Self-Evaluation: I felt that throughout this demonstration, I worked very hard to teach the model thoroughly and in a way in which my classmates would not only understand, but they could easily apply to their own classrooms. My model was closely followed throughout the activity, and I felt my classmates were engaged and accomplishing all the goals of the model. The one area I wish I could have done better in is the identifying the problem step. Throughout the presentation, I emphasized how important that step was in the model, but because I felt so rushed during the activity, I didn't spend very much time on it. I should have asked several more questions to have my classmates further breakdown the problem and restate the problem in a question form. Beyond that, I think the activity went very well, and it was very appropriate for grad students as it directly applied to their situation. I think my classmates learned from their experience our natural inclinations to throw out ideas before we even suggest them. The "deferred judgement" aspect definitely provided a learning experience and they saw how important it is to practice this skill with the students several times so their creativity could be more and more free. I really felt I covered the background of the model and not only explained the steps of the model, but WHY teachers should use the creative problem solving model with students. I feel my explanation of the difference between creative problem solving and traditional problem solving gave my classmates a clearer picture of the goals and value in the creative problem solving method. I really think the most important take-aways from my lesson were the values (free creative risk-taking and evaluation process) were clearly communicated to my classmates and they could see how the model would so greatly help any member of society no matter what their occupation is! The heart and value were communicated I think that is most important! I really enjoyed the discussion as I feel my classmates had great ideas and they were very engaged in it! My handout was very reader-friendly and had all the most important information and also had appropriate APA citing on the bottom. I feel I should receive an A on this project due to my hard work and accuracy in presenting.
Learning: This model was very interesting to me, and I feel like it has caused me to rethink problem solving in my classroom. One thing I have been thinking about ever since I presented on creative thinking skills is not immediately shutting down my students' ideas if I foresee a problem, or allowing my students to do the same to each other. I think I do this without realizing in my classroom, which most likely shuts down the creativity and willingness to take risks within my students. This model creates a structure for creative thinking and allows for completely unique, unhindered thinking processes. I feel like after learning so much about the value of creative thinking skills, this model allows for a practical way to encourage building these skills within the classroom, and I really appreciated digging deeper into its application and process. I definitely have tried to promote creative thinking skills in my classroom, but honestly, I don't think I had much rhyme or reason to how we went about doing this. I appreciate this method and having something to reference and modify according to what my classroom needs. I also really like the step in the model where there is a clear method of evaluating and rating each of the ideas. That is something that is transferable into all decision making models/activities. I really see the value of instilling this process into students to become successful thinking adults. When I was presenting to my classmates, I felt I learned a lot from their ideas and answers to my own discussion questions. They had so many ideas of how to apply it to the different subjects and how to adapt it for other students, and it really got me thinking on how to best implement it into my classroom.
Yes, this really puts it into something that is usable. And, yes, we would like more time for all of it, but it did go well, everyone was into it. Sorry I did not pick up earlier on the rank rather than rating. And the amount of thinking that can be done - and done by a group - so that it is not that we did not hear what one person said.
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