Since the world has changed so much over the past 15 years, how teachers teach has changed so much as well. When teachers plan their lessons now, they are strongly encouraged to incorporate technology into the lesson. This is difficult though because it has to be more than having the kids use the technology as a fact checker. Technology in the classroom is more than just a book that lights up for the students.
When teachers are planning a lesson that uses technology, they must remember these steps from Bloom's Digital Taxonomy.
1. Analyze the Benefits2. Start the Brainstorming
3. Map the Project
4. Create the Teaching Template
5. Develop Assessment Tools
6. Evaluation Mode
Everyone has heard of Bloom's Taxonomy and making sure that we as teachers get the kids thinking more critically. The higher you go on the chart the more beneficial it is for the students. Now they have Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and the higher you go on the chart the better that assignment is for the student. When planning a lesson it will be good for the teacher to incorporate some of the higher levels of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy.
The levels we as teachers want to incorporate are the top 3, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. When the students analyze they are making connections from the material. When the students are evaluating they are making judgements based on criteria. When the students are creating they are producing new or original work through animating, blogging, filming, podcasting, and much more.
When you go into planning a lesson using technology these are just some things to think about, and the biggest thing to remember is to don't use the technology as a virtual textbook. When you are incorporating technology into your lesson plan, make sure that the technology takes their thinking to the next level. Make sure that the technology enhances the learning of the students! Integrating technology into the classroom is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.
Nice job Ryan,
ReplyDeleteWhen I first began teaching the push was to always ask higher order thinking questions, that forced students to show a thorough understanding of the concept. Today, it is more than that. We want kids to create and do so in a creative way. Then we want them to analyze the results, evaluate and justify. Teaching truly has evolved a long way in just a short amount of time.
This is just what I needed as a refresher for the Bloom's lesson coming up this week.
Nick, you are right in that teaching has evolved a long way in a short amount of time. I graduated 3 years ago from college and teaching has still changed so much from then. I don't remember my professors in college stressing so much about technology. I remember talking about it but wasn't critical to have. Now, it certainly has become a must for teachers to have in their bag of tools because of how much technology can help engage a student. Technology is a great tool and I think the biggest thing to remember is to not use it as a virtual textbook for the kids. Make them search, explore, and create with the devices and that makes technology useful.
DeleteI agree that it has changed a lot! I also love seeing what my students have created. I've underestimated their creativity in the past, but I've learned my lesson! Technology is so amazing becuase it can open up millions of ways to create. All it takes is a little spark and students can take it so much farther!
DeleteExcellent post Ryan! This is the area that I have reflected the most on my current teaching and where I need to improve the most. Thank you for such wonderful descriptions in each area and clearly defining Bloom's taxonomy.
ReplyDeleteWith this past year being my first using 1 to 1 technology and not truly understanding technology's place in education, I definitely can see that I used technology for mostly lower order thinking skills and my goal for next year is progress toward more higher order thinking skills for all of students.
I agree with you and will probably have the same goal as you do next year Bradley! I don't want to have to spoon feed my students information, then expect them to regurgitate it for tests. I want my students to ask the deep questions that cause us to sit back and think. I want them to use their technology as a tool for exploration and problem solving. I want them to create, invent, write, or produce a solution for real problems in the real world. Most of all, I want their aha moments to have meaning behind that understanding. Don't we all want this for our students?
DeleteI also fall into the habit of doing lower level Bloom's skills with students and technology. With my students, I have the added challenge of disabilities that makes teaching new tech ideas very difficult. But I also have a new plan for next year to buckle down and help my students create wonderful projects!
DeleteGreat post Ryan!
ReplyDeleteLike many teachers, I tend to teach the same way I was taught. I have struggled with integrating technology fully into my lesson plans in the past. Thanks to articles like this one Ryan, I am slowly starting to change my way of thinking when it comes to teaching. A million ideas are popping into my head as I am typing this now! I look forward to creating new lessons with this information in mind. Thank you for the plethora of information about Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Ryan!
Rick,
DeleteI agree that one of our most difficult task is learning to teach differently than we were taught. I also continue to battle this everyday. The big question is always how do we provide students the opportunity to create, evaluate and dive deep into content while covering all of the content required by the state?
Rick,
DeleteI forget what subject you teach, but I teach math and I read a book titled "Hacking Math" a few weeks ago and there was one idea that stuck out to me and your post reminded me of one of hacks.
We've been talking about how we want students to create, evaluate, and analyze as opposed to apply, understand, and remember according to Bloom's taxonomy. One of the hacks in this book talked about instead of doing a Problem of the Day, (which just about every math teacher does at the beginning of class) that requires the students to remember some topic from the day before, or some topic you will be going into, pose an open ended question that doesn't have one correct response. The author explanation is much better than mine, but it gets the students to think like mathematicians and adheres to the top 3 areas in Bloom's taxonomy that we've been discussing.
Nick,
DeleteThat is definitely a difficult question to answer. My school district is in the middle of changing the curriculum for our 8th grade math students and they've said to us that getting through half the curriculum with all students truly understanding the material is better than blowing through all of the curriculum and say only half the students understanding the material. I feel fortunate because I don't believe that many school districts have administration that would feel the same way. I think it would make our lives a lot easier if other school districts felt the same way.
I agree 100%. Many schools worry too much about their test scores and rightfully so. Admin and teachers alike lose their jobs if test scores plummet. However, as an educator I have always wanted to find that perfect district that focuses more on understanding and allows you to dive deep and make the connections needed to be made for full understanding and mastery.
DeleteAfter reading your post, I do have a renewed need to incorporate higher level Bloom's skills into my technology projects. I find myself leaving the creating level of Bloom's to non-computer tasks because it is difficult for many of my students with disabilities to use computers. Many times, they get frustrated and take it out on their Chromebook or device! I think I need to teach new tech skills to smaller groups of students rather than my whole class. I think that this would really help them get the concepts down and avoid too much waiting around. I think I'll pair my students up by technology ability next year and then teach new websites or skills. That way, students who have technology down can work quickly and not have to wait on slower learners. If only I had more classroom assistants to help me make groups! Maybe the district will give me more support so we can play with use more technology (wishful thinking, haha?)!
ReplyDeleteLynn,
ReplyDeleteI can feel your pain with trying adhere to Bloom's taxonomy while dealing with students who have disabilities. I still believe that Bloom's higher order thinking skills can be accomplished with your students, it just make take some planning, asking, and definitely a lot of patience! Every child is different, so I'm sure some of your students are better in certain subjects that will allow them to reach higher in Bloom's pyramid than other subjects.