that are in need of some acceleration and identified any areas of weakness those students have in the grade level curriculum, he or she must design a plan that demonstrates how he or she knows that these students have mastered the grade level material and what the students will be doing while the rest of the class receives on grade level instruction. Usually, the students participating in Curriculum Compacting are capable of working independently. Therefore, the teacher can often arm the students with the necessary tools and allow them to explore a certain relevant topic on their own. Whatever the students are engaged in during the regular classroom instruction should be the same subject matter. For example, if a student has a complete understanding of the math curriculum being taught, he or she should spend the time the rest of the class is learning math doing math as well. His or her math will be more advanced than the rest of the class, but it should be math. Often, this independent work is based off of the next grade level's content.
To make Curriculum Compacting effective, pre-assessments are necessary. You must ensure that a student has mastered the grade level material before allowing them to skip instruction and pursue a higher level of material. Students may have mastered most, but not all of the grade level material. In this case, the teacher should make arrangements to provide instruction on concepts the students is not fully understanding. Letting the gifted students who have mastered the majority of the content sit idly being taught things they already know does not serve them well.
Once the teacher has identified the students that are in need of some acceleration and identified any areas of weakness those students have in the grade level curriculum, he or she must design a plan that demonstrates how he or she knows that these students have mastered the grade level material and what the students will be doing while the rest of the class receives on grade level instruction. Usually, the students participating in Curriculum Compacting are capable of working independently. Therefore, the teacher can often arm the students with the necessary tools and allow them to explore a certain relevant topic on their own. Whatever the students are engaged in during the regular classroom instruction should be the same subject matter. For example, if a student has a complete understanding of the math curriculum being taught, he or she should spend the time the rest of the class is learning math doing math as well. His or her math will be more advanced than the rest of the class, but it should be math. Often, this independent work is based off of the next grade level's content.
SAMPLE LESSON
The following is an example of using curriculum compacting in certain subjects of strength for one individual student.
resources
Curriculum Compacting Overview
The Eight Steps of Curriculum Compacting
Article about Curriculum Compacting's Effectiveness
The Eight Steps of Curriculum Compacting
Article about Curriculum Compacting's Effectiveness
references
Lazzaro, T. (2012). Compacting Curriculum. In 2 Differentiate. Retrieved April 18, 2013 from http://2differentiate.pbworks.com/w/page/860034/Compacting%20Curriculum.