My response to Chapters 1-3 of COVA: Inspire learning through choice, owenership, voice, and authentic experiences by Dr. Harapnuik and Thibodeaux.
The reading for EDLD 5303 focused on the concepts needed to improve students ability to discern credible versus not credible information and how to build an environment in my classroom in which students will learn through real world experiences for a lasting understanding and deep connections of the concepts that are taught within the classroom. By embracing each students unique passions and interests in the learning process deep connections will be made and students will learn far more than required of them. Everyone wants to feel that their effort is worthwhile and important and I think everyone despises "busy work" so authentic learning is the most valuable tool a middle school educator can have.
Chapter 1: Not Suited for School but Suited for Learning
Dr. Harapnuik writes of his experiences in school that shaped his beliefs surrounding learning, especially those ideas of how to best support active learning for all students in this chapter (Harapnuik & Thibodeaux, 2023). This introduction hooked me immediately because I related to his struggles with ADHD in regards to his learning because I too struggled in school while pursuing my undergraduate degree due to my own ADHD that had escaped notice throughout my whole childhood. It made the point that just because teaching a certain way has always been done doesn't mean it is the best way. This introduction made me question the way I have been teaching and evaluating if I am teaching in a way that is conducive to learning for all types of learners in my classroom.
Chapter 2: Building on the Positive
"We can always improve our educational system and align it to the advances we are seeing in, science, technology, and society but we need to do so by pointing out what is working and then look at what we can do even better" (Harapnuick &Thibodeaux, 2023, p. 18).
I agree that the entirety of our system is not ruined or bad. I think we have a lot of good things going on within our system and I think we all understand how important free, quality education is in a modern society. The right to a free public education is incredibly important to protect and we should be very suspicious of anything that may threaten it, but we do need to strive to improve our system in order to prepare students for the world they are going to enter post-graduation from high school.
Whether we like it or not, technology has drastically changed our world and our societies. Increased access to information and the immediacy of gaining that access to information has changed the skills that need to be developed in our students (Harapnuik & Thibodeaux, 2023). In the old days when information could not be accessed so readily and easily by the masses, remembering certain information and skills was very useful and necessary to ensure that students would become well-rounded adults later in life. Now that there is so much information that can be accessed instantly, students need to be taught discernment in determining the credibility of sources they are exposed to, a phenomena Harapnuik and Thibodeaux termed a 21st century challenge and described in detail within this chapter (Harapnuik and Thibodeaux, 2023).
Chapter 3: Making CSLE+COVA Work for You
Harapnuik demonstrated how giving up control to encourage learners' choice, ownership of the learning, voice, and authentic experiences can save not only the learners but also the educators time, which is often perceived to take up too much time for the instructor or guide, using an example from an interaction between his two sons and himself (Harapnuik and Thibodeaux, 2023). In summary, there was an issue with a vehicle the boys used to race and while tempted to just direct the boys to drop it off at a shop, Harapnuik facilitated a conversation between his sons in which they brainstormed possible solutions and eventually came up with a suitable solution in just 30-40 minutes (Harapnuik and Thibodeaux, 2023).
I know I struggle with implementing teaching practices and sometimes allow stress and pressure to feel forced into old habits where I am not a facilitator, but a giver of information and facts. I know this type of teaching is very passive and does not encourage the level of cognition that students will need to possess in order to be successful in adulthood. Having this real example from Harapnuik himself really put things into perspective and I have noticed a big change in how I teach. For the first time in years I have not allowed the stress of standardized tests to cause me to feel that I needed to just throw as much review information at my students as possible and I took my time to create quality review assignments that required students to think critically about the material to create movie posters, mini-posters, dioramas, and so on to improve not only the memorization of the material, but also increased the understanding my students had of all the knowledge we reviewed. I was rewarded by hearing my students say they felt really good about their performance and they reported feeling confident while taking the exam.
Learn more about COVA in COVA 4-6 Response and COVA 7-9 Response links.
Resources:
Harapnuik, D., & Thibodeaux T. (2023). COVA: Inspire learning through choice, ownership, voice, and authentic experiences (2nd ed.). Learner's Mindset Publishing.
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