Introducing Depth and Complexity

I read a query on a FB group for gifted education. They were asking how do you introduce Depth and Complexity. In the beginning? In a certain order?

So I wanted to share how I do it. Remember I work with little ones-they have never heard of these concepts before.  I start with Multiple Perspectives. I read:

I show the kids how if I stand up on the table my perspective changes. I have them stand in their chairs and look around. What is different? This story is told from the perspective of a school on the first day. How does our school feel?

The next one I introduce is Ethics. Ethics is my favorite concept from D&C. I ask them questions-is it ever ok to steal? (this is going to be an interesting conversation this year when "Thou Shalt Not Steal" is framed on our wall.)  Anyway is it ever ok to steal? They always say no. What if your baby is starving? (the Jean Valjean argument) What if there's a hurricane and my neighbor's not home but I know he has batteries? It is important to me that the students learn ethics are not black and white. Right and wrong is not always black and white. So every day as part of our ELA warmup I give them a question to discuss.

Some examples:

It is ever right to lie?

How what is the difference between fair and equal?

Should teachers treat all students the same?

Should kids treat all teachers the same?

Should girls be soldiers?

Should we always share? (Giving Tree is a great story for this idea).

Is it ok to break a rule?

The students discuss and learn how to make an argument. I give them sentence stems to help guide them "I agree with that because..."  or "I do not agree with that because". By the end of the year they are expert debaters. :) (the parents love that).

Next I introduce Rules. What is always true about something? What is always true about a car? What is always true about our school? What is always true about teachers? The car is my favorite discussion they say "all cars have tires" and I show them a picture of a car on cinder blocks. All cars have a roof-I show them a picture of a convertible. It's hard to set "rules" for things because there are often exceptions.

Unanswered Questions-my students come to me not knowing how to ask good questions. As part of our daily warm up for ELA I show them a picture. What questions can you ask? 

What is going to happen next? Are they on the same team? How do we know?

You can ask math questions as well:

    

How many cars? Are there more white cars or red? What is the temperature?

The key here is not answering the questions, but coming up with questions to ask.

That is where I start. Then we focus on these concepts for a while before introducing the others. 

Book Recommendation

This summer I have been participating in a book study with Donna Lasher at Big Ideas for Little Scholars. She is a tremendous resource for gifted education if you do not already follow her, I highly recommend it. 

She suggested this book:

I broke my self-imposed book buying probation to pick up a copy and I was happy I did. There are many highlighted pages and has been very thought provoking as I examine my own practice. Now, my district was taken over by the state and I am prohibited from implementing a lot of these ideas-but I think I can sneak it in. :) 

He talks about the way our students brains are rewired today. And I see this in my own classroom. My kinder students last year were begging for validation constantly. Look-I wrote my name! "Johnny good job" and Sally says "what about mine?". I always say to them what do you want me to do like and subscribe? But there is scientific evidence to explain this. They literally get a dopamine rush when they get that validation. 

I also liked the chapter about teaching kids progress over perfection. I have even made connections to this in my own life. I have been taking better care of myself this summer but not really seen the results I was hoping for. But it's progress that counts. He calls this "snailing it". Slow and steady wins the race.

He talks a lot about engagement and how we can use the way students learn today to develop better lessons. 

I don't read a lot of professional development books because especially teaching young kiddos I usually have trouble finding ideas I can use. But I recommend this one.  

Chapter Read-Alouds for Young Learners

I am a huge believer in reading to students above their grade level. Not only does it help build vocabulary and comprehension skills, it also allows for more deep conversations. Getting to know a character over time, tracking their arcs really allows for complex challenging activities.

I usually begin with Charlotte's Web. A classic that I think still holds up. We read the first chapter at the end of the day on the first day of school. (I skip over the whole axe part). This leads to conversations about whether or not animals communicate with each other, with us-maybe not in words but in gestures and expressions. We learn about the word "humble" and "radiant". One of my favorite memories was when I was reading a line that said something like "she stepped back and marvelled at the web". I explained what the word marvel meant and one of students said "I love that word. Marvel". I know she was echoing something I often said when we hit a word I loved.

After that I pretty much know my students and factor that into what to read next. This past year they really didn't have much of an attention span. So we read:

One of the best examples of voice I have read for young children. I read Wedgie's part (a high energy corgi) with him talking very fast and they get a real kick out of that. :) Gizmo is a guinea pig who wants to conquer the world and Wedgie is your average superhero dog. My class last year loved this book so much they begged me to read the sequel too. 

This is one of my favorite books to incorporate depth and complexity concepts. 

This character changes so much Over Time. We see him through Multiple Perspectives and he offers something different to each person who owns him. We can talk about Trends in dolls and toys-has it changed over the years or are there classic ones? And the deepest discussion on whether it is better to love and lose than never to love at all. And yes, even my Kinder kiddos get it and think some deep thoughts about this. I like to read the Velveteen Rabbit and compare/contrast the stories as well.

The rest of what I read depends on the class. One year I had a class obsessed with wolves so we read A Wolf Called Wander. I have read the Wizard of Oz, Beverly Cleary (old school I know)-Mouse and the Motorcycle. I like other Kate Dicamillo stories like Tale of Despereaux. We have read the One and Only Ivan and even the Wild Robot (although this one is pretty long). 

I love the conversations and writing activities we can do to incorporate the themes of these books. If i need a journal entry idea we can write about this. Most of my students are not read to at home-whether it's because they don't have the resources or parents do not believe it is worthwhile (just read an article about how Gen Z thinks reading to your kids is boring). Modeling fluent reading is so important for young learners. Comprehension withtout relying on pictures is essential too. So many benefits!

An Hour of How to Incorporate Rigor in Early Childhood

I have shared this before but I thought it was time to share it again. I wanted to share the way I incorporate rigor with my young learners. 

I know sometimes it's hard to know where to start or maybe you are looking for new ideas. I have no way of tracking how many people watch it but maybe it will help someone. Free professional development right? :)

Rigor In Early Childhood