Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic Learning reflection

Reading the Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic Learning eBook (Harapnuik, et. al. 2018) was an eye opener. This book hit on a few things that I've struggled with in education and gave good reasons why what we've been doing isn't working. Here are a few of my reflections while reading this book up until this point.

First, I liked the part where they talked about giving up control. It is hard for teachers, and many people to give up control, me being one of those people! However, this book discussed how if we don't give the control to the students, if we don't give them some choice and ownership, they will not grow and take ownership of their work. We don't want our students to just learn what we are teaching, we want them to be able to implement it and use it! This approach is exactly what is being used in the ADL program here at Lamar with us as students. We are guided and directed, but we have a lot of choice in how we do things and ownership in that process. It has been a struggle for me at times to learn in this way, but it is allowing me to grow. In addition, living this struggle for myself will help me to relate to my students when I expect the same from them.

Another part that stuck out to me what talking about finding our Why. Now, I've heard this many times in different trainings being a teacher and knowing your why is very important or I feel as though you'll get lost along the way. However, I liked how this book pointed out that your head won't go where your heart hasn't been. We must not just focus on the information, but see why it moves us and how it can move others. A learner must feel the knowledge, not just hear it.

Finally, my last reflection so far in my reading of this book (and I still have more reading to do) is the discussion of guidance or step-by-step instructions. The authors discuss that while step-by-stop directions can get a person somewhere easily, they don't help that person learn how to get there or why they are going. In this course we have talked about not wanting to just do the assignments to do them, but to do them in a way that benefits us. If we don't know they why behind what we're doing, we won't know the best way to get there, or even worse, we won't be able to get there at all. I try to make sure that when I am assisting teachers with technology that I always ask them "why" they want to do something first. Often times, when discussing their why, they realize that the tool or avenue that they first wanted to use is not the best route. Having our students think and look at the entire picture helps them get to where they need to go instead of just telling them what is best.

This book has been an interesting read for me. I have it in my Samsung Notes app and I find myself opening it at various times and highlighting as I read and making notes. I believe this will be a book that I use often throughout this program and in general.

Reference:

Harapnuik, D. K., Thibodeaux, T. N., & Cummings, C. D. (2018). Choice, Ownership, and Voice through Authentic Learning Opportunities. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=7291