Growth Mindset, Failing Forward and COVA Model
As I shared in my previous post, I have gone back to school to get my Master's degree and I am finishing up my class on Educational Technology Concepts. I was asked the question below.. and it got me thinking...
A few years ago, when I was a math teacher, I wanted to incorporate more technology into my classes, in order to make them more engaging and fun. No one on my campus was really using technology, so I turned to social media to find ways to reach my goals. My research led to many failures, but a few successes kept me going. During that period, I really learned how to embrace a growth mindset for my sake and the sake of my students. None of us really enjoyed me being a "sage on the stage" for most of the class period. When I would try something new, sometimes it worked - like Kahoot for review games or personalized STAAR review with video answers for assignments for self-checking. But there were other times, like my shopping assignment (where kids spent all period looking at sneakers and not doing math), where my lessons were a complete bust. But we kept trying new things. As I discovered more ideas, and implemented them in my classrooms, my successes lead to my Next Generational Digital Classroom designation, and prepared me for my current role as an Instructional Technology Specialist.
How do I see the growth mindset, failing forward strategies, and the COVA Model impacting my learning as I continue in the program?
A few years ago, when I was a math teacher, I wanted to incorporate more technology into my classes, in order to make them more engaging and fun. No one on my campus was really using technology, so I turned to social media to find ways to reach my goals. My research led to many failures, but a few successes kept me going. During that period, I really learned how to embrace a growth mindset for my sake and the sake of my students. None of us really enjoyed me being a "sage on the stage" for most of the class period. When I would try something new, sometimes it worked - like Kahoot for review games or personalized STAAR review with video answers for assignments for self-checking. But there were other times, like my shopping assignment (where kids spent all period looking at sneakers and not doing math), where my lessons were a complete bust. But we kept trying new things. As I discovered more ideas, and implemented them in my classrooms, my successes lead to my Next Generational Digital Classroom designation, and prepared me for my current role as an Instructional Technology Specialist.
As I continue in this program, I will continue to utilize my growth mindset and failing forward, which has helped me earn and succeed in my current role. The facets of COVA (choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning) will guide me as I create and refine learning opportunities for students and teachers. In one of our classroom discussion questions, I was asked if/how I utilize the COVA approach with teachers in my role as an ITS and a Google Trainer. As I reflected on my answer, I realized that I give them choice - they can learn from written instructions, video, or face to face with me - but I do struggle with offering the other elements. For example, I try to offer authentic opportunities, but my lack of their content understanding can sometimes hold me back. When I am teaching about technology integration, I want it to be relevant to teachers, so my goal is to create/demonstrate ideas that will help them in their specific classroom. This can be a challenge, since I don't have a lot of knowledge or experience with other content TEKS. Voice can also be hard for me to offer, partly due to time or that I don't always see their finished lesson or student products. I will definitely have to spend time figuring out how to incorporate the other elements - ownership, voice and authentic learning - into my support of teachers.
So the question now becomes, how do I give teachers more voice and ownership in their technology integration in their classroom? What small steps could I start today in order to start this process?
Resource:
Thibodeaux, T. (n.d) COVA – A Learner's Mindset…... Retrieved February 23, 2020, from http://tilisathibodeaux.com/wordpress/?page_id=538
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