Here’s a Depth and Complexity question I found on an old worksheet:
What title would you give this chapter? Explain why your title fits the chapter’s 🏛️ Big Idea.
Sure, I’m using Depth and Complexity. But how am I asking students to think? Bloom’s Taxonomy is much more important than Depth and Complexity. (And it’s not even close! I wrote about that here.)
Get To “Analyze”
Picking a title for a chapter is a way of summarizing the chapter. And summarizing is down in the lower half of Bloom’s. Maybe we’re at “Understand” or perhaps “Apply.”
My goal is always get to Analyze. To me, Analyze is the gateway to the highest levels of Bloom’s (I wrote more about Analyze here). When students Analyze, they’re comparing, contrasting, and categorizing.
So, we need two ideas to compare!
My idea: have two characters create titles for the chapter based on their 👓 perspectives.
But… I start to run into a problem in re-writing the question.
👓 Pick two characters from the chapter. How would they 🏛️ title this chapter differently based on their experiences?
It’s dull. It’s wordy. I don’t like it.
Get Specific!
The question’s core problem is that it’s so generic. It’s not about a specific book, let alone a specific chapter. It suffers from Vagueness Disease.
I cannot write a great question if I don’t know what I’m asking about! Beware of questions that are not connected to specific content. I see this problem all the time. (It’s usually a big clue that the question was made up for professional development, not forged in the fires of a classroom.)
So, let’s get specific. Let’s say we’re reading A Wrinkle In Time. It’s Chapter Two. I’d want two particular characters to summarize the chapter from their points of view:
- Write a three sentence summary of this chapter from 👓 Charles Wallace’s perspective?
- What title would Charles Wallace give this chapter?
- Write a three sentence summary of this chapter from 👓 Calvin O’Keefe’s perspective?
- What title would Calvin O’Keefe give this chapter?
- Write a paragraph in which Charles and Calvin discuss their choices for the title. In the end, they should agree on a new title which reflects both of their experiences.
See why it’s important to ask specific questions about specific content? I can pick two characters with drastically different opinions about the chapter. Compare that to our original
Original What title would you give this chapter?
If I only asked this original question, I’m setting myself up for, “I’m done, Mr. Byrd, what do I do now?” And, of course. I have nothing planned!
With this re-written sequence, there’s SO MUCH room for my most brilliant students to stretch their minds and surprise me with their clever thinking. And, no, of course not every student will get to every step. That’s differentiation!