The COVA approach to learning has been a very interesting transition to my learning. I am also guilty of telling my students and my own children, "just do what the teacher says if you want the grade". It is very clearly defined. I also cared so much more about getting the grade than doing the learning. As frustrating as it has been to find my sweet spot of learning, I can already tell that it makes all the difference in the world when the learning is personal. When you are pushing to make it relevant to you, it suddenly becomes much more important for you to understand fully what you want to achieve. I have moved away from getting the grade and into the learning. I would be lying if I said it isn't more difficult. I would also be lying if I said I still didn't care about the grade.
The biggest challenge so far which I hope improves is keeping the focus to drive down to the core of what I am trying to achieve. If I don't have clearly defined guidelines then I have a much harder time trying to settle on how I want my assignments to look. The collaborative piece is helpful, but I also find that I am reaching out to see what everyone else is doing to narrow my focus.
I strongly believe that I am shifting dramatically to a learner's mindset because I believe I can make my education goals more relevant to me. I will keep working until there is no pause in my belief that I can both learn and teach using the COVA approach.
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