“It’s Taking Me Somewhere” A Reflection on my Interconnected CCT Journey

Why CCT?

“It’s Taking Me Somewhere” “I was floored when I heard this statement. This is why creative people are able to deal with setbacks, willing to pursue perfection, and willing to take risks- because they know/feel that creativity is taking them somewhere they belong.” -excerpt Creativity Journal “This year a lot of people in my life have asked me why I am taking these classes. Before I heard this statement I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Now I will be borrowing this line. I may not know the end result of this journey but I know that it is personally important for me to take these classes.” -excerpt Creativity Mid-Term Reflection

My Interconnected Journey

Overall Themes Time Metacognition and Reflection Play to Your Strengths Connection Between Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking

Time “ Since this stage is the most important part (since it forms the basis of all other work in the team) it was ok that we took as much time as we did. It was ok that we didn’t finish and that we are going to spend another week on research….I’m beginning to realize that one of my personal barriers revolves around the issue of time- I feel very constrained by how fast things move.” -excerpt from PBL Journal

Time “I’ve been working on my presentation for some time now. Each time I would sit down to work on the presentation I would get stuck. I started with one idea but quickly figured out that it wasn’t going to work. Because I had thought for sure that that was my idea when it didn’t work I got completely stuck. Four or five times each week I would sit down and start to work. I wouldn’t get anything done. About a week ago I was beginning to feel the pressure. I have never, ever, waited this long to do a project. I was even beginning to think that I wouldn’t be able to have anything ready to present. I have never been this stuck on anything before.” -excerpt Creativity Journal

Time “I think the biggest thing I have taken away from my mid-term biography project is that the process is just as important, if not more, than the result.” -excerpt Creativity Journal

Metacognition and Reflection “I do tend to have difficulty with the “planning a defense” barrier because instead of just talking and letting the ideas flow, if I am defending something I tend to formulate that for much longer in my head. As a result, I miss what is going on in the group and then I miss the chance to share my ideas. For that reason, I am enjoying the journal aspects of these two classes. I can jot myself a quick note and write about it later. I can still express my ideas but I don’t feel so rushed.” -excerpt from PBL Journal

Metacognition and Reflection “I also liked the positive nature of the interaction between group members. One person in our group had a misconception and another person quickly fixed this misconception but did so in such a gentle manner that the other person didn’t feel like they were being corrected, but rather informed. I think that is going to be important for our group because we are very diverse and have much different levels of prior knowledge in the subject area. It’s going to be important for our strongest member not to make the rest of us feel “less adequate.” -excerpt from PBL Journal

Metacognition and Reflection “My job is to collaborate with classroom teachers to help them provide challenging learning experiences for my students during the time that I am not in the classroom (all but an hour a week.) There is a lot of trust needed to be in this role. I find that before I meet with a teacher I have to identify the assumptions that he/she is most likely to bring up. I need to be prepared to acknowledge these assumptions, and gently try to change them. I need to also utilize frames of reference to understand the pressures and feelings that the classroom teachers are dealing with. I find that if I understand these pressures, I can incorporate some sort of help for dealing with those pressures along with my advice for working with the gifted kids in their rooms.” -excerpt from a paper for Critical Thinking

Play to Your Strengths “As I said in class, I feel like PBL is allowing us to play to our strengths and I think when we do this we automatically start out feeling good about things. I have a strength and I’m going to be able to contribute to this group. I am going to be a valued member of a team and that’s rewarding. It also makes us more receptive to taking a risk. I think this is one of the most valuable things I have taken away from this class so far. When we play to our strengths it is a lot easier to try to improve your weaknesses because you feel safer.” -excerpt from PBL Journal

Play to Your Strengths “I also think the fact that we started our meeting with discussing our strengths was important. We know what we are strong at… what we can do for the group. But by doing this we also know what our team weaknesses are going to be and we know what we will need to do to compensate for them. I thin that was important for fostering a positive climate.” -excerpt from PBL Journal

Play to Your Strengths “I think my biggest strength is that I have reached a point in my life where I want to learn not to learn facts or information but to learn in order to grow as a person. I think I have come to a place where learning is extremely enjoyable for me and something that pushes and challenges me. As a result I have changed from the shy student that didn’t say anything to a student who willingly adds to discussion.” -excerpt from Creativity Self Assessment and Goal Setting

“I also did a lot of thinking about CPS (Creative Problem Solving.) This is a structured approach to creativity in which there are several stages. Each stage has two parts- a green part and a red part. The green part focuses more on idea generation (creativity) and the red part has to do with idea focusing (critical.)” -excerpt from my personal definition of Critical Thinking Connection between Critical and Creative Thinking

“What I realized from talking with her was that she was able to be successful in soccer and running because she used a great deal of creative and critical thinking skills when she participated in these activities.” -excerpt from Creativity Journal

Connection between Critical and Creative Thinking “Creative thinking requires high level thinking skills. I found that when I was doing creative thinking activities with my class we touched on many thinking skills we tried to use in other activities. I think that to be creative you need to have high levels of thinking skills and to know how to use them. Creative and critical thinking go along together.” -excerpt from Creativity Journal

Final Thoughts “He said that I, the arch at Es Portas, represented everything that made climbing so meaningful for him. Apparently, he is always looking for new climbs. Climbs that push him and the sport of rock climbing. He said that climbing is a creative process- it’s trying to open your perception to what is possible. That must be why he though he climb me. He was looking at me, not as an impossibility, but rather as a possibility. He said that his hope is to find the most difficult, most beautifully creative route- the one that pushes him to the limit. And when he saw me he knew he had found what he was looking for. He wrote about the climbing journey he has been on this year.”