I am so excited to finish my first course in my Master’s program at Lamar University. This first course has been a huge step for me, personally, in many ways. I did not think I would ever get to go back to grad school, but this year I got an opportunity to try, and I’m so glad I did.

We started off the course by learning about the Growth Mindset and creating a Growth Mindset Plan.  While I am familiar with the Growth Mindset, I think this course has encouraged me to apply it more consistently in my personal life, not just in my classroom. For example, I can “fail forward” at school and turn it into a positive learning experience much more easily than I can in my personal life.  Since starting this program, I’ve found better ways to fail forward in my personal life without taking too much time feeling bad about it or just giving up.

Next, we learned about the COVA model — Choice, Ownership, Voice, and Authentic Learning.  This model is very exciting to me because it changes the way we think of teaching and learning.  Giving students choice in learning, ownership of their work and the learning process, voice in how they want to show what they know, and authentic learning experiences that they control will result in students who are more involved, more resilient, retain more, and take bigger risks in the learning process.  I touch on this model  in my learning manifesto, and I will be using it in my own classroom.

We also discussed Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) in this course.  I am blessed with a few great PLNs that help me to stay fresh and find inspiration in my practice.  Many of the educators in my PLNs are people I’ve met in person, and a few have become good friends of mine.  Having a strong PLN is key to finding support, ideas, and resources when you need them.  I discussed my PLNs in this blog post, and will be creating a link list in the very near future.

I have enjoyed getting to know the cohort of teachers that will be taking this journey along with me.  We’ve shared so many great ideas just in the short time that we’ve been in this program so far.  I’m looking forward to growing with them and learning from them as we move through this program and find our voices as digital educators and leaders.