WRozycki

A valuable bit of information for all teachers to know is Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Bloom’s Taxonomy is the breakdown or categorization of ordered thinking skills and learning objectives.  This taxonomy of learning can be broken down into three main domains; Cognitive or thinking, Affective Domain in which deals with the emotions of people and lastly the Psychomotor Domain which concentrates on the physical abilities of students. Associated with each domain are valuable verbs to be used when looking deeper into a student’s knowledge and goals.  Teachers will use these verbs when formulating lesson plans and evaluating a student’s performance.  For example the Cognitive Domain uses verbs like recall, apply, asses, develop and etc.  Teachers will look to see if students can recall knowledge from a given assignment and be able to use or apply that same knowledge in other areas of the classroom. Bloom’s Taxonomy is important for teachers to refer to when educating the young minds of today.

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http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

     Especially at the younger grade levels for example kindergarten through sixth grade, should group learning be incorporated into the teaching methods of all teachers. Not only should teachers look to implement group projects in and out of the classroom but they should consider setting up their classroom in groups for everyday purposes. During regular instruction time students would be able to help each other out where needed on a more subtle way. For example when in groups one student might be able to explain a problem in way for the student to understand better than the teacher can. Sometimes it’s easier to learn from your peers than from the way of the teacher whereas the teacher would have to set up one on one time that could very be difficult to schedule. Beyond the academic side of group learning, students will also learn to corporate and get along with others. They will build social skills and most importantly create a comfortable learning environment not only for themselves but for the teacher as well.

     Students are encouraged from their parents/guardians to bring home good grades and schools encourage their students to excel in more areas than just academics for example athletics, school plays, and other extracurricular activities.  However what is expected of today’s youth from their community? The answer is simple; society wants good standing members of the community.  Luckily for the community, schools are now encouraging their students to take part in volunteer efforts within the community such as food drives, “Breakfast with Santa” fundraisers, cleaning the playground across the street and etc.  Through the implementation of service learning projects in schools, our students are now excelling in and out of the classroom.  Schools are planning class trips to Nursing Homes while teachers are offering extra credit to those helping out with weekend events that serve the community like food drives.  Without being paid for it, more kids are putting the extra time in to help out someone else who needs it.  These service learning projects are becoming more and more prevalent in our schools today and the positive message of helping others is important.