My Hands are High My Feet are Low... This is How I COVA, Yo!

techytexasteacher
Jun 21, 2025
6 min read

Updated: Jun 30, 2025

The first thing that popped into my head when I was thinking through this assignment was the old Koo Koo Kangaroo song, Pop Se Ko, and my kindergarteners at the very end trying to come up with their own dance. If you're not familiar with the popular elementary brain break song the students are shown many ways to dance to the catchy tune and at the end it says "Our hands are high, our feet are low, show us how YOU pop se ko!" Students are encouraged to come up with their own dance move, making it their own (Koo Koo, 2025). Some students embrace it and go all out, while others stand there and look at the teacher for guidance. And yet there's others that look to their peers to see what to do. I could not help but think, is this not how our experience in the ADL program and with COVA (Choice, Ownership, Voice, Authentic Learning) has been?

The Initial Reaction: Staring at My Teacher

When I began this program, I would have liked to think that I knew what student

centered learning was and that I even practiced it a little bit, but it was not until we started the first assignment that I truly understood the anxiety and freedom of having complete choice. I remember getting in our groups and going, "WHAT have I done?! I should have done the Sped Masters... that would be A + B = C. Do this and get the intended result." When you've been given explicit instructions your whole educational career having so much freedom is very anxiety producing. Luckily, in my first two courses (Disruptive Innovations and the Creating the ePortfolio), I had an amazing instructor that really brought the COVA principles to life and modeled what it was like to guide students in the authentic learning experience. When we started I was definitely the child staring at the teacher waiting for some dance moves, by the end of the first class, my peers and I were looking at each other and encouraging the fun.

Adjusting: Small Dance Moves

Early on in the program we were encouraged to develop a Growth Mindset. And oh boy was this necessary! I wrote a plan to keep myself grounded and to remind myself to keep talking to my fixed mindset and take hold of my growth mindset (Dweck, 2016). I also explored what I believed about education in my Learning Manifesto, pinpointing my beliefs that our youngest learners can be successful with technology if we TEACH them how. Further, I went on to describe the financial situation in Texas schools and the gaps between districts and how that impacts access to technology across the state. I will discuss how my views shifted on these a little later in the program further in the blog.

Finding My Voice: Bold Dance Moves

As I started to learn more about how students learn through A New Culture of Learning and The Power of the Collective, I started to see these principles unfold in front of my very eyes (Thomas & Brown, 2011). I started talking to others in my department about the amazing things I was seeing happen in my classroom and the research that backed it up. When they'd start to give their typical argument against technology and I had research and experiences from my actual class to back up my statements, well those were just fun conversations. I started to develop a passion for change in the dyslexia field through 4DX and the Influencer Strategy.

I've also seen the real need for effective professional learning and developed a course I hope to one day be able to implement in whole or in part with my district.

COVA, CSLE, and My Learning Philosophy: Dancing in the Mirror

As I reflected on my own learning style vs. my teaching style and beliefs I started to see some discrepancies. You'll see the tension laid out in my Learning Philosophy as I describe my beliefs in Social Learning Theory (Bandura) and Behaviorism (Skinner). As I explored my own learning style, I found out that I do much better when someone gives me a chance to explore things, but also at the same time wanting to be told exactly what to do. I'm confusing, I know.

As I am wrapping up the last courses in the ADL, I am seeing it is possible to offer COVA to students even within a structured curriculum and classroom. It is all about Creating a Significant Learning Environment. How do we do that? How do we inspire students to make their own dance moves so to speak? We have to show them that they can. Which comes back to Growth Mindset and Learning. I elaborated on this idea in my blog, Rethinking the Growth Mindset, where we have to take into consideration our students that will struggle to make good grades, who will struggle to meet standard on STAAR and other benchmarks, who will struggle to succeed with grade level curriculum. But what we can teach them is that everyone can learn something. You can always learn something new and move that knowledge bar forward.

We can teach them as long as you're learning you're growing and that is what it is all about. This is how students take ownership of their learning and growth. An environment has to be created where it is safe to fail and redos are an option. If it is truly about learning, redoing an assignment should always be available. This is the difference between competency and outcomes based learning. Do we as educators care about WHAT they've learned or HOW they've learned it. What is truly going to stick?

If we are redefining how we are looking at learning, we also have to redefine how we are assessing our students. Harapnuik (2021) describes three types of assessment that should occur of, for, and as. With of learning being the most summative, for learning being formative and as learning being mainly reflective. While we can't get completely away from the summative assessment we can teach our learners how to be reflective learners and constantly be thinking about what they're learning. When they can see what they're learning, they will then have more confidence and see their growth.

Keep on Dancing: Applying CSLE and COVA in my Work

Moving forward, my goal is to create significant learning environments for educators and

students alike. As the semester progresses I will continue to work on and refine my Instructional Design Plan that allows for COVA in my therapy setting... Something that previously did not exist. I will also work to implement and strive to allow dyslexia therapists to voice their choice on technology topics they want to learn more about when it comes to professional learning topics as I plan to implement my Professional Learning Plan of Bringing Technology into the Dyslexia Therapy Space. I hope that every session I provide is anchored to an authentic situation or experience that our therapists face in their day to day.

Inviting Others to Dance: Preparing the Way

I recognize that a shift and change can be scary and challenging for many. This is why I plan to start slow and model COVA in small, manageable ways such as:

Creating safe spaces for reflection and discussion
Using learner stories and evidence of impact to build buy-in (you can read a great one in my Publication Article)
Sharing examples of how COVA has transformed my own learning
Encouraging experimentation with low-stakes practice

Trips and Slips: Getting Back Up

I do believe there will be challenges along the way, such as:

Resistance from people who have strong anti-technology views or are used to doing things the traditional way
Differing levels of digital literacy among staff
Not enough time to implement everything I want in my class time

While these challenges are very real, I do believe that with persistence, patience, and trial and error, they can be met head on and overcome. Every challenge is a learning and growth opportunity. A chance to speak to the Growth Mindset or the Fixed Mindset.

Final Thoughts

As the ADL comes to its grand finale, my journey is just beginning. It started with one Innovation Plan that was the launching pad for so much more. I learned far more about how to be a creative learner and embrace Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic Learning Opportunities than I ever expected. The type of learning I once feared I now enjoy and hope to be able to share it not only with my students, but with other educators as well. Now instead of staring at my teacher and waiting for the dance moves, I am leading the class and hoping to inspire them to create their own.

References

Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Ballantine Books.

Harapnuik, D. (2021, August 16). Assessment of/for/as learning. It's About Learning. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=8900

Koo Koo. (2025, March 3). Pop see ko /// koo koo [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVmzDd-T2lE

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.