EDSS 521 Blog Post #3

Creativity in my classroom only occurs when we have the occasional class project. The students seem to respond to this and like it, but other than that they are in a routine. Students however are allowed to critical think when we go over primary source documents, and exhibit problem solving when in groups. In these group projects, my students are allowed to discuss their ideas with their peers, collaborate to complete their assignment, and communicate freely. Overall, this is a strong aspect of our classroom and the California standards allow for this to occur. Students are given a certain schedule to complete tasks, and are constantly given updates on how much time has passed. I constantly show my students how to find the information In their text book, instead of just telling them the information they need to find. I find this is a much better way to teach my students about information literacy, because sometimes they find information that is not relevant to the question, and they are guided as to why it is not relevant. For the most part, my students are not taught media literacy. There will be a project where they will have to find information on their own from internet sources, at which time we will teach them what is a reliable source. For technology in my classroom we use a smart board and a projector. There aren’t many other options that we can use. To help my students become independent learners, they are given free time to work and are monitored so they don’t get off track. But the responsibility for their own time lies mostly on their own shoulders. For group activities, students are given jobs needed to fulfill an assignment. Students in these jobs are responsible for their task, but also for the completion of the project. This keeps them focused in groups, and allows them to still interact with the group and manage their own role.