Investigating Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Activity 3Lesson: Wolf! Building Background Grade Level: 3 Subject: Language Arts/Reading Teacher: Kalen Crane

Overview & Purpose

Students will learn critical information about wolves and their plight prior to reading a fictional story about a wolf.

Education Standards Addressed

Oral Expression & Listening

1b: follow agreed upon rules for class discussions & group work

Research & Reasoning

1b: develop supporting visual information

1c: present a brief report of the research findings to an audience

	Description	Technology Resources Used
Introduction	Tell students that we will be reading a fictional story about a wolf. Determine prior knowledge of wolves by completing class KWL chart on the SMARTBoard while the students enter in the facts that they know in the “K” column & what they want to learn in the “W” column.	SMART Board KWL chart	Materials Needed SMART Board/White Board Teacher Laptop Projector KWL Printables pencils
Activity 1	Share two three minute videos about wolves from United Streaming. Add information to the “L” column.	United Streaming videos: “A Rendevous with Wolves” http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=21D74B0C... “The Howl of the Wolves” http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=D5754C2A...
Activity 2	Discuss with students that many species of wolves are endangered. Today we are going to research a few kinds and create a poster to hang in the hallway about protecting those species.	Share an example of a poster that they could create and the elements that will need to be in place: picture, habitat, diet, interesting fact(s).
Activity 3	Assign student trios to research red and gray wolves in the computer lab to create a poster of their wolf with picture and habitat information	http://www.cosmosmith.com/wolfpage.html http://www.boomerwolf.com/types.htm http://www.angelfire.com/ok/wolvesworld/ http://www.wolfworlds.com/wolf-species.html
Closing and Assessment	Have students share their posters with the class and one important thing that they learned about each type of wolf.		Additional Notes Allow 30 to 45 minutes in lab for research time

As I look at this lesson I see that I provided my students with quite a bit of information instead of giving them the opportunity to explore and find the information. There are several changes that I would make to meet the Digital Bloom’s Taxonomy. One major change that I would make to the entire lesson would be to make this a more individualized and self-guided lesson by creating the lesson as a webquest with the necessary links and then administering the lesson in the school’s computer lab. Many of my students are struggling learners so I would most likely have them work side by side pairing stronger students with struggling students.

Lesson Introduction

During the lesson introduction I present the students with a KWL chart that we fill in together. To better address the Digital Bloom’s Taxonomy I would instead ask the students to create their own chart (web) using a tool such as bubble.us. These tasks would address the Digital Bloom’s skills of remembering, creating, and understanding.

Activity 1

I would alter this component of the lesson by having the students view the videos and then adding new information gleaned from the videos into their bubbl.us map in a different color so that the new information will be discernable from the information already known. This enhancement would lead to greater understanding and remembering.

Activity 2

This portion of the lesson would involve the students developing their own ideas as to what challenges the wolf species are facing. This change would allow the students a chance to analyze the problem and then apply what they have learned to creating a possible solution.

Activity 3

Instead of the students creating a poster, they would instead be given an opportunity to create a presentation using a site such as prezi.com to showcase their learning through individualized creating.

Closing

Using the rubric (a simplified version of the one that I would use) the students will evaluate themselves and then each other as the presentations are shared with each other.

Assessment

To better assess their understanding and mastery, I would create a rubric using rubistar. This rubric would be made available to the students at the beginning of the lesson so that they would know what it is that I would be looking for. Because this lesson is during the first part of our school year, I would create the rubric. However, as our school year progresses, I would have the students help me create the rubrics. This practice allows them the chance to take ownership of their learning and success.

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