Week 4-2 Blog Reflection

1.) Leave A 30-Word Micro-Session Summary.
-By adding instructional strategies to a classroom that focuses on student-centered learning the students will both contribute to the lesson and make better connections in the things that they are learning.

2.) In the article (p. 262), the authors mentioned the importance of supporting higher-order thinking skills in undergraduate education since business and industry appeals for flexible and creative employees who can look beyond the numbers and the given information. For that reason, the authors advocated pedagogical approaches that strive to develop students’ abilities to (1) synthesize disconnected pieces of information, (2) associate facts received from different sources and (3) evaluate the importance of information.

As a student, how would you evaluate your overall college classroom learning experience in terms of developing your higher-order thinking skills? Do you think your college courses have sufficiently supported you to develop the three -(1), (2), and (3)- abilities so far? If so/not, why do you think so?

-I believe that overall my college experience at UConn has developed my higher-order thinking skills in reference to developing my three abilities. I think they have helped me develop these skills through tests and the importance my passed professors have put into their lectures. The lectures that I have experienced so far are important because that is the basis a student needs in order to do well in the class. For instance, the student needs to know the lecture in order to do well in homework, essays, and tests. When I have to do these assignments, I have to use the three abilities (that the question mentioned) and as I use these three abilities, I have to be creative but also think critically. In the long run, I think this has helped me become a better student and has also helped me professionally because as a Medical Assistant one has to be on their toes, think critically, and solve problems on your own that will best benefit the patient.

3.) On page 268, Bonk and Smith (1998) suggested that students in a consultative classroom encounter a wide range of classroom activities and assessment practices. Do you think consultative teachers are more likely to incorporate various instructional strategies into instruction than traditional teachers? Read page 267 and 268 and tell me your thoughts.

I do believe that consultative teachers are more likely to incorporate instructional strategies because as the text stated: "A consultative approach strives to develop students abilities for abstract thinking problem definition interpretation and synthesis with less structured interdisciplinary problems. In essence this open ended teaching method forces students to accept responsibility for their own learning." In other words, consultative teachers want their students to take responsibility for their learning by doing whatever they can to make connections with the material through real life situations and not to depend solely on the textbooks. Which is why I believe that instructors would use instructional strategies such as the jigsaw and fish bowl methods because this gives students a chance to talk to each other and see the material through other students' eyes and how one student seeing the material a certain way may help another student learn that same material.

4.) From a consultative teacher’s perspective, name one instructional strategy that you find the most effective for 1) designing a student-centered instruction and 2) developing students’ creative thinking skills among the alternative instructional strategies for creative thought (p. 269-275) that the authors suggested. Back up your choice by

- applying your knowledge of student-centered instruction

- referring to the definition and the characteristics of creative thinking suggested by the authors on p. 263, 264.

- briefly describing how this strategy will support college students to develop their creative thinking skills

-One instructional strategy that I would suggest that would come from a consultative teacher's perspective would be reverse brainstorming because in order for a student to think creatively this would be the perfect exercise. The example of reverse brainstorming that was given in the text was asking students how costs could be increased at the nearby hospital. These types of examples would help a student think creatively because whatever answers are brainstormed by the students will not be answers that you will find in a textbook which is why if those answers make sense then the students will just have learned new methods to solve a "real-life" problem by thinking outside the box and not strictly going by a what a textbook has to say. I think that this strategy can help college students in general develop their creative thinking skills because in my opinion students rely to heavily on their textbooks or what the internet has to say. By using this method, the answers that they are given are answers that the student had to think long and hard about (using what they already know about the material to think of an answer) and the answers that the students give are not answers that they will find in a textbook or Google.

5.)  From a consultative teacher’s perspective, name one instructional strategy that you find the most effective for 1) designing a student-centered instruction and 2) developing students’ critical thinking skills among the alternative instructional strategies for critical thought (p.276-284)  that the authors suggested. Back up your choice by

- applying your knowledge of student-centered instruction

- referring to the definition and the characteristics of critical thinking suggested by the authors on p. 264, 265.

- briefly describing how this strategy will support college students to develop their critical thinking skills 

-The instructional strategy that I would find most effective to develop students critical thinking skills and to fit best within the student-centered instruction would be the KWL method which means what the student knows, what they want to know, and what they have learned. I like this strategy because it makes the student think critically about what they already know. It makes them realize what they want to learn and how they can go about achieving that, and what they finally learned at the end of this exercise. Plus by doing this exercise within a student-centered instruction environment the students can ask each other what they know, how they can go about learning it either through each other or by asking the instructor what they can do in order to learn the material. And by the end of this exercise they will feel a greater accomplishment because they took the time to learn something new by themselves. Which is why I think this would help college students and their critical thinking skills because most college students just try to learn everything at once. However, if they break it down into the KWL method, I believe that students will realize that they know more than they thought, they will focus better on what they want to learn, and they will feel, as I said earlier, a greater sense of accomplishment because they took the time to learn it.

6.) Do you have any questions or concerns about course learning? 
-I do not have any questions or concerns at this time.

7.) 

	Modules	Topics  & Activity	Check ✓ if Completed
Week 4	Week 4-1 *Due by August 8 at 10:59 am	1) Week 4-1 Reading Quiz	✔
		2) Week 4-1 Discussion Forum: one initial response & two peer feedback replies	✔
		3) Week 4-1 Personal Blog Reflection	✔
	Week 4-2 *Due by August 8 at 10:59 am	1) Week 4-2 Reading Quiz	✔
		2) Week 4-2 Discussion Forum: One initial response & two peer feedback replies	✔
		3) Week 4-2 Personal Blog Reflection	✔

8.) Blog Responses 

Hello Miranda!
I like the instructional strategy that you put for the critical thinking method and how it would best support critical thinking in students. I personally like the KWL method because it makes students think critically about what they already know (because they might find that they know a lot more than what they give themselves credit for), what they want to learn (maybe they will realize they want to learn more about a certain topic), and what they have learned through this exercise because I believe it would give them a greater sense of accomplishment.
-Melissa Parkes

Hello Carl!
I like the strategy that you put the free writing strategy for how a student would help develop their creative thinking skills. After much thought, I would have to say that this is one of the best strategies for creative thinking. I put reverse brainstorming because the students are given a hypothetical situation and they have to discuss responses either in groups or as a class. I liked this approach because the answers that come from the students are not answers that they cannot find in textbooks or on Google.
-Melissa Parkes