Thinking Back, Looking Forward- What an amazing journey and privilege it has been to be a part of the DLL program. As I think back to my initial reaction to hearing about COVA, I remember being excited about an acronym I could buy into-Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic Learning Experiences! What more could I want from a program? Admittedly, when we were given the opportunity to create our ePortfolio on any platform, and could choose our own design, I was taken aback. I became the student who wanted more direction, more rules, and more guidelines. Never before had I experienced that much freedom in graduate courses.
We were asked to think about what type of change we wanted to see in education and learned the importance of Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE).It was then that we were challenged to create ourinnovation plans.As I was creating my plan, I continued to pose this question, “Do my learners have Choice, Ownership, and Voice, through Authentic learning experiences?” It was extremely beneficial for me to read the discussion board and engage with my peers as they were applying the same information to their situations, which looked very different from mine. It was evident that we were taking ownership of our learning.
My innovation planwas designed specifically for the librarians I work with each day and moving forward into the 2021-2022 school year, it will become a reality, as COVID-19 delayed the start. In a nutshell, I believe through strong instructional partnerships, school librarians are leaders when it comes to integrating literacy into all areas of the curriculum. As the Librarian Training & Development Specialist for my district, I support librarians with their work in the schools. This support can look different in each setting based on the needs of the individual librarians. However, many new librarians lack the experience and confidence it takes to implement STEAM activities into library instruction and collaborative lessons. In order to address this lack of experience, I plan to develop a cohort of first year librarians and learning opportunities that model best practices for the integration of literacy and STEAM, all the while teaching them the importance of COVA + CSLE. Librarians will benefit from making connections with their PLN, they will have hands on learning opportunities, and will be able to take back the newly learned information to their students.
This aligns with my learning philosophycognitive constructivism, which notably, before my coursework at Lamar, I had never actually given any consideration to what my philosophy was. The key principles are:
Purpose of education is to enable learners to create new knowledge
Learning is the process of constructing meaning
Emphasis is on active discovery
Learners actively construct new knowledge, building on what they already know and past experiences
Teachers facilitate discovery by providing necessary resources
The idea that most resonated with me is that the role of the teacher is to facilitate active discovery by providing necessary resources. Many times, teachers can become the "sage on the stage" and according to this philosophy of learning, the teacher takes on the role of the coach. They encourage students to draw on life experiences, build on it, and construct new knowledge. Thinking forward, I will apply what I have learned about COVA and CSLE in my role as a training and development specialist. I am responsible for providing professional learning opportunities to all the librarians in my district. I plan to assess librarians at the beginning of the year to see what their needs are in relation to their professional growth. I want to support their needs the best way I can. The challenge will be to meet them where they are. Some are brand new to the profession and others have 30+ years under their belt. I am confident that I am moving forward with a better understanding of how to create an environment that meets the needs of my learners!