I have noted in my e Journal for module 1 of this course the importance of assessment literacy for teachers or educators. And there I also shared about my journey as a “clueless'”, non-education graduate, and a first-time college teacher. I knew then about the learning goals and that they should be achieved at the end of the semester. And so, I thought of learning strategies to make sure goals will be met, but little did I know that the assessment method should also be aligned with the teaching strategy and the goals. I may have performed my responsibility to impart the necessary knowledge and skills to my students, by my measure is not really aligned and so I was not able to tell if learning has occurred and if the objectives are met.
I was thankful then that my colleagues (veterans in their profession) were so supportive of me and helped me in my dilemma. I may have failed in my first exam as a teacher, but I was able to bounce back towards the end. At that point, I truly appreciated the value of formative assessment. Formative assessment is a tool to find out what the students know and can do and to identify the gaps and opportunities for the class and for each individual learner. It provides immediate feedback that can help in deciding which instructional strategies and resources to use to facilitate learning. Teachers use assessment FOR learning to enhance student’s motivation and commitment to learning. I can say that more than my students, I have learned and gained in the teaching-learning process.
The next best thing that happened was, Dr. Benjamin Bloom and I became the best of friends.
What is Bloom’s taxonomy?
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different objectives and skills that educators set for their students (learning objectives). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Dr. Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. The terminology has been recently updated to include the following six levels of learning. These 6 levels can be used to structure the learning objectives, lessons, and assessments of your course.
- Knowledge (Remembering): Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long‐term memory.
- Comprehension (Understanding): Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.
- Application: Carrying out or using a procedure for executing or implementing.
- Analysis: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.
- Evaluation: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.
- Synthesis (Creating): Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.
Bloom’s and learning objectives
Bloom’s and assessment guide
With these mighty guide, I was able to pull off and aligned the course objectives with my teaching strategy and assessment method. This is how the teaching and learning process should be. But of course, it doesn’t end in the classroom.
References:
- Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives, https://tips.uark.edu/using-blooms-taxonomy/
- Bloom’s Taxonomy, http://educationalgoals.tlc.sfu.ca/define-educational-goals/blooms-taxonomy/
MM Exclusive 