Bloom and Marzano

By studying Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised and Digital) and Marzano’s theories on classroom instruction, I have found many ways that I can implement their theories into my current job as well as possible classroom situations.

By reading Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy theories I realize that I need to try and get my students to higher order thinking skills to make sure they understand what is being taught and to help them develop in their learning. In my current position I am often asked to give lessons to the office managers on building their practice through marketing. By implementing Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy I realize that I need to not only teach lessons, but get the managers to a point where they are applying the strategies, analyzing data, evaluating the results, and creating new projects that will be beneficial in the future. Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy presented ways to reach HOTS through technology such as wikis and blogs for group projects, social bookmarking sites to share information and digital media to help create projects.

Marzano’s, Classroom Instruction that Works, has given me even more insight to how my lessons can be improved. Through Marzano I have learned the benefits of recognizing effort and providing feedback whether it is to students in a classroom or my employees. In the past, I have always wanted to reward or praise employees for many different reasons. I realize now that it would be best to set goals and then give praise when the goal is met. I have already requested that my staff come up with monthly and annual goals that we can share at our next staff meeting. From there I will be able to give recognition to those employees who are reaching their goals throughout the year. I have also learned that the technique of note taking and summarizing is a very important skill for students to learn. Although, it may sound like something that is just common sense, many students may benefit from learning this skill early in their education. One of the techniques that I could apply would be to use teacher prepared notes to help guide the students to the important facts in the lesson. Then students can expand on the notes, but at least they have a solid base from which to start.

By implementing Marzano and Bloom into the lessons that I teach, I should be able to move the students to HOTS, which will help them to more fully understand the concepts. For future lessons if I don’t see the results that I should from the students I will reevaluate my lessons to make sure I am reaching many of those key concepts from Bloom and Marzano.

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Comment by Melissa Quinn on January 18, 2014 at 2:09pm: Hi Janelle,

Just like you are asking your employees to set monthly and annual goals, our district had us do a Professional Growth Plan and Mid-Year Review based on our Self-Assessment for SB-191, focusing on setting goals to improve the areas that we defined as needing improvement. The goal is to address the needs of each educator by enhancing their knowledge and skills, therefore enhancing student achievement. This goal should address the standards outlined in SB-191 and any district or building initiatives. My goal includes engaging students in collaboration especially at a distance. Each teacher is scheduled next week for a one-on-one meeting with our administrator to review these goals and assess where we are in the process. Even though our praise and reward won't be public, by working toward our goal and completing it during the school year, we will be rewarded on the Teacher Assessment Rubric!

Melissa

Comment by Edis Knoop on January 18, 2014 at 9:36pm: Melissa,

The potential applications of these educational strategies in the world of business is terrific. Good for you! It will be interesting to see how your approach changes with employees in the dental office and how they embrace those changes. Although there are some stark differences between our pedagogical applications from what you might do in industry, the results should still be significant. Please keep us posted on how your employees react and/or benefit from these subtle changes.

Edis

Comment by Richard Cole on January 18, 2014 at 10:19pm: That is cool that you will be allowing the employees to help set their own goals that could lead to recognition if they meet them.

Rich

Comment by Janelle Shumaker on January 20, 2014 at 11:56am: Theresa,

One of the big things that I noticed going from the business world, to education and then back to the business world again actually was the lack of technology in the classroom. I know that this depends on the different districts and then of course the individual teachers, but in my experience I was amazed by how little teachers wanted to use technology in the classroom. I know I am preaching to the choir with everyone in this ED Tech class, because we all agree with the importance of the use of technology, but many teachers still lean toward the traditional teaching methods even though the world is heading in the opposite direction.

So to answer your question, I would want to bring more technology into the classroom. (I'm not just saying that because of this class either :) Not just through teaching, but having students actively involved with it as well.

In my experience some of the most difficult employees to train are the ones who are not comfortable with technology.

Janelle