Webb's+Depth+of+Knowledge+Resources

After having one semester of evaluating instruction on our TEAM model, one area that I have found to need some additional clarification is the THINKING indicator. As teachers are utilizing Bloom's Taxonomy during the instructional planning process to include higher levels of thinking during the lesson, the focus has been on the VERB utilized in the activity. However, when one examines Bloom's more in depth, it is easy to see that the verbs listed for each level of thinking are only indicators but do not always accurately identify the level of thinking that is taking place during an instructional activity. For example, a teacher may direct students to "analyze" a paragraph, identify any sentence fragments, and correct them. While the teacher used the verb "analyze," the activity itself is still at the knowlege/comprehension level. In this case, the verb does not match its associated level in Bloom's.

To help teachers and administrators get a better understanding of this, I have posted several documents below on Webb's depth of knowledge that should help to identify, plan, and create learning activities that involve higher levels of thinking (rigor) without the confusion of the verb indicators in Bloom's.