Revitalized Unit Reflection

The revitalized unit offered a great way to wrap up all of the information provided to us with an application to apply strategies to our classroom. I am excited to start implementing these strategies within my classroom. I feel they will provide my students with a unique set of skills. It will also help me implement more higher order thinking components within my classroom, which is an area I struggle in at times. Overall, I feel that using the teaching strategies discussed within this class will not only make me a better educator, but provide my students with a more rewarding educational experience.

Simulations Teaching Strategy Reflection

When you evaluate yourself, you should consider the rubric that is attached. You should address the strengths and what you would do differently - not just an agenda or description of what happened.

Use of Model: The intention of the model was closely followed throughout the activity. Though, this model offered a different approach than my previous model, where I had to explain the model throughout implementation, the four steps were completed. I believe each step presented individuals with clarification of what they were expected to complete.

Activity: This activity was used before the in-depth explanation of the model. Though, as I mentioned above, the model asked a brief explanation of what a simulation entails. The main activity using SimSchool was an appropriate representation of a simulation that is of excellent use for grade students and educators. The activity SimSchool provided a well-rounded experience of the expectations and needs of individual students within a classroom and allows for appropriate responses to meet these needs. In the future, I would like to turn this into more of a flipped learning experience where the class can access the educational backgrounds of the individuals within the activity to read before beginning with the lesson. Though I wish SimSchool allowed for more free response, I thought I represented a well-rounded experience. I would use this activity again as an educator, and I would suggest it to other beginner and experienced educators for practice.

Model: Each of the four steps were thoroughly explained and demonstrated throughout the activity. While reviewing the steps, I was able to show the class exactly how we used the model within the activity. The material was presented in a clear format that allowed the class to understand and see the connections. The model was presented in full as well as explained.

Presentation: The presentation provided the classmates with the most relevant information that was organized in an easy way to follow. The presentation consisted of slides and an introductory video. The text on the slides was condensed and to the point and provided examples when necessary.

Handout: The handout offered individuals with detailed information about each step and addressed the main teacher roles of use. The handout also provided students with examples of a variety of different simulations for each subject area allowing them to explore and utilize this strategy within their classroom easily.

Class discussion & Questions: The discussion between the class provided a thorough review of strengths, weaknesses, relationships, and adaptations. Each aspect of the discussion was touched on, however, due to time restraints the discussion was cut shorter than anticipated.

When you reflect, you need to consider your learning about the topic based on your prior experiences -how does it link or what did it make you realize, and how might it relate to what you have been thinking about doing. Also think about your learning as you prepared, as you presented and the interactions with classmates.

Overall: Using this teaching strategy within my classroom has been something I wanted to implement for a long time. I first dived into this topic during the spring of 2016 within Dr. Cantu’s Technology Infusion course when we looked into how the United States Army was using simulations with youth to promote the program. As I looked further into simulations within this class I realized the benefits of using the model as a way to introduce each simulation, as well as how many different simulations are out there to aid educational topics. While searching for the perfect activity to use with the class, the number of topics made it hard to choose. I ended up settling with SimSchool, which I thought did a wonderful job simulating a real-life classroom, to a certain point. Though the experience was quick, I thought the other group members also enjoyed the activity. If I were to present this topic again, I would like to allow each teammate to first look over the student background and then move through the activity on their own to gain practice. I look forward to working with more simulations in my classroom.  

LibbiH.Creative Problem Solving Teaching Strategy Reflection

When you evaluate yourself, you should consider the rubric that is attached. You should address the strengths and what you would do differently - not just an agenda or description of what happened.

Use of Model: I consider one strength of my presentation on creative problem solving as closely following the intended model brought about by Parnes. Each step allowed for students to learn the intended information and presented individuals with a chance to practice the model as intended.

Activity: The activity was presented before the explanation of the model occurred. The activity dealt with students answering the broad question of, “How will we prepare ourselves for the first day of school?” This question relates directly to the individuals within this grad school class as educators and is applicable to their current situations. Some aspects of the activity seemed to be slightly confusing for some students. In the future, I would like to provide better examples and further explanation to increase understanding.

Model: Each facet of the creative problem solving model was thoroughly explained and demonstrated in the activity. Each of the five facets was first demonstrated in the group activity and then explained with a simple definition. During the time each facet was explained, I went back to the part of the demonstration where the model step was used to allow students to see the relation. Students were also able to hear the student and educator roles specifically to increase understanding. Techniques I used within this model were strategies that Parnes suggested for successful idea output and discussion.

Presentation: The presentation provided students with the most relevant information even though the model demonstrated was one of the original CPS models adapted by Parnes. The newest models were briefly explained towards the end of the presentation. The presentation offered an appropriate use of presentation tools by allowing students to participate in the activity, use of cueing music clips, and visual and audio presentation slides. Next time, I would like to incorporate a more tactile component to increase student participation.

Handout: The handout created offered a brief explanation of the topic with a detailed analysis of each facet of the model. The steps were explained with both individual student roles and teacher roles with a model visual. The end of the handout offered an explanation of the main ideas to clarify any misconceptions as well as techniques to stimulate idea output and development to aid educators in using the techniques within this activity. I believe the handout was clear, concise, and complete and did not require any changes.

Class discussion & Questions: The group adequately discussed strengths, weaknesses, relationships to research areas and areas within this class, relationship to strategies, adaptations, and application as to how it would be used within each individual’s classroom. I was able to guide the group through the different components, addressing misconceptions and ideas if necessary. I would not change anything from the discussion and questions.

When you reflect, you need to consider your learning about the topic-based on your prior experiences -how does it link or what did it make you realize, and how might it relate to what you have been thinking about doing. Also think about your learning as you prepared, as you presented and the interactions with classmates.

Overall: This teaching strategy is not one that I have encountered before on a large scale. I believe I have touched on basic components but have not completed it in full. I believe it is a successful strategy to use for situations in which an individual does not know where to begin to solve a problem. However, I feel on simple problems, it would not be the best strategy to use. By taking a broad problem and simplifying it with brainstorming and quantitative data, which I appreciated, an individual can simplify a broad problem by breaking it down until a solution is formed. Throughout this process, an individual easily goes through creative, critical, divergent, and convergent thinking without struggling. I would like to use this within my classroom as an introductory activity to a new concept to allow students the chance to find their own direction without getting too overwhelmed.

            As I prepared for this presentation I wanted to make sure I had enough information included to make it beneficial to all involved. Without using this strategy before, I was slightly nervous that the process was not going to work well as the readings suggested. What I found was that presenting this topic moved nicely through each step. With direction, the group members were able to come to the conclusions that I was looking for and gain a meaningful experience. I believe that the interactions between each of the individuals and the interactions with the material being presented went much better than anticipated.