Professional Development
Starting with grade-level material and trying to extend up is a fool's errand. It's SO much simpler to aim high and scaffold down.
After looking at dozens of lessons folks sent in, I came up with three big ideas to address.
The word "Create" can mask low-level tasks. Here's why I avoid using it in objectives.
So many of us say, "I want to challenge my students!" But, would you want a job that you describe as "challenging"?
What separates difficulty from complexity? And why do complex tasks lead to much more natural differentiation?
My early lessons didn't even have objectives, let alone good objectives! Here's how to build four-part, differentiated lesson objectives.
High-level questions on their own simply aren't enough. We must create sequences of questions!
Depth and Complexity is a powerful, but often misunderstood, framework for teaching students to think more like experts.
How can we ask questions that make students think rather than just remember?
How much time do students get to think? How much time do students need to think? How can we bring those into alignment?
Students who breeze through school may run into problems in college.
Here's how Joelle Trayers gets even her youngest students ready to think in unexpected ways.
Universal Themes are an easy way to connect lessons, units, and content areas, even going across grade levels, and into students' personal interests.
Combine higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy with the prompts of Depth and Complexity!
Adults can limit anxiety by implementing the Five Question Rule.
Here's how one teacher uses inductive thinking to help students respond to literature.
Rather than giving students rules to apply to websites, let them analyze websites to create rules.
With inductive thinking, students will work from parts to whole, discovering big ideas along the way!
Adults can learn to help students reduce anxiety with the tool Worry Time.
Here are a bunch of ways to quickly practice creativity with your students for zero dollars.
How to go deep into conflict using the Content Imperatives.
Cindy Phan shares her method of introducing watercolor to students using a mosaic technique.
Even our youngest students can learn to think from multiple perspectives!
We think of gifted kids as only having academic needs, but - in their own words - they also have many needs of the heart.
In a Concept Attainment lesson, we give students examples and non-examples of a concept -- without telling them what that concept is!
Who would win in the Tournament of Most Honorable Presidents or Least Useful Geometric Shapes or Bravest Shakespearean Characters? Create an academic tournament and watch your students' brains sweat!
Ask students to go beyond "I don't like it" and form critical opinions based on a set of criteria. Students can produce written arguments or turn their opinion into oral presentations.
Take direction instruction beyond a monotonous practice of the same skill over and over.
Why being good at many things can be a bit of a burden.
How can our students be so different? And how can we help them to understand themselves and each other better.
Math is a particularly tricky subject for asking higher-level questions. Here are a couple of techniques I've used to prompt students to think, not merely calculate.
Use these puzzling images to build a classroom culture that is comfortable with curiosity, ambiguity, and taking intellectual risks.
What if your students designed your classroom layout?
The thinking behind my weekly Puzzlements mailer.
When differentiating, most teachers simply start in the wrong place!
What separates our on-level writers from our advanced writers?
In some areas, a student may be shockingly advanced, while in others… surprisingly average. This is asynchrony in action.
Learn to lead a lesson that is built entirely on student curiosity.
Melanie Bondy explains how compacting will help you to “shrink the curriculum” and give students opportunities to use their time more effectively.
Is creating nine, two-sentence tasks really an effective way to differentiate?
Why buy premade posters when you can show off your students' thinking about Depth and Complexity?
I spent about a decade making some pretty major mistakes in my use of depth and complexity.
Let's see a few examples of how Depth and Complexity slides nicely into any graphic organizer.
Know any kids who, despite their brilliant minds, have a bit of a hard time keeping things in order, turning things in on time, or remembering to put their names on their papers?
Do you know a student who's a little bit… intense?
A delightfully ambiguous framework that is quick to prepare, but can last forever!
Melanie Bondy, of Mine Vine Press, explains how to accelerate curriculum for your advanced students.
Learn to use the Content Imperatives, a set of five additional tools that work with Depth and Complexity.
As a new teacher, I only knew one model of instruction: Direct Instruction. I was like a chef who only knew how to deep fry!
What would it be like if students graphed characters from stories? Historic leaders? Elements from the period table? Objects in space?
Just because a task is "creative" doesn't mean students are at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Rather than just learning about one structure, let's climb Bloom's and think more deeply.
Here's a simple task that will add complexity to any content from any grade level!
A few quick tips on how to better use graphic organizers to support higher-order thinking.
Why just "identifying patterns" isn't deep enough.
Here's how you can move from merely "summarizing a text" to a high-level task that culminates in synthesis.
What would the pie chart look like for these three situations: the teacher asks the students, a student asks the teacher, or a student asks another student a question? I can tell you my pie chart would have been very lopsided.
Fixing an under-developed (but interesting) task that was originally part of a choice menu.
Some kids are exposed to a wide range of classic art, music, and films at home and others aren't. Let's even the playing field by quickly integrating classics into our lessons.
How knowing your material well easily becomes a curse… and what to do about it!
A high level of thinking also requires the support of thoughtful scaffolding.
So students can identify a simile, metaphor, and hyperbole. What next?
Giving a definition just doesn't cut it! Use the Frayer Model to explain (and assess!) vocabulary.
Want your students to ask better questions? Why not train them to inquire!?
Analyze is like a gateway that connects the lower- and higher-levels of Bloom's. But make sure you're truly asking an Analyze-level question!
A collection of helpful tips about differentiating through pre-assessment.
Comparing fraction strategies? Let's take it even further!
While "engagement" is fun, it shouldn't be our main goal.
How to improve questions at the "evaluate" level of Bloom's Taxonomy.
I update an old question about conflict and character change in the story Hatchet.
How can you tell if your students' social-emotional needs are being met on your campus?
So your students can identify a story's problem and solution. Then what?
Here's how I got better at using the Think Like An Expert technique.
How to memorize the countries in Africa, the Japanese writing system, or a deck of cards.
How I'd improve a low-level question about a story's genre.
How I'd upgrade a dull "which one is better" question.
Lisa explains how Log Cabin Living changed her classroom environment. Sort of.
For too long, I let my students turn in blah Big Ideas. Here's how I fixed it.
How I'd update a low-level, overly engaging math question.
When should teachers take the time to build an advanced version of something? And when should they just let students move along?
Go beyond merely explaining strengths and weaknesses and get students thinking in interesting ways.
This task is all about the product, but completely ignores how students will think.
How I'd break down and rebuild a task about judging a volcano.
How to use a classic to revamp a study of context clues.
How do you know, when you're walking through a class, whether the students are receiving appropriate work?
A big, impressive product doesn't mean that there was big, impressive thinking.
Student products give an instant glimpse into whether differentiation is happening on your campus.
You're implementing Depth and Complexity, but how do you know if you're doing it well? Five things to look for.