38 Question Starters based on Bloom’s Taxonomy - Curriculet Curriculet is free for teachers and students. Get started here. This is the 2nd post in a series on how to write better curriculets (and literacy curriculum). Our first post can be found here. In this blog post, Lindsey Howe shares some of the best practices she has developed as a teacher and curriculet writer. Lindsey is one of Curriculet’s first writers and she has taught high school English for 8 years. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write Curriculets By Lindsey Howe, Curriculet writer and teacher During the five months I have been writing for Curriculet, I have experimented with many different ways to tackle question-crafting. While looking for ways to improve my questions, I discovered this list of 38 question starters based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. List of Question Starter Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy This list moves through the 6 taxonomy levels with questions for each one. Level 1: Remember – Recalling Information Question Starters: What is…? Can you explain why…? What would happen if…?
Want to foster rich academic discussions? Try a student #Edcamp By Dennis Pierce July 28th, 2015 An innovative professional development model comes to the classroom Edcamp “unconferences” have shattered the traditional model for professional development, and they’re catching on as a way for educators to share their ideas and expertise in an informal, collegial way. Now, some forward-thinking educators are adapting the Edcamp model for their students, as a way to spark richer conversations. Edcamps are professional development gatherings without a predetermined set of topics or presenters; instead, participants volunteer to lead conversations and hands-on workshops among their peers. Because the topics are participant-driven, this free-form arrangement often results in lively, passionate discussions among educators, said Jason Seliskar, a fourth grade teacher for the Covina-Valley Unified School District in California. “I thought: What would this look like if I tried it with my students?” Next page: How it works with students
Using telegrams and love letters to teach World War II Telegram sent to the family of Cpl. Henry Bernard Van Hyfte confirming their son’s death in the Battle of Normandy. Students are researching the heroes of World War II for a hands-on history project. They found love letters, pictures, death-notice telegrams, and even insurance settlement claims that have survived for decades. Cpl. The discoveries are a result of a months-long assignment for 15 student-teacher teams selected from across the nation to be scholars for National History Day’s Normandy Institute. Their primary task? Death record card of Radioman Julius H. Letter from the father of Technician Broadway Valentine Sims, who was killed on June 11, 1944 Cathy Gorn, the Executive Director of National History Day, said the assignment is called the “Silent Hero Project.” “We know about the generals and the really famous heroes,” Gorn said. More than 200,000 Allied troops are estimated to have died in Operation Overlord, the military codename for the invasion of northwest Europe.
Do We Really Have High Expectations for All Students? By Barbara Blackburn Do you have high expectations for your students? I’ve never met a teacher who said, “I have low expectations for my students.” One year, early in my teaching career, several teachers “warned” me about Daniel, a new student in my room. Right from the start, no matter what anyone tells us, we have to be on guard to ensure that we keep high expectations in place for every single student. Our behaviors speak loudest Of course we may believe in high expectations for all the kids in our classroom but not translate those expectations into actions that support our beliefs. Robert Marzano has spent decades researching effective teaching practice. How often do we fail to use these same strategies with struggling learners? I know I made that mistake as a new teacher. Even though I said I expected all my students to learn, I didn’t really show that to Quinn. That was an eye-opener for me. The problem isn’t that we do not care Another year, I had a similar situation with Clarissa.