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Reading Aloud with Icons of Depth and Complexity in First Grade
First Grade, Paula Rothschild

Sandra Kaplan, mentor educator at the University of Southern California, developed icons for depth and complexity to be used for the "gifted and talented" or GATE students as they are called in California public schools. At Explorer, all of our teachers have attended the California Association for the Gifted professional development workshop. We have also been fortunate to have Nanci Cole, a master teacher from the California Association of the Gifted, work with us on ways to use these icons in our classrooms. At Explorer we don't use the nomenclature of "gifted' -- we believe in the benefits of heterogeneous classrooms and that all children benefit from the challenge to think more deeply. Therefore we use these teaching methods with all students, starting as early as kindergarten. Depth challenges the students to dig deeper, venture further and more elaborately into a current area of study. Complexity refers to broadening the learner's understanding of an area of study by making relationships and associations between and across subjects and disciplines.

As a first grade teacher, I feel one of the greatest gifts I can give to my students is a love for books and a love for reading. I often tell the parents of my students that reading to their children will arouse their child's interest in books and make the child want to read.

There is nothing greater than putting your arm around your child and reading to them. It is important also to read at level that is higher than the child is able to read himself. It is this listening vocabulary that the child hears and comprehends that will eventually become his reading vocabulary and will make for better comprehension.
Children also learn fluency from your expression and intonation. It is from a model that children learn to pause at commas, stop at periods and exclaim or express a question with their voice while reading.

In my first grade class we have a "Read-Aloud" each day. This used to be a time when the children would just stretch out on the rug and relax while listening to a story that I read to them. Now I use the icons of depth and complexity to help the students relate to the book I am reading as well as expand their knowledge and get a deeper meaning of words and ideas. Although it often depends on what we are reading as to which icons we apply, the ones I use most often in first grade are details, language of the discipline, patterns, and multiple perspectives.

The book I am reading to the class now is The Secret Garden. At the beginning of each chapter, I decide on an icon that will be thought-provoking and ask the children to focus on that icon while I am reading. For example: when Mary arrived at Misselthwaite she was very much aware that the English dialect people spoke was very different than what she was used to hearing in India. As I read that chapter, we noted when the person was speaking Yorkshire and together we tried to figure out what was being said. I recorded these words on a chart with the icon of lips to denote language of the discipline. Other language questions included:

"What does it mean to salaam?"
"What is a moor?"

Another icon that I use often is unanswered questions. Children fmd many unanswered questions in this book, such as:

"Why was Mary called, Mistress Mary quite contrary?"
"Why did Mr. Craven bury the key to the garden?"
"Why did Mr. Craven hate the garden?"

I record these unanswered questions on the charts in the student's own words with the icon next to it. If the question is answered in a later chapter we would record it at the time we find it. The students are quick to tell me the answer if it comes up in the story.

Another icon that is exemplified in the book is multiple perspectives denoted with the icon of eye glasses. I ask the students to look at Mary's behavior from her own perspective, Mrs. Medlock's perspective, Dicken's and later Colin's perspective. We record these on the chart and note how differently each person views Mary's behavior. Many agree that Mistress Mary was quite contrary although she did not see herself that way.
Some examples of multiple perspectives children found:

Edward: "Mary saw the garden as dead, no leaves, or petals and broken branches." "Dicken saw the garden as kind of alive because he knew gardens come alive again. He cut a branch and showed Mary the green inside."
Nicholas: "Colin's dad says Colin is ugly, with a hunchback and afraid he is going to die. He doesn't want to see Colin: "Mary likes Colin and thinks Colin is a really nice boy."

What I have found to be very interesting and rewarding is that those students who are not yet independent readers make worthwhile contributions to our discussions during and after the "Read-Alouds" and frequently refer to the icons in their conversations. Even though they are not able to read the material themselves, they comprehend what is being read and can participate in the discussions and make valuable contributions.
Some of the patterns observed in The Secret Garden:

Tommy: "Mary went to the garden alone, then with Dicken, then with Dicken and Colin, then she went alone, then with Dicken and then Dicken and Colin.
Talia: "Mary was contrary, then she wasn't, then she was contrary, then she wasn't."
Kendall: "The robins pattern was fly and land on a branch, fly and land on a branch when he was just learning to fly."
Grace: "Colin ordered people around, then he was nice, then he ordered people around then he wa .. nice."

As we move on in the book, students suggest icons that are exemplified in a chapter and we record those. The children can do an independent application of using the icons at the listening center where I ask them to fmd an example of an icon in the story they are listening to and write about it. Also, independent readers mark examples of icons in books they are reading with a post-it and bring it to the circle when we have literature discussions.

After listening to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, for example, Avery chose the icon multiple perspectives when he wrote,
"The children saw butter on top of mashed potatoes. It was really the sun coming up over the snow covered mountains."

Supported at first and then becoming more independent my students learn to think in these ways which broadens their understanding. These teaching strategies afford students, even at a young age, the tools to comprehend in scholarly ways and have intelligent conversations about their learning.

Note: materials for working with the icons of depth and complexity are available at jtayloreducation.com