Creating Opportunity

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t scared out of my mind at the start of this program. Dr. Harapnuik (a wonderful visionary of a professor), really pushed me to the edge with the talk of creating an innovation plan and an ePortfolio. However, after completing countless hours of research and reflection, it is all coming full circle for me.

Home

As mentioned in earlier posts, I am currently taking a sabbatical leave from teaching to stay home and homeschool my two young children (ages 4 and 2), in order to keep our family out of harm's way during a deadly pandemic. I have never wanted to be a stay at home mom, let alone do it at the same time that I am going to school for my Master’s degree. However, I will say that it has been an eye opening and life changing experience. I have been applying what I have learned about the growth mindset into my daily life and into how I am teaching my own children. I have already seen a significant change in the ways that they go about solving their own problems because of this. My oldest daughter will be starting kindergarten next year, and I was honestly afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to prepare her for it. However, I now realize that she is probably going to be bored out of her mind in a traditional school setting next year after being given the opportunity to start learning through a COVA driven approach. As disheartening as this feeling is, I know that in the long run both of my girls are going to benefit from having this learning community at home at the very least.

Work

Over the past 12 years I have had to teach 9th-12th graders how to write. For many people, this skill does not come easily, and I have found that they have never really had anyone teach it to them in a way that makes sense. I, however, have always taken my time with my students to try to guide them through the writing process individually in order to make it work for them. I am excited to start planning how I am going to bring all of this to life in my classroom once I return to work next year. I have decided to incorporate a full student centered approach to teaching writing in a blended writing workshop. I decided to focus my innovation plan on writing because it is a necessary skill that everyone needs to have no matter what field of work they decide to pursue later in life. Writing is also a wonderful way to bring the COVA philosophy and the creation of an ePortfolio to life in my daily classroom.

When I first came up with my innovation plan I wasn’t quite sure how all of the pieces were going to fit together, but after continued research and learning from my peers, I am ready to start making this plan come to life. I can now see how allowing my students the opportunity to choose what and how they are going to write in authentic situations will absolutely help them achieve at a higher level. I can now see how spending the time with my students to guide them in the creation of their own ePortfolios is going to be an absolute game changer for them.

Creating Opportunity

Even though I was scared at first, I have truly learned so much about myself as a learner

over the past few months. I have been given the opportunity to create a vision that I can actually bring to life. I have been given the time to reflect on my own learning process and really take charge of my own learning experiences. I cannot wait to create these same opportunities for my own children and for my students. Nothing can stand in their way if they aren’t afraid of learning how they learn in order to overcome their obstacles. To me, this will be the greatest victory.

References:

Harapnuik D., Thibodeaux, T., & Cummings C. (2018, January.) COVA choice, ownership and voice through authentic learning. Creative Commons License. http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=7291