Now that I'm nearing the end of my master's program, I need to focus on the future. Will I use COVA +CSLE in my own classroom or not? Going through the process as a learner in this type of system has really changed my perceptions on learning. I have learned that interacting with the material and having my own voice be heard with the choices I make really does create significant learning. The results of my actions have been an innovation plan that can be used in my classroom. I also know what kind of learner I have always been though. I have always given 100% to everything that I do. I didn't graduate as valedictorian of my high school class and magna cum laude for my bachelors (blame it on the history minor for not getting summa cum laude) without working hard for it.

 

An ever-growing portion of students that I teach are completely opposite of that. They try to get away with minimal work, if not completely ignoring the fact they have work. I can see where if they had more authentic learning experiences or choices, it could possibly help. The problem is that I teach a subject that is highly regulated due to it being state tested. Until things can be changed at the top where the decisions are made, implementing the ideas of COVA+CSLE will be super challenging. Hardly anyone is prepared to teach or learn this way. I've gone through the learning side of it, but that doesn't qualify me for teaching this way. Students will give up instead of taking the lead if they aren't given the guidelines to an assignment. I know that I contemplated it a time or two myself when things got hard. Everyone will need to be trained on how this type of learning works. Administrators, teachers, students, and parents will all have to be on the same page in order for this method of teaching/learning to be successful because it is so different from the norm.

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In order to start bringing the concepts of COVA to my organization, administrators and teachers will need to hear first off what the methods are. Training will have to be discovered and/or developed to show the teachers what a true significant learning environment looks like. Leadership strategies like those that we read about in Influencer (Grenney et al., 2013) and The 4 Disciplines of Execution (McChesney, 2012) can be used to bring more followers in to spread the word. Once there are more adults on board, we can bring in the training for the students. They will have to be taught how to trust in their own abilities to learn without specific directions on everything. We need to teach them about having a growth mindset and believing in the power of "yet."  It will take a lot of work, but I believe that bringing in COVA+CSLE could be very beneficial to our schools.

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References

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Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of

     leading change. (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Education.

 

Harapnuik, D. K., Thibodeaux, T. N., & Cummings, C. D. (2018). Choice, Ownership, and Voice through

     Authentic Learning Opportunities. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=7291

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McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2012). The 4 disciplines of execution: Achieving your wildly     

     important goals. Free Press.

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