My entire innovation plan and ePortfolio use the analogy of a garden and cultivating growth in our learners. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about environment throughout the ADL classes and how much control we have over that for our students. Dr. Tony Bates (2012) stated, “…it is really like gardening, you know. You think of a garden – you put the plants, and you put the soil in but, you know the plants have to do the growing, and it’s the same with students” As educators, we need to create an environment for growth but remember that we cannot learn for others. We provide everything they need, and they grow.
Educators in our public-school systems are highly pressured to teach to “the test” and many restrictions make it feel as though time is always limited and resources are never enough. I recall when I was in my teaching internship in 4th grade ELA/History. I was placed in a title 1 school where students needed so much more than being taught to pass a test. My mentor teacher was constantly overwhelmed and even with two of us in the classroom, it was difficult to meet the requirements of testing and fit in anything that was enjoyable or produced true growth in our students. Looking at all the ‘pieces’ was extremely overwhelming. It seemed impossible, and we were left feeling defeated most days. It broke my heart to watch the conferences with students and parents leaving everyone feeling as though they weren’t good enough because they were not ‘achieving’. After years of working in schools, it made me angry because my students in the internship were some of the most brilliant and creative students that had so much to give. It was heartbreaking that our school system was failing them, and our educator’s hands were tied without support to do what they knew would work. We were setting them up for failure. Teachers are battling their administration to have the freedom and space to create true learning and growth in their classrooms (Thomas, 2012).
Many educators give up when it comes to creating significant learning environments because it seems like there is no support and too much requirement placed on their shoulders. Harapnuik (2015) says, “..sometimes the answer to a problem has been in front of you all along, and all you need to do is step back far enough to see where all the pieces fit”. I am learning that small changes may be the key to that growth. Stepping back to look at the entire environment rather than being overwhelmed by focusing on all the pieces can help to see the areas small changes can be made. Changing small things in the way you support your students, the resources you provide, the options you give them can make all the difference to turning learning from something that is forced to something that is enjoyable and desired by all learners. Being in tune with who they are as learners and being a mentor that guides instead of requires will produce the growth that we are fighting so hard to achieve but never see reach its full potential.
Working with global educators in an online environment creates a different set of obstacles on how to implement my plan in a way that meets the needs of students around the world. We do not have the strict state guidelines that are put on public-school educators so there is a lot more freedom in that area but there are also standards that parents expect according to their personal educational systems. It makes it difficult because we must understand worldwide education systems and how to adjust to meet the expectations of parents while also creating significant learning environments for all. Training educators on how to provide options for all learners to have choice and freedom in learning for so many different cultures around the world seems overwhelming.
I am beginning to process learners are the same. No matter the culture, no matter the learning style, we all have a basic set of needs that include being provided with support, coaching, mentoring, choices, and freedom to learn in our own way. We need to “play” and this looks the same for everyone in our world. Considering the diversity of learners around the world, children, and adults, we can create environments that consider and provide choices for all.
References
ChangSchool. (2015). Dr. Tony Bates on Building Effective Learning Environments. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xD_sLNGurA
Harapnuik, D. (2015, May 9). Creating Significant Learning Environments (CSLE). Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ-c7rz7eT4
Thomas, D. (2012, September 12). A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas at TEDxUFM. Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM80GXlyX0U&t=6s
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