Owning the Learning: The Impact of Student Agency

A Reflection on Student Agency and Authentic Learning Experiences By Serena Calderon In this essay I would like to share my views on student agency and authentic learning experiences as they relate to COVA and the practices it embraces. My views are based on my experiences as an educator and several resources including COVA Creating significant learning environments through choice, ownership, voice, and authenticity, How to Build Student Agency in Your Classroom, and TEDxNYED-Alan November. In the time spent reviewing these materials I can see that what COVA is intended to do and what is going on in mine and many other traditional classrooms are two very different things. As an early elementary educator I have not seen any instances where my 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade students have had any choice, ownership, voice, or authenticity in their learning environment. During this time I was in two different school districts, both very different in their approach to administering what went on in the classroom. Both of the districts are recipients of Title 1 funding and I am not sure if that has had any bearing on their ability or desire to embrace things other than the status quo. While the approaches were different, their overall outcome was the same. The students had no choice in the learning environment. The district set the curriculum and the teachers taught that curriculum with little to no modification or customization with the exception of scaffolding for students with disabilities on an IEP or 504 plan that set out predetermined modifications. In reading COVA and reviewing the websites and videos it only seems appropriate that these same students took no ownership for the work being done, and had no voice in what was going on in their academic endeavors. Lacking these three key components led to no authenticity. In the TEDxNYED video with Alan November he clearly demonstrated how students with ownership in the process were able to use their voice, not just in their academic setting, but in their communities as well. According to COVA, when students are given a choice in what goes on, learners have the freedom to decide how they are going to design and show their learning. This independence allows them to work on projects that have meaning to them and are motivating. When a student has ownership they have the ability to be in charge of the entire process, from deciding what it is they are going to do, how they are going to do it, and finally, the final results of their work. COVA also noted that with ownership came accountability as well as a sense of pride for a job well done. In addition to choice and ownership, the student is given a voice. Having a voice gives the student the opportunity to share what they are thinking with others, allowing them to collaborate,
and ultimately come up with a solution. With collaboration they will be able to obtain an overall better understanding. In order for the process to be authentic it must give students the ability to deal with and solve everyday issues and/or needs.(Harapnuik et al., 2018) When you do so, you are asking your students to use thinking skills that are beyond what is typically required, this allows for learning that extends beyond what traditionally occurs in schools without this approach. In order to improve or promote student agency and authentic learning experiences in my current role as a 2nd grade teacher, I would need to do more research on how this could be incorporated in an elementary education (K-5) setting. Since I work in a system that is current set in an academic methodology that is based on all of the curriculum being set out by the district office, down to which lesson we teach on any given day so that it is the same in every 2nd grade classroom on that particular day, there would need to be a decision at the district level to move away from something that restrictive and toward the COVA way of achieving student growth. Currently student accountability is based on preset standards on testing such as BAS (reading) and MAPS NWEA (reading and math). Based on a student's beginning of year levels they are expected to have 10 months (one academic year) of growth. In order to obtain that growth you need to be teaching to those given standards. To move toward a system that allows the student to have choice, ownership, voice, and an authentic learning environment would require a shift in how measuring growth is done. In general, I could advocate with my coaches, mentors, and campus administration. I do think, as shown by Usher on Edutopia website (Usher, 2019), that even given my current restrictions, I am able to incorporate COVA during my PLT (personal learning time - a 45 minute block daily) where I do have the ability to direct the students' activity. I could begin by giving them a choice board of activities to work on including poetry, writing and journaling instead of preset skills challenges that I have chosen for them. I can also see that in the classroom next to me, where Texas History is taught each day, she could have her students do a wiki like was done in the video. The positive effects for students are very evident in the information provided in our readings and resources. The many pros for using the COVA approach in the public and private education setting far away any potential cons. While my initial thoughts were that this concept was great for others, especially more progressive, financially well off, or specialty (private or STEM/STEAM) environments I didn’t see where it could/would have an appropriate application in my campus environment. Alan November (TEDxNYED, 2011, 13:03:00) showed that it works in different environments, across a wide range of students, and that academic and personal growth was being made succesfully.

References

Harapnuik, D. K., Thubideaux, T. N., & Cummings, C. D. (2018). COVA . N/a.

[TEDxNYED]. (2011, March 15). Alan November [Video]. YuuTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebJHzpEy4bE

Usher, K. (2019). Differentiating by offering choices . Edutopia.org. https://www.edutopia.org/article/differentiating-offering-choices