Higher order
thinking Skills
and
the Common Core
Lora Drum and Mia Johnson
Catawba County Schools
2013
Revised Bloom’s
Taxonomy
Self assessment
1. Read each statement and rate yourself by placing
an based on where you are on the continuum.
Disagree
Sometimes
Agree
This self assessment is for your personal use.
Did you know?...
Research on Cognitive Level of Questions shows:
• on average during classroom recitations, about 60% of questions
asked are lower cognitive level questions, 20% are higher cognitive
levels ; and 20% are procedural
• lower cognitive questions are more effective than higher level
questions with young (primary level) children, particularly the
disadvantaged
• higher cognitive questions are not categorically better than lower
cognitive questions in eliciting higher level responses or in
promoting learning gains
Did you know?
• lower cognitive questions are more effective when the teachers’
purpose is to impart factual knowledge and assist students in
committing this knowledge to memory
• in most classes, above the primary grades, a combination of higher
and lower cognitive questions is superior to exclusive use of one or
the other
• simply asking higher cognitive questions does not necessarily lead
students to produce higher cognitive responses
• teaching students to draw inferences and giving them practice in
doing so result in higher cognitive responses and greater learning
gains
It is critical to plan for
higher level thinking
questions ,prior to
“teaching time.”
These must be
strategically planned.
Differentiated
“Wait-Time”
Wait-time allows students sufficient time to process
and develop a response to a question before the
teacher asks a specific student to respond.
• Every 20 minutes provide a 60 second talk break
for students to process information
• Give students 3-5 seconds of “wait-time”.
Wait time…
• Some students need more than 5 seconds when
the question is above their recall level.
• Some boys may need up to 60 seconds to bring
information up on their “screen”.
• Many students from poverty need additional
“wait- time”.
Wait time…
• Students whose primary language is not English will need
additional processing time.
• Students with expressive language difficulty need more
time for the retrieval of words and thoughts.
• Some students with learning disabilities have difficulty
locating and retrieving “stored” information will benefit
from increased wait-time.
Note: Wait-time and think-time are often used interchangeably.
Strategies activity
1. Choose a card on your table.
2.
Form a neighborhood of friends with
colleagues who have the same color
card.
3.
Read the Strategy Card details given.
4.
Discuss ways that you can use this
with your specific grade level.
5.
Fill in the blanks on your card to share
with your group
6.
You will have 7 minutes for this
activity.
Strategies….SHARE
• All strategies will be compiled into a
document with the information you and
your colleagues created during this
activity.
• The document will be posted on your
Share Drive as well as the Catawba
County School Curriculum webpage
A Few Additional Ideas…
• Having students create questions takes critical thinking to a
higher level
• After modeling and guided practice, allow students
opportunities to generate questions with small groups and
partners
• Bloom’s Bucks is a fun way to help encourage students to
develop higher level questions (lest’ practice using what
you’ve learned and read today)
• QARs are also great tools for helping students understand the
different types of questions (see handout foldable: text to
brain questioning
• Text dependent questions are not necessarily right there
questions students should also use evidence from text to
prove their respond to inferential questions.
Closure:
Self-Assessment
Rate Yourself: Would you change your rating now? Do
you have strategies to help increase your rating on any
area?
Reflect: Choose the top 3 areas that you find most
important in your classroom. Note each one with a ★.
Goal Setting….
I will plan at least 3 higher order thinking activities per
day.
I will ask higher order thinking questions to EVERY student
EVERY day!