depth and complexity modifications to the core curriculum for gifted scholars
TRANSCRIPT
• Examples are from the Language Arts curriculum but could be selected from any area.
• Some of the depth and complexity shown is beyond the reading levels of Seventh-Graders, but are provided here for the use of parents.
Depth
• Going deeper into the discipline.
• There are at least 8 layers of depth.
• Go as deep as you can.• Challenge your
students to go deeper.
Depth Language of the Discipline
Details
Patterns
Trends
Unanswered Questions
Rules of the Discipline
Ethics
The Big Idea
Language of the Discipline
• Grammar terms– Noun, verb, adverb…– Simple, compound…
• Literary terms– Prose fiction, nonfiction prose, poetry, drama– Metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole…
• General vocabulary
Details and Facts
• Observation: topics, stylistic devices, compositions, plots, character
• What does it say?
• What happens?
• What does it mean?
• Note specifics, ambiguity, relationships, gaps
Between the Lines…
Some students should learn at these levels.
As many as possible.
As deep as possible.
Patterns
• The Ability to generalize
• Genres
• Similarities and differences
• Archetypes
• Themes and topics
• What does the author say in other works?
Trends• External forces which shape
understanding of the subject matter
• Context• Eras, -isms, movements• The Harlem Renaissance• Why did the author want to say that?• Note patterns of ambiguity, gaps, relationships
Unanswered
Questions
• What the disciplinarians don’t know
• Who wrote Shakespeare?
• Where did the genius come from to write Shakespeare, anyway?
• What makes a work or writer great?
• What does a certain passage or word in context mean?
Rules of the Discipline
• The way things happen• Spelling and grammar• Conventions of writing: biography, letters,
poetry, documentation, etc.• What makes language obscene or
objectionable?• Plagiarism and
intellectual honesty
Ethics
• Dilemmas, conflicts, ambiguities• Plagiarism and intellectual honesty • The place or value of multiculturalism,
diversity, dead white men• Should literature be uplifting?• Should literature reflect one’s cultural
context?
Ethics
• What language is appropriate in a given circumstance?
• What literature is appropriate for a given classroom?
• Political correctness
The Big Idea• Generalizations, principles, theories• Archetypes: a hero is someone who stands for a
righteous cause, even against enormous odds.
Examples:• “Change is inevitable.”• The search for identity• Finding one’s voice• Justice and injustice
Complexity
• See the discipline in a broader context.
• How wide is your vision?
• Can you see in all directions?
• Challenge your students to breadth.
@Kathy Alvis PattersonClassen School of Advanced Studies
@Kathy Alvis PattersonClassen School of Advanced Studies
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma2007
(Based on OAGCT Spring Conference, 2000)
Over Time
• How ideas and individuals are seen differently in different eras:– Copernicus– Galileo– Shakespeare– Don Quixote– Thomas Jefferson– Cholesterol– Bacon
past
present
future
Points of View andPerspective
• Personal interpretations
• Narrative device
• Examples:– Worker vs. employer– Man vs. woman– Facts vs. opinions
Interdisciplinary Aspects
• How other disciplines use English
• Primary and secondary sources in literature
• Primary and secondary sources in other disciplines
• AP Tests in various disciplines
Depth and Complexity also apply in other disciplines
• Math
• Science
• Foreign Language
• English
• Fine Arts
• Career Studies
• Social Studies
• Military Science
• Athletics
Teach Your Students These Skills:
• Creativity, thinking skills, problem solving
• How to prove with evidence
• How to distinguish fact from opinion
Cluster the skills you teach around concepts of depth and complexity.
Example: When teaching any revolution, use , , , and .
Intellectual Pathway• For each student, create an individual Intellectual
Pathway to a product.• E.g., Unanswered Questions lead to Details lead
to Patterns lead to Perspectives Over Time.
• Student A:
• Student B:
• Student C: