In bloom
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Rosebud by Ann Althouse June 9, 2008 Creative Commons Licensing
In spending the last five weeks examining how to create significant learning environments, the word that keeps coming to mind is “cultivate.” When I began to develop the digital literacy hybrid class, I was focused mainly on the logistics of the class: how it would be scheduled, whether the technology infrastructure we had would suffice, a broad sketch of what the curriculum might look like. It wasn’t until I was asked to consider the environment I wanted to create that the details began to fall into place. Each of the pieces, things that I probably hadn’t given much conscious thought to before, needed to be designed and implemented in a deliberate fashion in order to create the best environment for learning.
It started with the question of what I could do to create an environment to optimize student learning. I had to begin by considering what type of culture I was interested in, and looking at how I might be able to work around the existing constraints. I started questioning how I could work things like student choice into the class in order to make it more engaging and relevant to my students.
Rosebud prior to bloom by Lisa Martin n.d. via Creative Commons Licensing
The following week brought an investigation into my own learning philosophy. While I always had a general idea of what I believed about my role as a teacher, I had never put voice to what I believed about learning. I had to consider how my students learn best, and what role I needed to play in order to make that happen. It required me to look beyond the label of “constructivist” to think deeply about what aspects of that theory I actually believed and supported, and to find pieces of other learning theories that formed the basis of my own belief structure. I needed to ensure that the structure of my class supported those beliefs, and examine how my role as a teacher might change as a result.
After I started to detail the type of environment and learning that I wanted to occur, I moved to the step of considering the specific situational factors influencing the digital literacy course and how to work with those factors to build the class I wanted. Via Fink’s 3 column table and the UbD Design Template, I was able to take the large goals that I had for the class and start to design the details that allow students to reach those goals. At each step, I had to be deliberate about the learning and assessment activities being used to support the goal, and selecting materials that would blend into the environment most effectively.
Double Delight Rose by Audrey June 16, 2006 via Creative Commons Licensing
The last piece of designing the significant learning environment for my class was thinking about how to promote the growth mindset for my students. It meant ensuring that yet another part of the environment was designed and deliberate, intended to build the lifelong learning skills that are at the core of the class. In addition to making sure that the materials and activities supported the learning goals and my learning philosophy, I needed to be sure that they would stimulate growth in my students. Every aspect of the class was fulfilling multiple roles, and supporting more than one goal.
By considering all of the realms of a significant learning environment, I realized that I needed to give far more consideration to details beyond basic logistics. I needed to design the climate of the class with as much care and deliberation as I designed the curriculum. Without the proper environment, the most carefully planned curriculum wouldn’t get my students to the audacious goal I had for them. In order to get the big, colorful, healthy flowers I wanted at the end, I had to give equal consideration and cultivation to the soil, water, and fertilizer that would provide the matrix in which the plant could bloom.
Rosa 'Double Delight' 1977 by Arashiyama May 23, 2012 via Creative Commons Licensing
References
Unsolved Anaïs Nin mysteries [Blog post]. (2009, July 30). Retrieved from http://anaisninblog.skybluepress.com/2009/07/unsolved-anais-nin-mysteries/
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