"But they don’t give me choices and that’s what these tears are for..."

Having spent much of my teaching career in a kindergarten classroom I've found myself saying, "You have two choices..." followed by some phrase that actually doesn't give the student much choice at all. I'm wondering if much like the Taylor Swift lyric if this is why some of our students are having fits. They may not all look like that of a 5-6 year old, but we all crave choices. Well most of us, when this course started and there was so much openness and lack of direct, explicit direction I might have freaked out a bit...

However, through the process I have felt my creativity feel a little bit more freedom to come out in my schoolwork. This has not previously been an area where there has been much room for creativity. In my high school and undergrad we were usually given an explicit assignment with a very specific rubric. The steps were clearly defined and there really was no question of what was to be done. However, this also made it fairly easy to miss the mark as well.

In my studies in the Applied Digital Learning (ADL) program at Lamar University I was introduced to this idea of COVA. COVA stands for choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (Harapnuik, 2018).

Experiencing courses designed around this idea has allowed my creativity to breathe, but it has also challenged me in a good way. It has pushed me to think critically which is a big push in our schools. But are we pushing our students to think critically and in turn creatively? Ferlazzo (2021) shares that according to Dr. Kulvarn Atwal,

"It seems that we are becoming successful at producing students who are able to jump through hoops and pass tests."

So, moving forward? How can we give our students choice? How can we let their creativity come through in their educational experiences so that maybe there are a few less tears?

Are we willing to loosen our grip on the reigns and let our kids begin to have the authentic learning encounters that truly mark their academic paths?

One of my favorite quotes about teaching is from Benjamin Franklin, "Tell me and I forget,

teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn." But what does it mean to be involved in one's own learning? Yes there are things that have to be explicitly taught (phonics, number sense, etc), but how can we extend even these learning topics to include some form of project based learning to allow our students to have a choice and show us their voice?

As I move forward as an educator I am seeing previous lesson plans through a new lens and also many missed opportunities for students to get to experience COVA and mark their educational journeys. While we can't go back and change the past we can move forward and take the things that have brought us joy from our own educational journeys and bring them back to our own classrooms.

Photo: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Ferlazzo, L. (2021, May 3). Integrating critical thinking into the Classroom (Opinion). Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-integrating-critical-thinking-into-the-classroom/2021/03

Harapnuik, D. (2014, July 14). COVA. It’s about learning: Creating significant learning environments. Retrieved October 4, 2024, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991