The first article I studied was the one titled “Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally,” by Andrew Churches. As a student of Education, I have spent a great deal of time learning about Bloom’s Taxonomy and the importance of teaching in such a way that encourages students to build towards higher order thinking skills. But never before have I thought to apply that way of thinking to technology.
In his article, Churches discusses the verbs commonly associated with each tier of the Taxonomy. While he admits that those words are still useful, he also cautions “they do not address the new objectives presented by the emergence and integration of Information and Communication Technologies into the classroom and the lives of our students.” As a solution, churches suggests the consideration of adding more contemporary words to the list we associate with Bloom’s Taxonomy in order to accommodate the rapid growth of technology in the classroom and the world.
On the bottom rung of Bloom’s ladder is Remembering. Typically associated with the lowest order of thinking are words like listing, identifying, and finding. Churches encourages the addition of bookmarking, googling, and favoriting as well. On the third tier of the Taxonomy is Applying. To typical words like implementing and using, Churches adds running, uploading, editing, and even hacking. Bloom’s very highest order of thinking is Creating. We typically use words like designing, producing and inventing for this order. But with the growth of technology, we can incorporate programming, animating, mixing, filming, podcasting, publishing, and blogging, just to name a few.
This highest order of thinking is what really got me excited about the relationship between technology and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Obviously, Creating, on the top tier, is what we should be striving for for our students—what we should be encouraging them towards. And until I read this article, I’d never really considered just how much creativity is put within students’ reach by technology. I have always envisioned Bloom’s Taxonomy like a house: Remembering is the concrete foundation, Understanding is the basement, Applying is the main level, Analyzing is the second story, Evaluating is the attic, and on the very top, Creating is the roof. Now that I have begun to think about what technology does to Creating, it is as if I have climbed up to the roof, thinking it’s the top, only to find that the roof is really a giant trampoline—a springboard for going even higher. Now the possibilities seem endless.
The greatest question stirred in me by Churches’ article is not a pedagogical one, but rather an intense curiosity about just how far I will be able to take technology in my classroom. It isn’t a question with a black and white answer. Instead, it’s a giant brainstorm that will continue as long as I teach and as long as innovation drives technology forward.
* The article “Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally,” by Andrew Churches, can be found on the Tech & Learning website at the following address:
http://techlearning.com/article/8670
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The second article I read was “Ten Ways to Get Beyond Powerpoint with Classroom Projectors.” I began the article braced for the typical shameless advertisement of thousands of dollars worth of highbrow techie equipment that only the most affluent of schools could ever afford. I’m always on the defensive about that sort of thing because my passion is to work in middle to low-income schools. A projector is probably about the fanciest piece of technology I’ll ever dream of having in my classroom. My other pet-peeve is the use of technology just for the sake of using the latest and greatest toy, so I fully expected the article to peddle oodles of elaborate, pointless gadgetry. But much to my surprise, this article was chock full of actually useful ideas and completely free online resources!
I liked a lot of the ideas well enough to give them a shot in my own classroom. I can use the projector to teach math with Utah State University’s National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. Students can enter their findings from science experiments or surveys directly into a projected spreadsheet so that the whole class learns together. One of my favorite classroom tools is a map. I can’t teach History, Science, Literature, or really even talk about where I went hiking last weekend without one! With a projector, I can use Google Earth or online maps to eliminate the limitations imposed by the standard pull-down wall maps (which have always seemed to repeatedly fall off the wall onto the teacher’s head). A timer or countdown clock on the projector allows students to plan their time wisely and take responsibility for the classroom agenda.
Probably my favorite new idea from the article makes having a substitute teacher for a day or two much less of a curricular setback. I can provide the guest teacher with links to online lectures by any number of experts on our topic of study from around the world. Or I can record the lesson myself for students to view and interact with in my absence. This article has gotten me thinking about new ways that I can put my classroom projector to use. The internet really has made the possibilities endless. My greatest question is simply, will I have access to a projector in my classroom if I a teaching in a low-income school? If I don’t, are there grants available to get one for my school? How can I adapt some of these ideas for use with a chalkboard or transparency projector if that’s all I have access to?
*The article “Ten Ways to Get Beyond Powerpoint with Classroom Projectors” is available on the Tech & Learning website at the following address:
http://www.techlearning.com/article/17198
