Blooming questions

The activity we worked on today in class was on developing bloom's taxonmy questions and I found it to be quite interesting. The activity forced us to delve into the 21st century skills that are not only essential for our students but for us to be able to fluidly achieve. We worked together as a group to create questions and then were forced to adapt to another set of ideas and transform them into a higer level order. The simple process of talking and sharing ideas in a manner that was open and friendly is exactly what is in store for the future. Although there were moments of disagreement we were able to find a middle ground in which we were all satisified.

Personally, I like activities such as this when the right combination is brought together. Of coarse this is not always ideal but thankfully in this instance we were all compatible. I am not a person who finds it difficult to express my ideas or take constructive criticism (okay most of the time). One thing that I love about working in a group of like minded peers is how while you may walk in with one opinion, you may leave with another. If this occurs than I know we are on the right track.

I really liked the format in which the group activity was done. Actually, I may even steal the idea to use in my classroom! Some other lessons I got out of this are the importance of wording and how the incorporation of Bloom's verbs can completely change a statement. The way something is written often times may change someone's opinon on an issue. This is something that is obvious if you think about it but often times is not thought of. I am a firm believer in getting to the point. Lofty words or explanations do not necessarily add to effectiveness (most of the time). Simple is better (most of the time).

Using Bloom's list of words can many times change the intent of a statement. Yet sometimes I feel there is too much of an emphasis on using these terms. What ends up happening is that I end up taking all this time fishing for words that sound good rather than just saying what important points I want to address. I understand the point of using Bloom's taxonomy but I am just saying that in certain instances it seems like its purpose is to make my lesson plan look pretty. Just saying....

Since I do not want to end on a negative note, I will say that I got a lot out of the assignment and that it was highly effective in getting the point across of the importance of collaborative work as a 21st century skill.