Curriculum Units

This page contains links to all curriculum units written by National Fellows from Pittsburgh.

2022

Lauren Freeman, To Infinity and Beyond: Using non-fiction text and study to promote science-fiction writing
Sean Means, The Resiliency of the African American Financial Narrative Presented through Multiple Media of Art
Shamira Underwood, Graphing the Urban Health Impacts of Rising Temperature, Air Quality and Increased Pollen

2021

Jesse K. Baker, STEAM and Human Centered Design of Biotechnology
Martine Devine, Bringing the Solar System into Our Classroom
Shaasia Jackson, Family of Empathy
Sean Means, Mobilizing Change: Lessons Learned from Obama’s 2008 Campaign

2020

Jesse K. Baker, One Clover and A Bee: The Impacts of Bee Sustainability on Biodiversity in Allegheny County
Sara R. Conway, Montessori’s Cosmic Curriculum and Biodiversity in Africa
Lauren Freeman, American Heritage: Unmasked, Unpacked & Uncloaked
Sean Means, Collusion in the Owner’s Box: How Racism and Oppression Have Built the American Sports Industry
Jenna O’Neill, Health and Public Policy

2019

Lauren Freeman, Becoming Butterflies: A Transformative Writing Unit
Sean Means, The Different Shades of the Yellow Bus
Bret M. Plavchak, Who Watches the Watchmen? How Police Militarization Has Subverted the Constitution

2018

Leigh Hall, Reflective Self Portraits: A Study of Oneself through Ekphrastic Poetry and Art
Jennifer (Giarrusso) Mazzocco, Fahrenheit 451 in 2018: Can film bring Ray Bradbury’s classic into the modern age?
Sean Means, The American Dream
Krystal Smith, Decimal Place Value: A Culturally Responsive Approach

2017

Toni Aliskowitz, Identity of Persons with Disabilities: Looking at People and Characters in Novels and Media
James Churilla, Food Preservation: From Edible School Garden to Science Table
Brittany McCann, Solving Problems Multiple Ways: Using Arithmetic and Literature – Hooray!
Beth Pellegrini, Micro Life in a Macro World: Understanding Life at the Microscopic Scale and the Spread of Disease
Debra Titus, America the Beautiful: A Look at Race and Acceptance in America through Poetry

2016

Jennifer Mazzocco, Seeking a Home: The Wiz and the Black Arts Movement
Debra Titus, Reading for Craft through an Author Study
Stephanie Zavacky, Code-Switching: From Indian Boarding Schools to Urban Classrooms

2015

Danyelle Frye, Math is All Around Us: Representing and Solving One-Step Addition and Subtraction Word Problems within 20
Jennifer Giarrusso, How Our Moral Views Shape Our Judgment of Characters in Julius Caesar
Teresa Harrold, Shaping a Multi-Dimensional Villain: Richard III
Tracy Watkins, Pittsburgh: Contending with its Steel Past

2014

Erin Breault, Lights, Camera, Immigration! An Examination of Global Cities Through Film
Cheree Charmello, From Insurgent Listener to Word Warrior: Self-advocating through Spoken Word
Jennifer Mazzocco, The Sestina: Having Fun with Form and Content
Patricia Lee, Defending a Fractions Position
Maria Orton, The magic of microbes may save our lives!
Kristie Reid, Perspectives on Life during the Revolutionary War through the Lens of Art and Literature

2013

Cheree M. Charmello, Living Texts: Analyzing S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders by Thinking, Reading, Acting, and Thinking Again
Sonia Henze, Glory Daze: Gloria Steinem’s Biography Untangles the Mystique of Feminism
Eric J. Laurenson, Fusion: The Energy of the Future?
Sheila McBride, Picturing a Different America: “Reading” Images, Reading Strategies, and Historical Contradiction — Without “Frontloading”?
Maria Orton, Effects of Genetically Modified Organisms on Agriculture

2012

Cheree Charmello, The Truth about Lies: Recognizing Lies, Stereotypes, and Prejudice through Memoir Reading and Writing
Sonia Henze, The American President and War Powers: Combatting views
Kristen Kurzawski, Stylistic Voice and Questions of Speaking for the Voiceless in The Poisonwood Bible
Maria Orton, Risk Analysis of Shale Drilling Mock Trial: Shale we or Shale we not?

2011

Sonia Henze, Reviving American Ideas: The U.S. Constitution, the Anti-Federalists and the 28th Amendment
Eric Laurenson, Building a Heart: The Function and Mechanics
Marsha Liberatore, Reading Independently with the Bluford Series
Sally Martin, Materials for the Future
Nancy VanKirk, I Got the Power! Misconceptions of Recycling Batteries

2010

Vivienne Fae Bartman-McClellan, I Use Sanitizer; Why Do I Still Get Sick?
Jane Fraser, Beyond the Wumps: Exploring Symmetry in Seventh Grade
Sonia Henze, Speak up! Presidential Rhetoric in the Modern Era
Stephanie Johnson, Approaching Literacy: The Lives of Walt Disney, Helen Keller, and Dr. Seuss
Kristen Kurzawski, Demystifying Poetry Using Women’s Ekphrasis
Eric J. Laurenson, Nanotechnology and Quantum Mechanics: Bringing High School Physics into the 21st Century
Rosemary Schmitt, Math and Design

2009

Vivienne F. Bartman, An Investigative Approach to the Brain: The 5 Senses, the 5W’s and an H
Marlene Cabiness, The Audacity of Hope for a Hopeless Generation
Cheree M. Charmello, The Sound Within: An Exploration of Prosodic Elements in Poetry
Stephanie L. Johnson, Experiencing Positive Relationships with Managing the Environment
Eric J. Laurenson, The Brain Desynchronized
Janelle A. Price, King Lear, Part II–It’s All About the Play
Elouise E. White-Beck, The Global Bildungsroman: A Film Study of Individual Identity and Integration into Society