Lesson Planning Using The Wheel

The document linked here:

The Wheel: Bloom's Taxonomy for Learning Target,

Checking for Understanding, and Engaged Learning 

combines Bloom's taxonomy with methods of checking for understanding, as well as with activities designed to fully engage students. 

The form is a kind of worksheet that I've used it mainly for daily lesson plans in my 11th grade Humane Letters classes. We use Planbook which is where our more detailed lesson plans are found. 

The first image below gives the general (though unfortunately a bit fuzzy) idea, and the second image is a photo of an example from my class. 

The wheel starts in the center with the learning target language--knowledge, analysis, evaluation, etc. 

This helps to focus my planning on the 'bulls-eye' of the learning: the learning objective. Effective planning must start with the target. What will students learn? What is the point of the lesson? 

Across the center line I complete my learning target for the lesson: TSWBAT analyze "immediate & long-range causes of the F.[rench] R.[evolution]."

From there, the wheel moves out to formative assessment (checking for understanding). In my planning I want to move from learning target to formative assessment, that is, how I will check student understanding of the target. 

Finally, the outer circle includes some (but by no means all!) specific activities appropriate for that learning target area. These are meant to make sure that all students are as engaged as possible. 

For this class, I've circled 'analyze' as my learning target. From there, I've selected an exit pass to check for understanding. Finally, for the student activity I used a graphic organizer and pair-share. 

This form also includes spaces for other information--steps in the lesson, notes, etc.