Blooming Questions

How did the Blooming Questions activity demonstrate 21^st century approaches to education?

The activity allowed me to utilize critical thinking skills, and deeply analyze better approaches to utilize in the classroom. These approaches will allow the students to be more successful as future citizens and in the work force one day. We, as teachers, need to be proactive to enhance our lessons with new technologies and other ideas that will only serve to better teach the necessary skills that students need in the future.

How could it have been structured more effectively?

I feel as though time-wise the activity was not efficient enough. We were not given any time limits, and some groups (such as mine) were sitting around waiting while other groups continued to feverishly discuss the questions. While I do value the role discussion has in the learning process, I also believe that every student should always have something meaningful to do in class at all times, and our group did not receive that.

What was this activity like for you and what did you get out of it?

I felt that the activity gave me a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with my classmates on different budding ideas in the educational world. I value the time that I get to collaborate with other teachers, as I feel everyone has something meaningful to share. I was able to understand other viewpoints on the different topics, and it broadened my horizons on the overall subject matter.

What are the connections with this activity and educational leadership?

Part of being an effective supervisor/administrator is to be successful in creating professional learning communities. This activity successfully created PLCs, and allowed us to work together to create a solid final product. Additionally, as was mentioned in class, as an administrator, clarity is key. When one group did not understand the terminology another group used, they asked for clarification. An administrator must be open to do that as well.  As a whole, an administrator needs to be an effective communicator, and this activity forced us to do just that.