Bloom’s Taxonomy in Music Rooms – Free Posters for Music Advocacy

After a week-long class about critical thinking in the art/theater/music classroom I was inspired!  We had been talking about all the ways that arts education addresses every level of Bloom’s Taxonomy and music education in particular encourages strategic thinking in students.  I realize that I’m literally preaching to the choir here.  Music teachers know about all the complex thinking skills that music students have to utilize every day in class.  However administrators, parents, and community members don’t always realize what happens behind the scenes to create that amazing performance, piece of art, or stage show.

I wanted to create some sort of bulletin board set that helped outsiders see how we encourage critical thinking skills and processes in the music classroom.  I sat down and made these posters to put up outside my classroom to show what Bloom’s Taxonomy might look like if you came in and visited the music room. By giving these concrete words and examples, anyone observing my class would know to look for those different skills in action.  Posting these words also showed outsiders that I, the teacher, am aware of all of those things happening in my class and that I’m actively working to promote those critical thinking skills in all that I do!

I wanted to use key words that fit in with each Bloom’s Taxonomy heading to help outsiders realize what skills we teach and where they fall within Bloom’s Taxonomy.  For instance with the Analysis stage I added words like “infer,” “classify timbres,” “subdivide,” and “form identification.”  With the Comprehension stage I added words like “compare/contrast,” “summarize,” “paraphrase,” and “distinguish.”

Once I was finished with the bulletin board set I decided to share the posters so that others can use the resource for music advocacy any time during the year.  I once had a principal who said, “Oh, you have national standards?” after looking at a hallway bulletin board.  Often principals, parents, and community members want to be supportive but they just don’t know what they don’t know.  When we help others realize that higher-level thinking and teaching is happening in the music room and that we’re encouraging critical thinking through all that we do we raise the bar and help them to see the great value of music education.

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