1. Modifications to the Core Curriculum for Gifted Scholars
Depth and Complexity
Modifications to the Core Curriculum for Gifted Scholars

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Depth Language of the Discipline Details Patterns Trends
Unanswered Questions
Rules of the Discipline
Ethics
The Big Idea

5. All students should learn these levels.
On the Page…
All students should learn these levels.

6. Language of the Discipline
Grammar terms
Noun, verb, adverb…
Simple, compound…
Literary terms
Prose fiction, nonfiction prose, poetry, drama
Metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole…
General vocabulary

7. 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

8. Some students should learn at these levels.
Between the Lines…
Some students should learn at these levels.
As many as possible.
As deep as possible.

9. Patterns The Ability to generalize Genres Similarities and differences
Archetypes
Themes and topics
What does the author say in other works?

10. 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

11. 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?

12. 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

13. 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?

14. Ethics What language is appropriate in a given circumstance?
What literature is appropriate for a given classroom?
Political correctness

15. 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

16. Complexity See the discipline in a broader context.
How wide is your vision?
Can you see in all directions?
Challenge your students to breadth.

17. @Kathy Alvis Patterson Classen School of Advanced Studies
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
2007
(Based on OAGCT Spring Conference, 2000)

18. Over Time
How ideas and individuals are seen differently in different eras:
Copernicus
Galileo
Shakespeare
Don Quixote
Thomas Jefferson
Cholesterol
Bacon
past
future
present

19. Points of View and Perspective
Personal interpretations
Narrative device
Examples:
Worker vs. employer
Man vs. woman
Facts vs. opinions

20. 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

21. Studies should be as broad as possible..
In other sources…
Studies should be as broad as possible..

22. Depth and Complexity also apply in other disciplines
Math
Science
Foreign Language
English
Fine Arts
Career Studies
Social Studies
Military Science
Athletics

23. 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

24. “Don’t limit yourselves to what your teachers know: Surpass them.”

25. 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:

26. Use Depth and Complexity concepts to elaborate any topic or unit.
Give of
Look for
Use to shed light on
Pull apart the you encounter.
Discover if are due to insufficient , unknown , or issues.