Taxonomy of Teaching

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124532654

Basically what this guy is selling is the idea that if the rules mentioned in his taxonomy are followed, anyone can have the classroom management skills to be an effective teacher. In a sense, this is expert advice on the "soft skills" that are expected to be inherent in teachers, but may only be present in the select few that demonstrate results. Combined with an extensive background in the subject area being taught, a thorough understanding of these skills can be a one-two punch that will make teachers, students and schools more effective.

Rote Makes Right?

http://www.edutopia.org/rote-learning-benefits

Interesting article defending the use of memorization methodology in classrooms, the explanation being that forcing information to occupy the short-term memory part of the brain allows for the opportunity for it to be absorbed into the long-term section. The writers explains:

Bloom's Taxonomy maintains that the highest order of thinking occurs at the evaluating and creating levels which infer that the thinkers must have knowledge, facts, data, or information in their brains to combine into something new, or with which to judge relative importance or value. Therefore, effective knowledge acquisition has to come first.

I'm not exactly sure how memorization segways into the ability to think deeply and critically; I think science needs to figure out which one is the cart and which one the horse.