I uncovered this worksheet from when I taught ancient civilizations. We were comparing Alexander The Great and Julius Caesar. I know what you’re thinking! Compare and contrast? Oh, he’s already at Analyze? Great job.
But, look at this table that I gave students. You’ll see that my questions were actually at the Remember level. I’m asking students to remember facts, not Analyze leaders.
This table sets up an Analyze question, but I never actually asked an Analyze question. Instead, I jumped all the way to “Who was better?” with no scaffolding between the Remember and this Evaluate level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I need a smoother transition from the low-level table to the higher-levels of Bloom’s. (Also “Who was better?” is sooo dull. Let’s sharpen it!)
I’ll keep the table. Then, I’ll ask a sequence like this. Remember, each part is a checkpoint. Students do not get to see Part 2 until they’ve answered Part 1 to my satisfaction.
- Part 1: (I’ll keep the table from above, but ditch “Who was better?”)
- Part 2: What patterns do you notice in these two leaders? What sets each of them apart? (This is the missing Analyze step!)
- Part 3: If you were to give an award to each of the leaders, what would those awards be for? Think of a clever name and description for each one. The awards can be positive or negative.
- Part 4: Pick one of the awards to present to the leader. Write a short speech to explain to the crowd why this person has earned this particular award. (You can have your students actually design and present their award in class or not).
- Part 5: Tour your classmates’ awards. Which awards would Caesar appreciate? And which would he decline? Write from Caesar’s perspective. (You could also offer Alexander as a choice).
This little sequence offers so much more opportunity for thinking than my original, meek, “Who was better?”
Yep, I have a video version of this at Byrdseed.TV.