Ian Byrd - Gifted Guilds Guide to Depth and Complexity

Gifted Guilds Guide to

Depth and Complexity:

Finding Your Way Through the Framework

Ian Byrd

Lisa Van Gemert

Gifted Guild

2019

Copyright 2019 by Ian Byrd and Lisa Van Gemert

All Rights Reserved

Dedication

for Henry

Acknowledgements

T he world is a far better place because of the hundreds of thousands of teachers who work tirelessly and selflessly to engage students and enrich their lives. Without you, we would not have set out to write this book in an attempt to help you in some small way. We hope our respect and admiration for you shines through the pages.

To all the educators weve had the wonderful opportunity to meet in professional development, at conferences, through Twitter and in your emails, we want to say thank you for inspiring us and encouraging us in this endeavor. Without your experience and suggestions, this book would not exist.

Had Bette Gould and Sandra Kaplan not created the idea of the framework decades ago, and had Bettes son, John, not carried on the work, Depth and Complexity would not even exist, and so while thank you seems insufficient, we offer it. Thank you for sharing the idea of the framework with the world.

To Mary and Steve, our patient spouses, thank you for listening to one side of our phone conversations, brainstorming ideas with us, and supporting us in taking this risk.

Onboard

H AVE YOU HEARD of Depth and Complexity and wondered what it was all about? Have you seen the icons and felt curious about whether that was all there was to it? Have you been using the Depth and Complexity framework, but lack confidence that youre implementing it fully? Have you struggled with taking integration to the next level? Do you ever ask yourself, But what do you do with it?

If any of these questions sound familiar, youve picked up the right book. In this book, we will introduce you to the framework from scratch, so even if youve never heard of it before, you will be a master by the end. If you are already a power user, well be sharing different ways to take your Depth and Complexity practice to the next level.

Why You Need This Guide

Until now, there just hasnt been a comprehensive guide to the Depth and Complexity framework. Learning about it has been a game of telephone. People have relied on one-hour sessions at conferences or the ever-popular Google search. Some lucky individuals have had better training, but its often a single day, and theyre left wondering if theyre doing it right. The results are often less than satisfactory because the people running professional development or writing about Depth and Complexity online have rarely had deep training in the framework. As a result, the same misconceptions and limitations have been passed along like an urban legend. We have longed for a resource that is well-thought out and presented with useful examples for teachers.

Thats what this book is for. We have heard the question, Is there a book? literally hundreds of times. The answer has always been, Unfortunately, no. Now, were happy to say, Yes, and its a game-changer.

Were educators who have used the framework in our classrooms with success, and we truly believe in its power to help us raise student thinking. While were best known in the realm of gifted and talented education, Depth and Complexity is for everyone, and well be sharing how it works with all types of learners.

Your Unofficial (Somewhat Irreverent) Guide

This is an unofficial guide, meaning it is not endorsed by, nor connected with, the company that owns the copyright of the icons. Because of that, we may share some ideas that are slightly different from what youve heard before. We are definitely not saying that this way is the only way or even the authorized way. One of the issues has been that there is no authorized way. Thats great for education freedom, but tricky when youre just starting out and want to know how to do something!

Were teachers, so were sharing ways we have found Depth and Complexity to work best in actual classrooms with real students. Many of the ideas are things weve seen others do and adapted. Unfortunately, weve been doing this a long time and dont remember where we got them all, but just a shout out here to all of the teachers who use Depth and Complexity and have given us great ideas over the years.

Who We Are

Were Ian and Lisa, and were excited to share our ideas with you. Were writing the book together, and well use the term we or even sometimes I to mean either or both of us, so dont worry about trying to keep track of who is who. Ian is Ian Byrd of byrdseed.com and Lisa is Lisa Van Gemert of giftedguru.com. Together, we founded giftedguild.com, a community for teachers. This new venture is exciting for both of us, and were particularly excited to be sharing something we both love, Depth and Complexity.

Our hope is that this book will answer all of your questions and, most importantly, get you excited about what Depth and Complexity can do for you in your classroom. We want to take you beyond the pictures to the power that lies in the framework.

Why We Love Depth and Complexity

Do you ever think about all there is to teach your students and feel a little bit like your stomach just fell through your feet? Do you ever look at the gap between where your students are and where they need to be and feel a little dizzy? We truly believe that Depth and Complexity is as close to a one-size-fits-all solution as you can find. It works well with students of diverse backgrounds and abilities, in every content area, and at every grade level.

The book is designed to be practice-based. That means that well share the theory and background necessary, and then well show you exactly what it looks like in different content areas, a wide variety of grade levels, and with varying student ability dimensions. Well share real-life work from real-life classrooms. Youll get up close and personal with teachers who are using the framework with great success in their classrooms. Youll get everything youd get if you were in a face-to-face training with us, and more.