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Monday 7 September 2009

After such a loooong time...

My goodness!! I've been sooo busy I haven't posted anything in a whole month!!! I've been working and studying quite a lot... Among all the things I've re-read I found something worth sharing.
BLOOM'S TAXONOMY
Many times when planning reading activities we end up writing questions since they are one of the most traditional ways to 'test' our students' comprehension of a text. However, and in order to 'help' our students, we tend to make questions which are easily answered with factual information... but are we really helping them to develop reading comprehension skills as well as critical thinking skills? In my opinion, we aren't. Bloom suggested 6 levels of understanding and with careful planning they could be implemented in our lesson on a daily basis. Let's have a look with some examples....
TEXT (I wrote it for 2nd grade students in the mid-term test)
My favourite celebration is my party! I love birthday parties in general. Mostly because people get together and have fun but my birthday is the most important day in the year for many reasons.
First of all, I enjoy all the preparations. I generally get up early in the morning and I go to the supermarket to buy everything I need. Then, in the afternoon, I spent my time cooking. I love cooking and preparing the house to receive my friends! Generally, I prepare sandwiches, different kinds of pies, cookies, some pizzas and a pair of delicious cakes. The birthday cake is a ‘must’ since no birthday party is such without a birthday cake with candles and so on!
Then, I love birthday presents!! I mean, I love getting wrapped boxes. It is so exciting when you get a present and it’s a complete surprise. I don’t like when people ask what I want as a present… I prefer not knowing what it is.
But what I truly love is having all my friends with me at the same time! My birthday is the only possibility I have to see them all having fun with me and that is part of my most precious memories.
LEVEL 1: KNOWLEDGE
1. What's Alice's most important day during the year?
2. Does she like cooking for her birthday party?
3. When does she see all her friends together?
LEVEL 2: COMPREHENSION
1. How do you think Alice feels about her birthday?
2. Would she feel sad if she didn't get presents at all? Explain.
LEVEL 3: APPLICATION
1. Write a list of the things she probably needs for her birthday.
2. Write the dialogue between Alice and her mother they day before her birthday.
LEVEL 4: ANALYSIS
1. What do you think will happen during the party?
2. How do your birthday and Alice's birthday differ?
LEVEL 5: SYNTHESIS
1. Imagine you're one of Alice's friends but don't know what to give her as a present. Write the telephone conversation between you two, a couple of days before the birthday party.
2. How would Alice react if her friends call and tell her they are not going because they are studying for an important exam?
LEVEL 6: EVALUATION
1. Do you think Alice has good friends?
2. What do you like the most about Alice's story?
Well, I'm not sure whether you agree with the kind of questions... they're just examples for future discussion and sharing of ideas... I certainly would like to know what you think about this topic!! So I'll be waiting for your comments!! :)

8 comments:

  1. Hi Tricia!
    I'm Katty and I've been teaching for 18 years. I love it too!
    I just came across your site and am impressed! There's so much good stuff here! Thanks for the examples on Bloom's Taxonomy. That was a work of love indeed. We usually find the worksheet but this was applied knowledge. I think I'm going to share your page with some colleagues from Salto.

    Keep up the good work!

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  2. Hi Katty!! It's so good to get your message!!! Thanks a lot for your comments! =) This site is meant to share and discuss about what we love doing! So, please feel free to share it with all your colleagues and please, all your comments and suggestions to improve our work are more than welcome!

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  3. Hi Tricia
    thanks a lot for your great article. I have been teaching for about 7 years now and I have actually always used the described method for reading comprehension. The test stucks in the head much better and the students learn how to adapt it to their own situations and every day life of speaking English. Though I think your text and questions about it are really perfect. I couldn't have done it like that and you gave me some more ideas :).

    Sara

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  4. I think the idea is good. I did study about bloom's taxonomy but never use it in practice at least not consciously. It's all inbedded in the way I work, I guess. But it's always good to rethink and theorise our practice once in a while. I would change the verb, though in level 6. It's "Do you think Alice has good friends?".

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  5. Oops a slip.. =) Thanks for telling me!! =) And as you say... well... I guess this is inbedded in the way most of us work. From my experience I've seen many times colleagues tend to focus in just a couple of levels (including me!)... =) And now I'm trying to consciously include all levels.

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  6. Thanks Sara for your comments!!! I'm glad you find the post useful... that's my goal, to share what I do so as to learn from each other!! And I must say something, writing it was a challenge for me and I'd like you to share your experience with the ideas you got from it so.. I'll be waiting! =)

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  7. Hi Tricia, the way you have structured the questions is really interesting. When I give my students a reading activity, I usually put some simple comprehension questions along with questions that require the student's ability to find the answers "outside" the passage, this means that they have to make speculations, figure out......that's really challenging! I think that all the sections you put can be done and are a useful tool for the student's wider evaluation.

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  8. Thanks Stefania for sharing your views on the this so important topic. I think we all try to make them develop their critical thinking and go beyond the text but many times it happens to me that I get rid of ideas... Right now I'm trying to use all these levels of comprehension and little by little students are getting used to them.... and as you said they are a powerful tool!!

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