Chapter 3 Reflection

Chapter 3 is about teaching students how to learn rather than just teaching them specific skills. By doing so, this will help students later in life as they enter the workforce. I liked that NETS-T Standard 1 requires that "Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments." In doing so, teachers "engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources."

Chapter 3 had two major points; Creative Thinking and Authentic Instruction.

Creative thinking could be defined as looking a situations from a unique perspective (thinking "out of the box'). Creative thinking involves creating something new or original. The aim of creative thinking is to stimulate curiosity and promote a difference of opinion There are many different types of creative thinking (divergent, convergent, innovation, critical, inductive, & deductive). Listed below are a few of the different styles of thinking and how I would define them:

• Divergent Thinking-a "brainstorming" process that generates creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.
• Convergent Thinking-is obtaining the single, best answer for the specific question.
• Innovation-the precise, continual evaluation to determine the value of something. Also known as analytical thinking.

I learned that creativity is often developed through an authentic instructional approach. The characteristics of authentic instruction are often considered key and crucial to the growth of creative thinking.

Authentic instruction could be defined as the use of real-world issues and problems to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. There are five basic set of principles and strategies to the authentic instruction approach. These include

• Learner Autonomy-authentic instruction provides for, and builds on, learner autonomy.
• Active Learning-authentic instruction is based on active, experiential learning.
• Holistic Activities-authentic instruction is holistic.
• Complex Activities-authentic instruction incorporates real-world and complex problems.
• Challenging Activities-authentic instruction is challenging.

As a future educator, i believe that lexiles could be very beneficiary in the everyday classroom. Lexile is a scale that matches the difficulty of reading material to the students' ability. This will help students engage in relevant authentic materials at a level they can understand.

Chapter 3 describes how the components of authentic instruction could be used to assist and inspire student's creativity and learning. It discusses the need for directive instruction and it explores multiple ways in which technology can support this approach as well as each of the components of authentic instruction.