Before beginning this course, I had not heard of the COVA learning approach. This was completely new to me and I quickly learned that I do not thrive in this type of model...at least not yet. I have always been a student that did very well with every assignment given, as long as the steps and expectations were laid out very clearly and were very structured. Taking control of your learning sounds like an awesome idea, but I quickly realized that my experience as a student had not prepared me for this at all. I always saw it as the teacher was the one who told me what I was going to learn and how I was going to be assessed for it, so I learned as long as I followed those rules, I would succeed.
This is where my fixed mindset rears its ugly head. I focus so hard on what the final product is expected to look like, that I lose focus of the learning that will need to take place to get there. This is going to be a tough habit to break. When we were given these first assignments, I realized that this was going to be much harder than I thought. This is where those growth mindset practices are going to really need to be exercised. I’m striving to remember to focus on the learning and the final product will follow.
This has made me think about how I could try and instill this in my students, even just a little bit, so they can be better prepared for challenges like this in the future. I feel like this will also make the learning more meaningful to them, rather than relying on just regurgitating information that their teachers have given them. I look forward to using this model in my classroom in the future to see where my students take it.
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