Partner up, Legal Brief!

I think the legal briefs were very tailored to how I learn. Therefore, when I was asked to find something that would make it better, it was a challenge. I realized there was one thing that was extremely helpful in my experience in discussing the case; another person also had the same case. This was helpful because when I went to discuss it, not only my comments were heard. Consequently, the one thing I would change about this assignment is that two people should have been assigned to each case which would have given everyone a partner to discuss their cases with. This way, each student would better understand their case (in the event that they did not understand the legal terms used or the documents they were researching).

Love the writers of Framework for 21st Century Learning

The thing I like most about the 21st Century Framework Definitions (http://www.p21.org/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf) is that they really are what it says they are. Honestly, this document is a fantastic review of what students need to know in the modern age. I know, I'm still a student- a recent high school grad even (2009). I have realized lately that my education has been lacking (something I'm not stoked about) in the areas that really matter in this globalized world. This article places things such as knowing current events and being able to collaborate with others as well as with modern technology. Unfortunately, my schooling has focused on solely the school subjects and basic skills such as working in groups and learning to get along with others. I do not think I have been pushed to integrate my assignments with the challenges that technology or the meshing of the world's society present. Now I am trying to catch up in these parts in my spare time (something that I do not have a lot of, despite it being summer vacation) and it has proved difficult. I am even more motivated now to incorporate current information into the curriculum in order that students better understand the past and how it relates to our world today.

IUnderestimating the Lower Books

A poster of Bloom's Taxonomy hangs in every single classroom in my high school. It is one of the things that I would stare at and wonder about on those days when all I could manage was to keep my eyes open and to occasionally scratch down a sentence I absent-mindedly heard come out of the teacher's mouth. It depicts a stack of books with the stages of Bloom's each written on a book - LOTS at the bottom, HOTS at the top. All the teachers in my school spoke of striving to reach the lantern at the top of the pyramid of books which culminate in the word 'Evaluation'. On those days when my mind was somewhere out in space, Bloom's Taxonomy never quite made sense to me. I understood the challenge of applying the information you had already processed and then the further obstacle of creating something new out of what had already been repeated and applied; however, I couldn't help wondering about the necessity of every level in the pyramid. The memorization of facts, processes, dates, conjugations and the like are the most important building blocks to any real knowledge of a subject. Sometimes, unfortunately, teachers skip over these details and go straight to the HOTS, losing students along the way. I do not necessarily agree with the statement in the article that you can start at any point in the pyramid because I believe you need to master the basics in order that the more difficult processes follow easily. This is just a warning to those teachers that want their students to reach the top of the pyramid; never underestimate the power of starting with the basics.