Reflection #1

Thinking, Creativity and Technology in Teaching
When thought of independently, the terms “critical thinking”, “creativity” and “technology” and their correlation to the field of teaching can be easily perceived and perhaps even expected. Critical thinking is an important aspect of teaching. It is a skill that helps teachers to become more reflective and active problem solvers in teaching. Creativity is essential because without it teaching becomes monotonous for the teacher and a chore to be avoided for the student. And no one will dispute the importance of technology in teaching. Although still source of much intimidation for many, the access it provides to the world around us and the many conveniences it enables, teaching has come a long way because of technology. The experience of completing this assignment and the parameters given to complete it, forced a merging of these three elements of teaching with an outcome that was pleasantly surprising.
When used individually to plan and implement lessons, critical thinking alone may not invite enthusiastic participants, creativity alone may not meet all learning requirements and many times technology can become intimidating. But when these elements of teaching are combined throughout the planning and implementation of lessons, the outcome is at the very least an excited teacher who is motivated to teach. This feeling of excitement and motivation is what this author has experienced with the completion of this assignment and is convinced that when used collectively, these three elements result in an enhanced teaching experience for the teacher and an opportunity for learning at a whole new dimension for the student.
In searching for an idea from which to base the composition of this lesson plan, the search engine Ujiko.com introduced in this course was extremely helpful in formulating a more refined search for information. It was through a web search using Ujiko that the idea for this lesson plan originated. The worldwide web provides so many resources for today’s teacher. It is just a matter of launching this technology for this purpose. The website used as the basis for this lesson was that of the Utah Education Network found at www.uen.com. An original lesson from the site was used and modified to fit the purpose of this assignment.
The NETS*T standards that apply to the planning and completion of this assignment would be NETS Teacher standard 1C which states to: promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes (www.iste.org). This standard applies to this assignment because of the lesson planned includes an extension which has the students document observations using Microsoft Excel. By adding this technological aspect to the lesson the students are provided with a visual tool which allows them to conceptualize the data collected and recorded on observation logs. The learning continues and is enhanced as they are exposed to the basic knowledge of creating a digital graph and inputting data on Microsoft Excel.
The most arduous part of this assignment was deciding on the type of lesson that would fit the requirements given. “Thinking out of the box” and selecting a lesson that include as an end product the creation of a digital spreadsheet that accomplished something more than simply counting items was a bit of a task. Once the lesson idea was formulated to fit the spreadsheet requirements the rest came easily. The most enjoyable part was the creation of the lesson plan in the format requested. Creating a lesson plan that was pleasing to look at brought about a reaction that was not expected. It brought about a certain excitement to the implementation of the lesson. This was interesting because this reaction came about in relation to a subject that is not of the most interesting to the author. It was amazing to realize that the simple task of adding creativity to the format of a lesson plan could result in such a way. A lesson plan that is pleasing to the eye creates a motivation and an excitement for the teacher implementing the lesson. This assignment as a whole further emphasizes the relationship critical thinking, creativity and technology plays in the classroom and the motivation and excitement for learning that can be instilled when these elements are combined in the planning and implementation of a lesson.