Week Four Reflection

    During week four of our classes, we discussed two different charts that help classify children's learning. We first learned about Bloom's Taxonomy which was created by Benjamin Bloom. Bloom's taxonomy is a hierarchical ordering of cognitive skills ranging from simple to complex. The higher you move up the pyramid, the students become more knowledgeable and skilled in their education. These levels include remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. I can use Bloom's taxonomy in my future instruction by having the pyramid guide me into creating lesson plans. When I begin a new unit, I can start at the bottom to introduce new lessons and information, and eventually climb all the way to the top. Once I reach the end of the unit, students should be able to demonstrate what they learned through various projects and activities. 

    Next, we learned about a similar but different approach called Webb's Depth of Knowledge created by Norman L. Webb. Webb's Depth of Knowledge is a type of framework used to identify the level of rigor for an assessment. This framework is used to categorize activities to its complexity of thinking. These categories include recall & reproduction, skills & concepts, strategic thinking, and extended thinking. I will be able to use Webb's depth of Knowledge in my future instruction by helping me create activities and lessons that get more challenging as I teach new material and to help my students achieve higher thinking activities!