Bloom’s taxonomy includes a cognitive component where six mental processes are categorized for learning: (1) knowledge, (2) comprehension, (3) application, (4) analysis, (5), synthesis, and (6) evaluation. I can personally relate with all these different processes. For example, in my previous major, Marketing, I gained quite a bit of knowledge on how different businesses work and how the brains of customers work. To gain this knowledge, I had to comprehend by paying attention to the readings and lectures. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was quite difficult. It really depended on my level of interest. After comprehending the information, I was sometimes tasked to apply it such as in my group projects where me any my teammates had to make marketing plans upwards of 50 pages or more. To do such a project, a lot of analysis on current trends was necessary. Then, when selecting a marketing choice based on the trends, I was required to evaluate all the information and make a decision on which budget and choice would give us the most bang for our buck. At the end of the semester, our long hours of work end up creating a great marketing plan that was well-researched and well-articulated.
However, the plan was definitely not easy. I had to pick up a lot of slack, so the drains on my physiological needs were quite overbearing. This relates to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, which states that Physiological needs are the most basic needs followed by Safety, Social, Esteem, and finally, Self-Actualization. In my personal experience, I never had to account for safety, but I did have socialize with my group members (mostly through email) in order to do the project. The more work I put in, the higher my esteem was as a result, even though putting one’s esteem in grades is quite dangerous. Lastly, once I completed the project, I realized I didn’t want to be a marketer. This was when I discovered something deeper about myself that took me awhile to figure out. Although marketing is fun in some ways, my desire for a greater social good as well as job security overshadowed any of the benefits. Therefore, by the completion of this project, I made my decision to do Education instead.
This change in major and in my career path could be said to be a result of Backward Design. First, I identified the results that I wanted. In this case, I wanted a job that I would love to do, that would make an impact for the social good, that would be related to my previous experiences in volunteer work, and that would have good security. Teaching fit all these criteria, and therefore seemed like the soundest choice to pursue. To evaluate these criteria and determine whether they were important, I had to determine the acceptable evidence. For me, the acceptable evidence were my desires for a career and my past work experience. After I determined this, I then began planning how I would learn and be instructed in order to accomplish my career goals. The obvious solution was to get a bachelor’s degree in English Education, since I have an aptitude for writing.
But to get a degree, I had to first take the prerequisite courses required to be admitted into the College of Education. One of these courses was EDF 2005, an observation-heavy class. Based on Madeline Hunter’s Lesson Plan Template, my information was as follows: for the objective, I was to observe a few schools and see what teaching looks like in the real world; for standards, I was required to do several procedures such as getting an intern badge and dressing professionally during my observations. Next, for my materials, I had to use an observation card that had to be signed by the school staff in order to record my hours. As for the duration, the observation portion was to last about a week at 15 hours in total. During my observation, I saw what teaching was like by watching the teachers in action in their natural habitat. I observed how the teachers would engage the students by showing them how to do problems and work through group assignments via guided practice. Then, the teachers would close the lesson by saying what the students should expect in their independent practice, such as studying for tests or completing homework problems in their workbooks. These steps constituted the majority of the teachers I observed. Therefore, I believe the template itself is quite logical and useful for any future teachers as well.
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