Over the past week, I’ve been sharing lessons we’ve been doing with students on Bloom’s Taxonomy, as well as studies and ideas on the general idea of helping students reflect on if what they are learning in school is relevant to their lives (see Why Is It Important For Students To Learn About Bloom’s Taxonomy? and “Relevance” & Student Learning).
Today, students began to post on our class blog short responses to the question:
“Is it important to to learn about Bloom’s Taxonomy?”
You can see the first twenty or so responses here, including a couple of Fotobabbles.
The vast majority there are positive, though there are one or two students who answered negatively. There are another twenty students who will leave their responses next week. Again, the large majority are positive, but a few critical ones will also be posted.
One “take-away” from our series of lessons on Bloom’s is that I feel it really is important to do and that it’s basically an excellent lesson plan. However, the negative responses seem to primarily say it’s too confusing, so I think I need to take a little more time explaining and modeling examples. My other “take-away” is that, though I was very clear that it was fine to answer the question positively or negatively as long as they backed-up their position, I think most students still saw that I was probably hoping for a positive response. Even with that, a number felt comfortable standing their ground and responding critically. I’m very pleased that students have enough self-confidence (and feel comfortable with the public relationship that they and I have) that they will say things that they know I don’t necessarily want to hear. It bodes well for their future.
I’m adding this post to The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom.
Larry- this is electrifying and a prove that we exist in two different Worlds. In this part of the World teachers are struggling to learn the Blooms taxonomy and the few who know it is are locked in the remembering.
When one looks at the revised digital blooms taxonomy, one can appreciate that implementation of the taxonomy, requires the teacher to be versatile in web 2.0 tools and to be equipped with pedagogic skills. Internet and and lack of workstation contribute to this sorry affair of things. Hope lies with smart phones, they are likely to fill the void.