Raise the Roof for Gifted Learners:

Low Floor, High Ceiling Strategies We Love

Questioning Strategies

  • Thinking through how to scaffold questions for advanced thinking. These books provide sample ladders and in-depth explanations.

  • Thinking through purpose can help us up our game when it comes to asking great questions. Ian Byrd explains.

  • Student-led questioning starts with a structure, and See-Think-Wonder is just the visible thinking strategy to get you started!

  • Roger Price’s ambiguous images provide a great launch pad for inspiring curiosity and student questioning.

  • Provide students a framework for asking better questions.

Adding Layers

  • The Depth and Complexity Framework consists of Universal Themes, Critical and Creative Thinking, Thinking Like a Disciplinarian, the Content Imperatives, and the Depth and Complexity Icons. Learn more at the Center for Depth and Complexity.

  • Closed start, closed end, OPEN MIDDLE—unleash your mathematical creative thinking using problems with no clear solution path.

  • Add complexity by leaving out bits of information over time and let your students do the heavy work of learning. Dan Meyer’s incredible database of Three Act Tasks can be found here. If you want a more detailed explanation on integrating these, check out his TEDTalk.

  • We love a Socratic Seminar because it takes the teacher out of the equation, forcing the students to be the meaning-makers. Check out this great guide here.

  • Ambiguous entry points invite curiosity and novelty. Check out this great set of WODB exemplars to use in your classroom.

Extending Beyond

  • Analogies force students to forge connections, and creative analogies add an additional wrinkle that up the game for our gifted students. Read more about these here.

  • In these analogies, each answer is correct—our job is to figure out what makes each correct! See more examples and read more about implementation here.

  • When we ask students to consider how unlike things must go together, we forge deep connection. Read more here and here.

  • We love this kinesthetic way to get students considering connections from all angles. Read more here.

  • Compass Points is a great tool for helping students Think Like Experts and consider content from strategic angles.

  • Value Lines help students consider their positions while exploring other perspectives. Explore classroom applications here.

  • From the incredible Andi McNair—invite students to take a deep dive into their passion while tackling projects with purpose and structure. Learn more here.