Taxonomy of Learning

I recently learned about Benjamin Bloom's system of classifying different stages of learning for the student. There are six levels: Remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. Mind mapping is a way to get ideas based around one central them out in an organized, pictorial way. Many students use mind maps to signify different stages of Bloom's Taxonomy.

For example, as an Instructional Technology student I could use Bloom's Taxonomy to classify at what stage I am. The blogs that I write after class every week are a way to analyze what I have learned. And if I were to look back at these blogs in a year or two, It would help me remember the information I covered in class. I also apply my understanding by creating things like UDL books, Glogsters, and Mind Maps.

This week I created a Mind Map that uses Bloom's Taxonomy to teach Stoichiometry (the units method) to high school chemistry students. I hope to use this mind map to make a lesson plan that will help me one day in the classroom.

Digital Citizenship for the Digital Student

The four topics above are what I perceive as the most important components of digital citizenship in a classroom. A big part of any class is researching. Whether doing assigned research for a project or trying to find more information on a topic being studied in class, students need to be able to evaluate the sites they are using. Digital communication, digital law, digital etiquette, and digital literacy are key aspects in evaluating websites. I will explain these components to my students and how they can use the questions on each index card to help them decide if a site is appropriate or not.

For parents concerned about internet use in the classroom, I will refer them to the school's handbook on policies and procedure as well as to the IT department. This will allow parents to fully understand what their child is, and is not, allowed to do on school computers and internet. For parents concerned with internet use outside of the classroom, I will suggest that they talk to their kids about their own expectations and make sure the children understand exactly what is appropriate behavior for themselves and other users on the web.

Cyber bullying is becoming more and more of problem. It is important for students to know what exactly cyber bullying is so they know it is not appropriate to treat people in that fashion nor is it ok if someone treats you in that fashion. Knowledge is the biggest way to prevent cyber bullying as well as access to sites like The Big Help or Stop Bullying. If cyber bullying is brought to my attention, I will make sure to deal with it consistently and immediately so students know that it is not acceptable.

Joke of the Week: Partial Credit