WEEK 7 - CREATIVITY & CONNECTION

 

A rainy week. We’ve officially reached the halfway point of the semester — that moment when motivation starts to mix with exhaustion. The excitement of thinking about the upcoming TFG, the internship, and future projects begins to rise, but at the same time, so do the assignments, exams, and deadlines. October is coming to an end, and honestly, I can feel both things equally: tiredness and anticipation.

SESSION 1

We started with one of the groups that hadn’t presented yet from the previous week — quite interesting, even though, to be honest, I was a bit tired. The main topic of the day was the ICT Classroom and how technology can support both teaching and learning. We talked about different ways teachers and students can use ICT tools: to communicate, to collaborate, or even to create interactive projects.

The professor introduced the Digital Competence Framework for Teachers, which defines the digital skills educators should develop. We were invited to complete a self-assessment questionnaire — and although I started it by mistake, thinking it was due immediately, it ended up being quite useful to identify areas where I still need to grow. Questionnaire's link: Olive's museum.

Another topic that emerged was bullying in schools, especially during adolescence. It made me reflect on my own experience during high school, when I faced bullying myself. Those moments were difficult, but they now help me empathize with my future students and understand how essential it is to detect and address these situations early. Education is not only about teaching content but also about ensuring emotional safety.

We also talked about digital projects, evaluation tools, and platforms such as Google Sites and Flipped Classroom, which can be used to foster creativity and interaction in the classroom. This session reminded me how technology can be both a bridge and a barrier in education. It offers endless opportunities for creativity and inclusion, but it also requires training, time, and awareness. As future teachers, we must use ICT not as an end in itself, but as a way to make learning more human, more connected, and more meaningful.

During my time at practicum, I remember using LEGO Spike — a tool that combined robotics and programming with problem-solving and teamwork. It was a fun and engaging way to introduce technology in the classroom, and it showed me how digital learning can go beyond screens. Activities like that one help students develop critical thinking and creativity while having fun, proving that technology, when used properly, can truly fit every learning style. 

My personal experience with bullying reinforces this idea: technology can also become a tool for connection and prevention if it’s used wisely — for example, to give students a voice or to create safe digital spaces.

Overall, it was an engaging session. I found the topics meaningful and very connected to our future professional reality. Still, I would have liked a bit more practical application — maybe some real classroom examples of how ICT can be integrated in everyday lessons. The balance between theory and practice is key.

SESSION 2

In the second session, we moved on to creative digital tools for the classroom. We explored different apps and platforms for presentations, including Canvas and Genially. Personally, I’ve always preferred Canvas — I even used it during my internship at CEIP José Ramón Villa de Mora, where students were introduced to it for creating visual projects.

We also worked on creativity through a small drawing exercise. The teacher asked us to draw a lion first, and later a lion cub dressed as a ghost. The first one went well — the second one, not so much! But then she showed us a tutorial on how to draw it properly, and we could all see the learning process in action. It was a fun and simple activity, but full of meaning: learning through doing, observing, and reflecting.

Later, we explored StoryJumper and StoryBird, platforms for creating interactive stories, and podcast tools such as Audacity. We discussed how to use songs, voice tracks, and sound separation tools to engage students and promote creative language learning.

Finally, we touched on Screencastify, a useful app for recording short explanatory videos or tutorials — great for blended learning contexts.

Creativity was at the heart of this session. It’s not just about art, but about thinking differently, finding new ways to communicate and learn. The drawing task, for instance, made me realize how powerful guided discovery can be — showing that even a simple mistake or an imperfect drawing can become an opportunity to grow.

On a more personal note, this week was particularly challenging for me. My groupmates didn’t attend, so I had to complete and present the activity on my own. It was frustrating and tiring, but it also pushed me to prove to myself that I could handle it. It made me reflect on the value of teamwork, responsibility, and fairness — principles that I want to instill in my own students one day.

This second session was dynamic and inspiring. I appreciated the focus on creativity and real tools that can be directly used in the classroom. Still, group work can sometimes be unfair, and that’s something that should also be reflected upon in education — both for teachers and students. Learning to collaborate is part of the process, but so is learning to take responsibility.

REFERENCES

Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. (s.f.). Facultad de Educación. Toledo. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. https://www.uclm.es/toledo/educacion

Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha. (2022). Decreto 81/2022, de 26 de julio, por el que se establece el currículo de Educación Primaria en Castilla-La Mancha. https://docm.castillalamancha.es/

Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. (n.d.). Campus Virtual. https://www.uclm.es/campusvirtual

Some images included in this post are my own (Images by the author) and from the official website of CEIP José Ramón Villa de Mora (used with permission).