Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Throughout the courses I have taken prior to starting the education program at my college and during, a common idea has been prevalent in all of them. It is Bloom's Taxonomy. 


We have learned about the original taxonomy first proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956, and have studied Bloom's Revised Taxonomy (proposed by Anderson) more in depth in my methods and assessment courses. 


I am also learning that there have been many proposals for a revision to Bloom's original taxonomy, and I was asked to consider the one proposed by Marzano. This taxonomy deals more with the different systems (self-system, metacognitive system, and the cognitive system) and three different domains of knowledge (information, mental procedures, psychomotor procedures) whereas the original taxonomy dealt mainly with the cognitive system. 


Using Marzano's taxonomy would be useful in planning instruction and assessment because it deals more with varying types of activities, whereas Bloom's taxonomy can be primarily assessed through pen-and-paper methods only. The use of Marzano's taxonomy in a mathematics classroom I feel won't differ much from the use of Bloom's revised taxonomy because the types of objectives in a math class do not deal with the psychomotor domain. Many of the levels of Bloom's taxonomy weave through both information and mental procedures in the cognitive system by challenging students to ultimately create their own material. Using either Bloom's or Marzano's taxonomy in a classroom requires prior assessment of the students in order to apply the taxonomy to the fullest potential. Planning for one class does not carry over to another, even if they are the same content. 


In my assessment course we are asked to describe whether or not we favor one taxonomy over the other. In the realm of mathematics, I feel like the two taxonomies are comparable, but I do not prefer either. I instead want to use Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. Below is a Prezi on the digital revision to Bloom's Taxonomy. I am excited to have found it since I want to encourage my students to be 21st century learners. In order to encourage learning and growth in the computer generation, I must be comfortable with my own computer fluency. I encourage you to watch the prezi and share your ideas!

Bloom's on Prezi

I am a 21st Century Learner

As I go through my pre-service teaching program, I am constantly reminded about improving technologies and its use in the classroom. My future students will be 21st century learners, and I must be a 21st century teacher. I need to be a teacher that encourages exploration of information through tools such as the internet or other programs on computers, phones, tablets, etc. It's a buzzword on twitter, and you can find many sites dedicated to helping current teachers embrace the change in students (one great resource: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/).

But I too am also a 21st century learner. I embrace the use of my smartphone in class to google search a term I don't know, I use my TI-Nspire to quickly generate a dynamic geometric image to explore a theorem, I use my laptop to collaboratively work on assignments with fellow students, I collaborate with other students around the globe to come to a greater understanding of information.

• So why are my teachers discouraging the use of technology in my classrooms?
• Aren't I supposed to be modeling proper technology usage for my future students?
• Why am I told to put my phone away when I use it as a crucial tool in my education?
• Why are my fellow students being told to close their laptops when we are collaborating on a presentation and discussing relevant issues to the course without disrupting others by chatting aloud?
• Why am I being told to close out of facebook when the entire lecture is connected through a common social media tool so we can share articles, communicate ideas, and collaborate? Have you not read any studies about using facebook in the classroom?

I am deeply appalled by the classroom culture in my courses these past few weeks. Going around a lecture full of pre-service secondary education teachers and telling us to put our technology away is not the solution to attention issues. Climbing over desks in a full lecture is not the way to wake up a student who has fallen asleep. I have not been able to pay attention to a word the lecturer has been saying these past two weeks because of this, and the only reason I know what is going on is because I can follow along with the presentation slides on my laptop.

If I have learned one lesson in this course so far, it is if you want to or not to pay attention, you must be awake and do it the old pen-and-paper way. All technologies are considered distractions.

School Year is Quickly Approaching!

The school year is coming and I'm starting to get very nervous, this will be last year semester as a full time student. It all has gone by so quickly, and I imagine that this upcoming year will be quick too.

What will my students be like? What will they think of me? Will I be able to answer the majority of their questions and intrigue them to continue studying mathematics? It's starting to hit me that I am going to be a part of peoples lives, I will be one of their teachers.

From a previous post I had said I want to finish a few things before school starting. I have finished New Teacher Bootcamp through Edutopia, I'm awaiting my completion certificate. I've gotten through some of the Khan Academy videos (not to the point where I would like to be though), and I haven't really done much with MFMT.  For Math for Math Teachers, I feel that there just won't be enough interest in the program and that it will not be worth my time. I don't want to work on it alone, so I would need someone to collaborate with me or just give up the project all together and pick it up at some other point in time.

I am also working on a class blog/website for my calculus 2 class. I need some more ideas on how to use it, maybe some interesting widget to add, or something like that. Anyone have ideas? Here is the website so far: Math 231 AD9.

Summer is Coming to an End

Only a few more weeks until the new semester starts, I'm looking forward to it but I am also very nervous. This will be my first teaching position on top of having my own classes to do. I'm going to be very busy. I have a 14 hour semester, teaching two hours a week plus 8 hours of prep and grading, I will be a grader for an elementary teacher math course, I have my observation class in a high school in Rantoul, and I will still be working at my local tutoring center. I think I can do it.

I'm packing up all of my things right now in preparation for my move back to campus. It's crazy how much stuff you accumulate over a few years of living by yourself. And also working at Bed Bath & Beyond, definitely accumulate a lot of things when you work there.

My goals for this semester as a student:

• Be more organized about studying for exams
• Use neater handwriting
• Don't procrastinate on assignments

My goals for this semester as a teacher:

• Know my material
• Grade assignments on schedule (did this very well last semester!)
• Engage mathematical discussion
• Use problem-based learning
• Integrate the use of calculators into demos for class
• Integrate the use of blogs in my calculus classroom

Any suggestions for classroom management? Or ways to use a blog in class?