Bloom and Marzano

I have come to the realization over the past week that there are some of Marzano's strategies that I use often, and some that I rarely use.  I am better at some and still struggle with others.  I tend to continue to use the ones I am better at more often.  It is going to be a goal of mine this year to explore the strategies that have beaten me in the past.  Moving forward this year, I am going to make a more conscious effort to guide my students through goal setting.  I think that if I can be more consistent with doing this, my student will be more successful academically.  I am also going to looks at ways to improve homework.  Instead of giving more, I am going to be thoughtful and purposeful in the homework I do give.  I am going to look into contracts and more positive rewards as a way to encourage homework completion.  On top of that, I am going to work really hard to provide meaningful feedback that is timely.  This will help me from feeling overwhelmed and will help my students to make changes to their learning. 

When it comes to Bloom, I realize that I am not deliberately using his hierarchy and verbs in my lessons and instructional practice.  In order to help me in this task I am going to start by posting Bloom's Digital Taxonomy in my classroom.  This will help me be more aware and will also pique the interest of my students.  I may also give each student a copy of the taxonomy for them to reference at their desks.  It was mentioned by a classmate to have students highlight the verbs they use within an activity.  I think that is a great idea and one I am going to try.  The visual aspect will help many of the students.  Also, they like to  use a highlighter, so they will look for other verbs to incorporate into their learning so they can highlight more.  By making a more conscious effort to implement Bloom's Taxonomy into my lessons, I am going to create deeper thinking students who will be more successful.

I team-teach with the other fifth grade teachers very well.  We are always communicating and looking at ways to improve our instruction. We plan together and it will be easy to encourage a more deliberate use of Bloom and Marzano.  If I begin to implement and use Bloom and Marzano in my classroom and find success, they will soon follow.  As a district we are in the process of implementing the Common Core and the 21st Century Skills.  This implementation is focused on higher level and more critical thinking, which meshes very well with the principles and strategies of Bloom and Marzano.