At the Peak of Things

by Linda Stanek

The highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is Evaluation. Here, students appraise, compare, defend (yes, defend) and evaluate their work. But it doesn’t stop there. Creatives are forever cycling back through the upper echelons of the model—back to Analysis—how could it be different? How could it be better? Back to Synthesis—how can I make it happen? Back to Evaluation—do I like it now? What’s the good part? What’s the not-so-good part? And back to Analysis again. As an author, I can attest to this stage in my work—the rewrites, over and over and over again, until my family thinks I’m nuts, but I know…it’s not quite there. Yet.

Think about your own projects. Have you ever worked and reworked a project so many times that people around you thought you should just quit? Did you? How did the project turn out?

Linda Stanek was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and has always loved visiting the zoo. She spends her time taming stray cats and corralling words into stories and books—both fiction and nonfiction. She also writes for magazines, e-zines, and non-profit organizations and writes teacher’s guides for award-winning children’s books.

Linda has a B.S. degree in elementary education from The Ohio State University. She lives in Columbus with her three cats, Frankie (named after a Columbus Crew soccer player), Chloe (just because she likes the name), and Cubby (named after the Chicago Cubs baseball team). Beco’s Big Year is her second book.