Dixie,
What prompts do you use to assess if a topic needs to be "re-taught"? For me, I tend to use lecture discussions as an informal "measuring stick" and accompanying activities (pertaining to the lecture) as a more formal method.
Tremayne Simpson
Bloom's Taxonomy helps instructors create positive, specific, and real objectives that can be easily measured. After completing Module 3, I have realized that I need to be more specific when writing course objectives. My current objectives are too general and do not give students a "clear" picture of what is expected of them.
It's a good check to see if I've balanced my expectations of their performance with my knowledge of who and where they are. I need to make sure I have activities that assess their knowledge and comprehension of the principles I'm teaching before I assess their application. Or I need to make sure I'm using their application performance to verify their knowledge and comprehension to let me know where I might need to re-teach.
Jeannine,
Great observation. In addition, the Learning Taxonomy can serve as a guide for proper student assessments. Determing their individual pace in absorbing the content can provide an instructor with the information that is needed to refine/create assessment tools. In class activities, discussion, etc. can serve as the "Litmus" test for understanding student comprehension.
Tremayne Simpson
Using the Learning Taxonomy as a guide in the development of lesson plans allows the instructor to have a road map of where the course is going. It sets the standard for what students need to know and understand with the content of the course. It also provides for the steps students need to take to achieve the task or gain the knowledge.
This is a great tool to use as an instructor begins to compile lesson plans. It gives them a format and foundation to build upon.
I agree with Denise. The Learning Taxonomy came
naturally to me, first because it is fairly easy to understand and secondly because I am not too many years out of graduate school. At first I weas simply writing my objectives the way they had been written for me and it made sense. As I gained some experience in teaching, I now understand WHY my instructors in grad school wrote their objectives the way they did. Particularly the part about being able to measure and assess the progress of students using the taxonomy.
denise,
Thank you for you reflection. Instructors that naturually utilize the Learning Taxonomy concepts, generally have a strong understanding of the subject, desired learning outcomes and their students.
Tremayne Simpson
Tremayne,
I feel that without even realizing it, that I am already using each step in the Learning Taxonomy when I create my lessons plans, grading rubrics and knowledge assessments.
Let me know if you have suggestions for me on any areas I have missed.
denise,
How will you use the Learning Taxonomy as a guide for the course(s) that you teach?
Tremayne Simpson
It is a very clear and easy to understand guide. It we all use this as a reference, we will be able to create all-encompassing lesson plans.
