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Playlist: Bookmarks

Order, Chaos, and the Holiday Season

Let’s write a holiday song about order and chaos!

Student Introductions With Depth, Complexity, and Frames: Level Two

Once students know the prompts of Depth and Complexity, let’s take them much higher up Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Depth and Complexity and Graphic Organizers

For Teachers

Let’s see a few examples of how Depth and Complexity slides nicely into any graphic organizer.

Random Emoji Prompt Generator

Click up an interesting, visual writing prompt suitable for any grade or purpose.

Discussing An Important Decision from History

How would people with two different perspectives discuss a decision from history?

Introducing Universal Theme of Change

Everything changes. But how does it change? Students brainstorm dozens of examples and boil them down to one big idea.

Introducing Universal Theme of Systems

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Systems? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.

My Top 5 Depth and Complexity Mistakes

For Teachers

I spent about a decade making some pretty major mistakes in my use of depth and complexity.

Not Like The Others: Branches of the US Government

How is each part of the United States Government not like the other parts?

A Lunar Survival Mission

A favorite of mine! This task is delightfully complex and ambiguous, forcing students to make choices without enough information and with no right answer. How will they survive on the moon for three days?

Holiday vs Holiday (from a Mascot’s Perspective)

Want something to do during the holiday season that is both fun and involves thinking? Get students writing about what a snowman would think about Halloween or what a ghost would think about Thanksgiving.

Generalization: Change Leads to More Change

Can you think of a time in your life when “Change lead to more change?”

Generalization: Systems Are Made up of Other Systems

A clock is a system. So is a rainforest. So is your school. Once you see systems inside systems, you can’t unsee it.

Depth and Complexity – An Introduction for Teachers

For Teachers

Depth and Complexity is the most powerful framework most teachers have never heard of. Here’s what it actually is — and isn’t.

Paragraphs: Systems of Sentences

Blow up a paragraph into individual sentences. Now reassemble it. The clues hiding in each sentence will surprise you.

Create A Civilization: A Change In Government

It’s a great moment for your civilization! Power is moving from the hands of a few to a more democratic government.

Student Introductions with Complexity and Frames

How have you changed over time? Students introduce themselves through the lens of change — and learn a Depth and Complexity tool in the process.

Student Introductions With Depth and Frames

Want to introduce the tools of Depth and Complexity and learn more about your students and introduce the Frame graphic organizer? Have I got the activity for you!

Math Curiosity: The Coloring Problem

No video gets me more email from students! How few colors can you use to color in any map so that no two, neighboring regions are the same color?

Math Curiosity: Primes and Squares

Can any perfect square be written as the sum of two primes?

Depth and Complexity: 📈 Trends

Has something been changing recently? What might be causing that? What are the effects?

Depth and Complexity: 👄 Language of the Discipline

Imagine a construction worker who doesn’t know the name of a screwdriver or a doctor who can’t remember what to call your neck. It’s pretty hard to communicate well without knowing the 👄 Language of the Discipline!

Depth and Complexity: ❓ Unanswered Questions

This underutilized tool focuses students on what we don’t yet know and even what we can’t know.

Depth and Complexity: ⚖️ Ethics

Want to add drama to any topic? Use the Ethics prompt!

Depth and Complexity: 🚦 Rules

Is there a consequence for not doing something? You may have found a rule!

Depth and Complexity: 🏛️ Big Idea

Let’s get students thinking big and focusing on more abstract ideas.

Depth and Complexity: 📚 Across Disciplines

No topic is an island! With the 📚 Across Disciplines prompt, students note connections within and across multiple fields.

Depth and Complexity: ⏳ Change Over Time

Want to get students thinking about how a topic has changed or might change in the future? The ⏳ Change Over Time thinking tool is just what you need!

Depth and Complexity: Patterns

Can your students spot anything that repeats? Or that has stopped repeating?

Depth and Complexity: 🌻 Details

Get kids focusing on the small, but essential, details of a topic.

Analyze Character Change with Depth and Complexity

Your students will use Depth and Complexity to note how a character’s main trait changes across a story.