Stephanie Jimenez

November 1, 2015

Child Lit ENG 308

Blooms Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy was created to replace rote learning. This special learning

process was created to help student think critically, when it comes to learning new

information. In 1956, psychologist Dr. Benjamin Bloom pointed out six

classifications that would help children have a higher form of thinking. These

classifications are: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and

evaluation. Since the 19th century the Blooms Taxonomy has helped children

succeed when it comes to reading children literature.

A piece of childrens literature that can show a perfect example of how

Blooms Taxonomy comes into play is Lewis Carrolls story, Alices Adventures in

Wonderland. The first category of Blooms taxonomy is knowledge, which is basically

remembering data and information. This is helpful before you begin reading a novel.

For example, in the 20th century it is safe to say that most children have seen the

Alice in Wonderland Disney movie, so in this category they can remember the

knowledge from the movie as they read the book. For someone who has not seen the

movie, they can look at the pictures to see the theme of the story and get feel for the

mood, and get a visual of what it will be about. The second category is

comprehension, at this stage I feel it is the responsibility of the reader to

comprehend what is going on as they read. In order for the reader to be at this stage

they need to understand the main character and most importantly they need to be
hooked to the novel, it also has to strike their interest. The third category is

application, which is applying the student past knowledge into situations from the

novel. For example, throughout the novel, there are short passages almost as if it was

a riddle, or saying. As the reader, you have to be able to slow down think about the

meaning behind the riddle and understand what the author wants its reader to

know. For example, on page 26, it talks about how wet everyone was, and the mouse

comments that he has a way to make everyone dry, then he starts speaking about

boring old stuff. As a reader one must be at the stage to understand the concept

behind that, and understand why the mouse said that. The fourth category is,

analysis, which means a student organizes his/her thoughts towards the novel, this

happens so they can understand in sequence what is going on. At this stage it is good

for students to create an outline to help them visually see the path Alice has gone,

and it can help students use their imagination to hypothesis what challenges Alice

will face. This step also helps children point out all the characters and see the

important they have in the novel. The fifth step is, synthesis. Synthesizing is getting

all the information together and creating a new meaning out of it. Alice makes a

perfect example of this as she continues her crazy journey. The more she encounters

and all the changes shes had, she pulls herself together at the end and is determined

to go back to her normal self, she sees a new outcome after all the madness shes

gone through. The last category is evaluation. This category comes at the end in a

novel. This is important when children read literature because children get to

criticize the reading and explain what they liked and what they didnt. This opens

them to be critical thinkers.

 Blooms taxonomy has helped childrens literature. Reading childrens

literature can be difficult to understand and it can definitely be tricky. I believe when

it comes to reading literature, the teach and the students need to take it slow and

review thoroughly with the words the author has chosen to use because they are all

written for a purpose. Blooms Taxonomy is a perfect method because it allows the

students to think carefully, and analyze all aspect if the literature. According to

website Kidmunication, it states help your kids master the remembering level by

asking questions. For example, if you ask your students questions based on the

category and they got it, then that means they have mastered that category and you

can move on. This insures the teacher that they comprehend and understand the

novel. Erica Kocher, presented in her Prezi slide how important it is to create a pre

and post test for the novel, it helps the teacher understand the knowledge they had

before the novel, and it as well lets the teacher see the new insights r knowledge the

students may have gained after reading the novel. I agree with both writers, in order

to see if your students mastered Blooms taxonomy you must test their knowledge

before and after.

 Works Cited

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. Booklet Digital, 1865. Print.

Kocher, Erica. "Connecting Pre-Post Testing to Bloom's Taxonomy through Children's

Literature." Press. 16 May 2012. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.

Unknown. USING BLOOMS TAXONOMY WITH STORIES TO HELP CHILDREN

DEVELOP COGNITIVE SKILLS." Kidmunication. 14 Aug. 2012. Web. 1 Nov.

2015.