Map Resources

This bookmark takes you to an excellent explanation about what Big Ideas are.

"An idea is “big” if it helps us make sense of lots of confusing experiences and seemingly isolated facts. It’s like the picture that connects the dots or a simple rule of thumb in a complex field. For example: “the water cycle” is a big idea for connecting seemingly discrete and one-way events (the water seems to just disappear as it evaporates). “The heroic cycle” enables us to comprehend literature from many places, cultures, and times. “Measure twice, cut once” is a profound reminder about how to avoid heartache and inefficiency in building anything."

This Bookmark resource provides a link to an excellent resource for understanding the development of Big Ideas and Essential Questions.

Goals accomplished from this PPT.

• Why big ideas and essential questions are crucial for student learning?
• What are the criteria for big ideas and essential questions?
• Time to work in your content area to evaluate your big ideas and essential questions and make any revisions or refinements.

This is the introduction to Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. The different taxonomical levels can be viewed individually via the navigation bar or below this introduction as embedded pages.
This is an update to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy which attempts to account for the new behaviours and actions emerging as technology advances and becomes more ubiquitous. Bloom's Revised Taxonomy describes many traditional classroom practices, behaviours and actions, but does not account for the new processes and actions associated with Web 2.0 technologies, infowhelm (the exponential growth in information), increasing ubiquitous personal technologies or cloud computing.
Bloom's Digital Taxonomy isn't about the tools or technologies rather it is about using these to facilitate learning. Outcomes on rubrics are measured by competence of use and most importantly the quality of the process or product. For example. Bookmarking a resource is of no value if the resource is inappropriate, invalid, out of date or inaccurate.
Bloom's Digital Taxonomy lends itself to problem and project based learning where the student must work through the entire process of development and evaluation. 

This bookmark links to PowerPoint presentation discussing in detail the different types of Essential Questions while providing several examples. The PPT also provides information about how to develop quality Big Ideas.

If knowledge is made up of "answers," then what are the questions? Too often students leave school never realizing that knowledge is produced and refined in response to questions and inquiry.

This bookmark takes you to a blog written by Steven Weber, Director of Secondary Instruction for Orange County Schools in Hillsborough, NC. He explains, from his perspective, why standards should be unwrapped before curriculum mapping and other similar processes should be attempted. Although a brief article, it articulates well a sequence of tasks that a district should consider.

Making the Standards Work for You!

This linked pdf file was presented by Kelly Curtright, Direct of Social Studies, Office of Standards and Curriculum in the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The pdf provides useful information, in part, on Bloom's vocabulary in the context of unwrapping standards. It also provides several templates for the entire process of unwrapping.

How Do I Know What to Teach and How to Teach It?

This online presentation briefly discusses how learner involvement in unwrapping a standard can lead to the creation of a Word Wall. This leads to students better understanding the knowledge and skills essential for mastering the standard.

This bookmark resource links to a PowerPoint presentation which illustrates how one can unwrap standards using the Backwards Design process developed by Wiggins and McTighe.

Unwrapping the standards is the process of identifying the concepts and skills in the NYS Standards (the general statements of learning outcomes - what students need to know and be able to do) and the performance indicators (grade/level specific learning outcomes). Unwrapping the standards will also include identifying the "Big Ideas" of the standard as they relate to learning and form the basis of the development of essential questions. The ultimate goal is for students to be able to answer the essential questions in their own words, using elements of the "Big Ideas" within the particular context teachers use to teach the concepts and skills.