In reflecting on my innovation project I am astounded by all of the work I have done. In the beginning, when I made my innovation proposal, I was extremely conflicted and indecisive about the direction that I wanted to go with the project. There are so many routes and tasks that I felt could positively make a difference in my organization. Honing down one specific project that I felt would be the best bang for my buck was difficult. However, once I gave it more thought I felt that the implementation of Project-Based Learning could target multiple needed improvements all in one innovation project.
Ultimately when I was working on my literature review I was very pleased with the direction I chose in the journey to make a difference in my organization. Project-based learning has given my students exactly what they need and has incorporated C.O.V.A into my classroom. One of the challenges I see in education today is the lack of 21st-century learning. Being stuck in the 19th century, industrial-era learning is doing nothing to prepare our students for the real world.
Currently, I have implemented my innovation project in my classroom but have yet to bring it outside the classroom. I am preparing to plan my end-of-year showcase where my students will showcase their learning journey and their work that they have created. I am working on getting as many community members and other stakeholders as I can to attend the showcase to show the students that their voices and work matter in the community. This will be one of the last stages in the PBL process but not in my innovation project as I still have to work to spread PBL into other classrooms in my organization so that it is more widespread and all students in my organization get the same opportunities as my students.
I have had many compliments and questions from teachers, and even admin, who have witnessed the learning that is taking place in my classroom. This leads me to believe that it will not be difficult to gain the teacher's buy-in next year. Many teachers have already come to me to let me know that they want to try PBL in their classrooms next year. In planning my student showcase I have to admit that I have a bit of an ulterior motive. I am going to invite other teachers in my organization to come so that they can see first-hand the learning and creativity that my students have done throughout the year. I know that if they see this, they will want in on the action as well. They will be able to see that learning leads the way in PBL and students can do things that they would not otherwise be able to do by themselves.
Once I gain this teacher's buy-in I will be in the last stage of my innovation project, which is spreading the wealth to my whole organization.
When working on my innovation project I noticed that by me doing what I was being asked to do for my students was very beneficial. I was being tasked with projects that gave me COVA which is what I was learning was best to give to my students as well. By doing this myself I could see that it truly worked best for learning. Humans learn best through a variety of methods but through COVA it can be any method that is best for the learner as long as the learner is willing to put in the work. We could make videos, podcasts, writings, articles, whatever was best for us as long as we got the message across. This is exactly what I want for my students. I do not care if my student writes me a 1,000-word essay or creates a 1,000-word podcast as long as they can prove that they are learning the material and that should be the case for all teachers. I was recently faced with this dilemma with a fellow teacher who has a student who does not like to write because their “hand gets tired”, however typing and talking are not an issue for this child. I taught a fellow teacher about COVA and how she could give the students a choice in how they delivered their learning. As long as they are delivering, then it shouldn't matter how they do it because the student can prove they know the information. This has completely changed the student's year as well as the teachers. Her class now moves much more smoothly and the student is growing, glowing, and learning in ways that they were not before.
Reflecting on the process of my innovation project, I think I could have been better at posting more of my journey on my e-portfolio. I love posting on there when I do it, I just get so busy with life that I often forget to post or take pictures of learning in my classroom. I want to show more of these highlights in my e-portfolio. I love reflecting back on these moments even if things didn't go exactly as I wanted and posting these reflections on my e-portfolio can help me and my peers if I made more time and was more consistent.
I feel like the best lesson I have learned in this program is the importance of COVA. I know I keep speaking of it but I truly feel that by giving your students COVA it can completely revamp learning in a positive direction. We are currently faced with outdated processes and models to follow but COVA is the current and future model that we need to follow to prepare our students for the future. Students need to be able to test things out for themselves, use their voices to be heard, and be given authentic learning environments that will prepare them for the future that they will be faced with. If we do not give this to them now, then we are failing them by not preparing them for success.
As mentioned above COVA can be easily implemented through the use of PBL. I plan to promote and communicate my innovation project by continuously gaining teacher and stakeholder buy-in by showcasing my students learning and using their learning journey to show what endless possibilities are available to students who are allowed to drive their own learning. I know that when teachers and stakeholders witness what I have witnessed in my classroom there will be no denial of the potential that PBL holds when implemented fully and correctly.
In my next innovation project, which I have already been pondering up, I will apply every bit of what I have learned in this program. From the proposal, outlines, designs, blog postings, literature review, action research, plans, podcasts, and everything else it helped me to organize and make sure that everything was thought through without missing a beat. I would be lying if I said I did not question the reasoning behind a project or two, but I now see the importance of every single project, task, and assignment that I was tasked with in this program. The importance of making sure that every detail of an innovation project is thought through is critical in ensuring that the project succeeds and is not a wash. My innovation project would have failed miserably without making sure that all steps were thought through, researched, and planned. It would have been a jumbled mess without the help of this program. I feel like I am now prepared and have the tools to make a difference in any organization or project that I undertake.
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