Blooming great resources

What is Bloom's taxonomy?

A hierarchy that organises learning objectives in to order of how complex they are. The skills start with 'remember' followed by 'understand', 'apply', 'analyse', 'evaluate', and finally, 'create'.

Why do Grouty's Guide book club activities use Bloom's taxonomy?

Regardless of how confident a reader is, it is important that there are activities everyone can succeed with. Also, because the skills become more complex as you work up the hierarchy, each activity acts as a stepping stone to move on to the next, meaning that you are supported in making progress. 

It is worth noting as well, that a number of English GCSE exams are structured so that the questions start with the less complex skills in the hierarchy, and move through to the more challenging skills. 

Tell me about the rainbows...

Visually engaging resources are nice to work with, and rainbows function as the perfect symbol for increasing levels of challenge. As the rainbow becomes more colourful, the challenge of the task is increased. It certainly serves as encouragement to try and get the rainbow completed!

How can I recognise each of the skills?

Question stems might look like this:

Remember: 'find', 'retrieve', 'highlight'

Understand: 'group', 'paraphrase', 'predict'

Apply: 'sketch', 'judge', 'reenact'

Analyse: 'link', 'mind-map', 'explain'

Evaluate: 'argue', 'debate', 'edit'

Create: 'adapt', 'devise', 'build'

What about blue?

Blue is the last colour in the rainbow and this last stripe is earned by entering the monthly competition!