THE ROD CLASS
Creating Significant Learning Environments
[csle]
CSLE Reflection
Part A
Some of the things I’ve heard come from my own students’ mouths before is, “I’m not smart enough.”, “I can’t do it!”, “This is the best I can do.”. I was even one of the students as well. A lot of students sometimes have a notion in their head that they are incapable of doing something because it is something they have never done. But that is where the “Power of Yet” comes in. I believe instilling in our students that simple “yet” is a key to unlocking their true potential. Rather than telling a student “You need to do better at multiplying numbers.”, it is much better for the learner’s mindset by saying “This is a good start. You haven’t reached your goal yet, but let’s focus on some skills that will help.”. By implying to the student that they haven’t reached their goal yet, you are still leaving a window open that gives them the idea that they will if they work harder in certain areas. We also learned about two different mindsets: Fixed and Growth. As a teacher, I really want my students to adopt the growth mindset. In order for them to do this, it would be my job to show them how to have a growth mindset by modeling. A way I would also implement a growth mindset within my students would be to have anchor charts with sayings and support statements that they could see when they need examples and encouragement. However, I feel that allowing my students to see that I make mistakes is key for them to gain a growth mindset. Many students see adults as people who always have the answers to every problem. It will be very beneficial for them to see that we make mistakes and do all in our power to correct them. One of the biggest things that helped me with my own growth mindset was the feedback that I received from professors and classmates. One of the most important things that has to be remembered with feedback is that it is supposed to be beneficial to the creator. All feedback is not meant to be taken as an attack. Its purpose is to provide thoughts from the audience that is meant to provide the creator ways to improve or alternative ways to think.
Part B
During the CSLE course, I learned the importance and significance of providing a learning environment that would provide the support and structure needed to help learners thrive. Creating a Significant Learning Environment has taught me some of the best practices that are needed in order to not only help support students but also the educators who will carry out the plan. Throughout the course we had many conversations about factors that can affect the learning outcomes of students. In my learning philosophy, I discussed the importance of experiences being a leading factor into how learners build a foundation and approach new skills. Brown and Thomas discussed the three factors in a learning environment: passion, imagination, and constraint. I believe my innovation plan reflects these factors in some form. While participating in this course, I also learned different methods into how to develop a course: 3 Column Table and the Understanding by Design template. One of the things that the plans have in common is that they share the same value of having an end goal in mind. I used Fink’s 3-Column Table in order to create my Big Hairy Audacious Goal to develop learning outcomes and activities to coincide with them. However, the UbD plan seemed to work best for the plan that I have developed. The UbD plan allowed me to not only focus on goals and activities, but it also gave me the opportunity to develop ways to evaluate the performance of the activities. The UbD template also provided me the opportunity to plan my course in reverse, as it focused on the learning outcomes and goals first.
​
At last we come to the Growth Mindset plan. The idea from Dr. Carol Dweck’s: Mindset really captivated my interest. I was first able to learn more of a learner’s mindset during the summer courses, however I felt that I was able to see it be applied more into the ADL program with how it could be integrated into our plans and templates. With my innovation plan in mind, I was able to confirm things that could work and also determined things that could use some adjusting. I have come to realize that as much as I plan, there are some things in the duration of my planned course that will need to change or be slightly modified in order to benefit the learners of the program. To say that things will always go just as planned sounds very silly. However, with continuously being open to change, and listening to feedback provided by my peers, I think the implementation of my plan will be a success.
