GT Back to School Planning: 3 Reading Strategies

 

We have reached the final day in our back to school planning series! Thank you so much to everyone who has followed along, sent messages, commented, and supported. It has been so fun sharing my knowledge of gifted education in this outlet – I hope it has helped at least one person as we prepare to go back to school!

 

The final blog post is going to be 3 reading strategies for differentiating the thinking. I use each of these strategies on a consistent basis and I would love to hear if anyone else does! Please leave comments or reach out to me at [email protected]!

 

Reading Strategy 1: Depth and Complexity

 

I could have an entire blog post on Depth and Complexity, but for now we will focus on using it within reading…

 

When I began teaching gifted education, I had never heard of depth and complexity before. Since learning about it and slowly implementing it, I have become the biggest fan. Teachers within my district were trained a few years ago on it, and it seems to be used to different extents in each classroom. Because of this, I have loved getting to explore it in different facets with different teachers.

 

What is depth and complexity?

 

To be stated basically: Depth and Complexity is a strategy to implement that helps students move towards deeper thinking. There are 11 icons that can be used to prompt student thinking.

 

There are AMAZING educators who explain, teach, and support this strategy. Here are a few of my favorite places to get started learning about Depth & Complexity:

 

1. Byrdseed.com – Ian Byrd is an absolute GENIUS with the most incredible quick articles to help teachers implement all things differentiation. From a breakdown of Depth & Complexity, to the exploration of thinking vs remembering – if you are a gifted teacher, you need to find time to read EVERYTHING on his website.
2. Gifted Guilds Guide to Depth and Complexity – This book by Ian Byrd and Lisa Van Gemert is a lifesaver. When I teach a lesson on a depth & complexity topic, I always (and I mean ALWAYS) quickly read the chapter on the icon from this book before. What I love about this book is that it teaches you how to make sure you are going to a deeper level with the icons rather than staying at a surface level. Before teaching depth and complexity, I highly suggest getting this book to read and reference.

How do I use D & C…

 

Both of the resources I mentioned above are incredible for ideas on implementation. But, let me share what I have done in the past (specifically for reading)…

 

As a K-2 GT teacher, I LOVED being one of the first people to introduce D&C icons to students. One of my favorite ways to do it was through picture books. Especially when working with my younger students, they enjoyed being able to read any book and discuss the D&C topic in depth. Below are a few examples of book pairings:

 

 

After understanding D&C a bit more, I decided to create mini units that I could use with any picture book. The goal of these units were to allow group discussions and independent practice time. This was a great strategy for me to use with small groups in the classroom because students were able to independently practice the skill after.

 

Here are a few of the units I created:

 

 

 

Click the images above for links. “Rules” coming soon!

 

There are so many great resources for D&C on TPT – especially for upper grade students. If you haven’t used it before, I highly suggest learning more about it and implementing it in your classroom cross-curricularly!

 

Reading Strategy 2: Picture Books for Deeper Thinking

 

Every good K-2 teacher knows the impact of picture books, but I am always so curious as to why they stop being used as much in upper grades. Because of my love for picture books, I constantly used them for their ability to elicit deeper conversations.

 

Last year, I began a hunt for picture books that could facilitate higher level thinking. As I found them, I took time to create higher level DOK questions. Many times, as teachers, we read a book and discuss it, but as we ask questions along the way, we do not ask deeper questions. Tying into this weeks blog post on DOK levels – if we do not PLAN for deeper thinking, its not always natural to think of those questions on the spot.

 

For example, we find ourselves asking “why did she go into the woods?” rather than, “how would the story be different if the woods were a different location?”.

 

Because of this, I began creating higher level questions to pair with picture books. These were awesome because they could be used whole/small group with teacher questioning OR they could be used as independent comprehension practice with students reading the book and responding to the questions printed on sticky notes.

 

Though I only created questions for 10 books, this was relatively VERY easy to do and could be a great way to plan center activities/ small group lessons/ or independent practice at the beginning of the year (based on student independence)

 

Here is the link to the books I created questions for:

 

 

 

I also have a blog post discussing the use of picture books in the classroom more in depth. Click here to read it.

 

Finally, if you’re feeling stuck asking higher level reading questions. Angela (Lights Camera Teach) created one of my FAVORITE resources for asking higher level DOK reading questions. All you have to do is finish the sentence stem. Check it out here: Editable Depth of Knowledge Sticks

 

Reading Strategy 3: Analogies

 

The last strategy I LOVE to use to elicit deeper thinking, but it isn’t typically thought of for reading…analogies.

 

An analogy has 4 parts – the first two relate in some way and the following two have to have the same relationship. For example: Red is to Strawberry as Yellow is to Banana. They follow the same pattern. Sometimes they are also written: Elephant : Trunk :: Dog : Tail.

 

There are a few ways you can use analogies, but one of my favorite ways is to give students the first word and have them complete the analogy. This allows them to think of a relationship and apply the relationship to two other words.

 

For example, I may give the word “party”. One student may say: Party : Balloons :: Pool : Diving board (the relationship is “an object at the place”). Another student may say: Party : 5 :: Cat : 3 (the relationship is how many letters the word has).

 

Using analogies this way supports student interpretation, analyzation, creativity, and comparison. Many deeper level thinking skills.

So how can I use it in reading?

 

One way you could apply this to reading is by giving students one word and seeing what analogy they create. This one work could be a name, a setting, or even a phrase!

 

Another way to use analogies in reading is through vocabulary words. What relationships can the students create with new words they have learned?

 

My favorite strategy: you could begin by making the analogies yourself, cut them up, and have students unscramble them. You may find that students build relationships from the words that you didn’t anticipate (but still work!).

 

 

THANK YOU!

 

Thank you for joining me on this week long series: Back to School Planning for Gifted Kids. I have loved hearing your thoughts and comments – continue to join the conversation! If you ever have questions, do not hesitate to find me on instagram @giftedwithgoldens or email me at [email protected] 

 

Incase you missed the other blogs:

 

• Blog 1: Depth of Knowledge
• Blog 2: Critical Thinking
• Blog 3: The 4 C’s 
• Blog 4: Low Prep, High Thinking Strategies
• Blog 5: 3 Reading Strategies