Question Strategy: Bloom’s Taxonomy
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying
2000 Modern Library Ed.
Purpose of Strategy
Bloom’s Taxonomy is used to create questions that assist students in discovering
what they know and comprehend about a given topic. It also allows them to
utilize higher order thinking skills to answer questions that require them to apply,
analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. With this particular exercise, this
activity should be done while the students are reading the novel and directly after
finishing it. This will help the students keep up on their reading assignments and
create a more varied environment of learning. You may also use one of the higher
leveled questions as a prompt for an essay/project after the students have
completed the novel to wrap up the unit.
Context:
This activity is best used while the students are reading the novel. The students
should submit their responses to the questions after each chunk of the novel is
complete, as indicated in the outline below. At the end of the novel, have the
students do a short evaluation response. Use either the synthesis or evaluation
below as a prompt for an end of the unit paper, tying together the themes
discussed throughout the reading of the novel.
Directions
Use the questions below to strike up discussion during class. You may use them
as quizzes or participation responses. The answers and prompts for the students
are indicated at the end of the question. The students need to be at least to the
point in the novel where the questions become relevant. Hand out the
questions/response sheets prior to the students completely the indicated sections.
This will help direct their attention while reading. Use either the synthesis or
evaluation questions as prompts for a follow-up paper. This can segue into the
next unit of how to organize and cite sources in papers.
Knowledge: Who constructs Addie’s coffin? (A: Cash, found in section 1) How
much money does Tull pay Darl and Jewel to make a delivery and risk missing
the last days with their mother? (A: three dollars, found in section 5)
Comprehension: Describe the death scene of Addie. Where are her children?
What are they each doing? Discuss how this scene demonstrates a sense of loss,
or the lack thereof, as witnessed within the family. (for more detail review
section 12)
Application: Dewey Dell is one of the main female figures throughout the novel.
There are many instances in which the roles of women are defined through the
controlling society of men, as witnessed between the Dewey Dell and Anse’s
Christina Willey, BYU 2009
relationship. Find two to three examples within the text that define the
differences between the roles of men and women in society. (Examples: Dewey
Dell sexual relationship for money, being ordered to cook dinner directly after the
death of her mother, Anse taking her ten dollars, etc.)
Analysis: Why does Anse relate Annie’s ill health with the new road being
unlucky? What can we thus infer regarding Anse’s relationship with Annie? (for
more information have the students re-read section 9)
Synthesis: Imagine that Cash had not seen Darl set the barn on fire. Discuss in
small groups the different direction the novel could have taken. Construct an
outline of how you would have concluded the novel. How would the ending
events of the novel be changed? Would Darl still have gone to the mental
institution? Would this potentially altered event effect the later decisions of
Anse? Use examples from the text to justify your answer.
Evaluation: Do you think that Anse ever truly loved Annie? And if so, was his
love enduring or short lived? Evaluate Anse’s behavior, action, and emotional
displays of affection throughout the novel to support your answer. Cite specific
examples. (Evaluate, judge, decide, assess, and verify)
Assessment:
When students are able to answer more than literal comprehension questions, they
are using higher order thinking skills. There are three types of questions: 1)
textually explicit questions lead to answers directly in the text, 2) textually implicit
questions require students to think about what they have read and organize ideas
from the text to formulate an answer, while 3) schema-based questions rely on a
student’s prior knowledge and experience. Answers to questions can be judged
on originality, completeness, organization, and many other factors.
Summary and Segue:
At the end of this exercise, the students should have completed the novel. They
should also be familiar with the themes discussed in class. Having worked closely with a
piece of literature, they will be better enabled to begin a new unit. One idea for this new
unit would be to teach the organization and citations used in papers. I would suggest that
the paper be an analysis of text in regards to a specific theme.
Christina Willey, BYU 2009
Name: __________________
Date: ___________________
Taking a Deeper Look Into As I Lay Dying
1. Who constructs Addie’s coffin? _________________
2. How much money does Tull pay Darl and Jewel to make a delivery and
risk missing the last days with their mother? ____________________
3. Describe the death scene of Addie. Where are her children?
What are they each doing? Discuss how this scene demonstrates a sense of loss, or the
lack thereof, as witnessed within the family.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Dewey Dell is one of the main female figures throughout the novel. There are many
instances in which the roles of women are defined through the controlling society of men,
as witnessed between the Dewey Dell and Anse’s relationship. Find two to three
examples within the text that define the differences between the roles of men and women
in society.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Christina Willey, BYU 2009
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Why does Anse relate Annie’s ill health with the
new road being unlucky? What can we thus infer
regarding Anse’s relationship with Annie?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Christina Willey, BYU 2009
6. Imagine that Cash had not seen Darl set the barn on fire. Discuss in small groups the
different direction the novel could have taken. Construct an outline of how you would
have concluded the novel. How would the ending events of the novel be changed?
Would Darl still have gone to the mental institution? Would this potentially altered event
effect the later decisions of Anse? Use examples from the text to justify your answer.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Christina Willey, BYU 2009
7. Do you think that Anse ever truly loved Annie? And if so, was his love enduring or
short lived? Evaluate Anse’s behavior, action, and emotional displays of affection
throughout the novel to support your answer. Cite specific examples.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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Christina Willey, BYU 2009