BLOOM'S TAXONOMY: THE GOOD EXAMPLE

Text Profile:

Genre:  Story

Writer:  Vicente Rina Placia

Major Theme:  Knowing the letters does not assure your literacy.

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY:

1. REMEMBERING:

Don Lucas was a teacher, running his school for the neighborhood children. He had a parrot named Perico, whom he loved dearly. The parrot was all he had as a family. He followed the technique of making the students repeat after him in his teaching. The parrot chanted along with the students. After 4 pm, the students went home and Don Lucas will fall at peace and conversed with the parrot. One afternoon Perico decided to leave Don Lucas and flew away to the forest. Don Lucas didn't go in pursuit of Perico since it was impossible for him to find Perico in the flock of parrots. On an eventful day, Don Lucas had to go to the town and he passed through the forest. He heard a flock of parrot chanting his lessons as his students did. He went closer to the source of the sound and to his astonishment Perico was the teacher and the flock repeated after him. On seeing Don Lucas, Perico proudly said, 'Don Lucas I have a school now.'

2. UNDERSTANDING:

The story describes how traditional teaching practices were and the effectiveness of those practices. It was popular to teach using chanting and cadences in those days. The students were made to mug up the things they have to learn rather than understand the subject material. It shows how we have come across those teaching and learning era to the present days. A good teacher must be able to provide his fellows wisdom than bookish knowledge. The event where a parrot becomes a teacher is portrayed as an insult to a teacher who is unable to provide understanding.

3. APPLYING:

In present-day situations, learning through practices is preferred over bookish learning. The knowledge that we learn should be applicable in our practical lives. In Nepal, we come across priests who can uninterruptedly chant all the mantras his book could offer but only a few know the meaning of those chantings. We prefer the teacher who makes us understand the subject material. For example, knowing all the chemical reactions and knowing what a chemical does are two different things. Lack of knowledge leads to accidents. The human need to be more knowledgeable than any other animals.

4. ANALYZING:

Don Lucas is a teacher who provides wisdom to his fellas. He regularly practices shouting and making the students chant after him. The students sure were able to remember the cadences but did they understand what they were chanting? Well, a simple flock of parrot was able to chant them syllable to syllable. This raises the question, what is the difference between Don Lucas and Perico? A human with a higher IQ than a parrot is compared on par with the parrot itself. We can say Don Lucas failed as a teacher with his bad teaching techniques. He should have rather focused on making his pupils understand the subject matter, then make them memorize. Teaching and learning are practiced to pass wisdom and make living better for the coming generation. The technique Don Lucas had been following was not appropriate. Practical teaching should be practiced than recitation and memorization.

5. Evaluating:

The story is very simple to understand and is written in intricately woven words. The events in the story are coherent. The conversations between Don Lucas and Perico make the story even interesting to read. Some events are quite imaginary and hard to believe. The fact Perico established his own school from a flock of parrots is quite hard to digest. These events can be taken as metaphors and we can enjoy the fascinating message it passes.