COVA + CSLE

Think back to when you began elementary school... Think about the educational system, what the teachers did, what your classroom structure looked like, and how concepts were presented. Now think forward to today's education system. I like to think of today's education system as a house. For the most part our education system was built on a strong foundations. Yes, there might be a few cracks or corner pieces chipped away, but overall its a strong foundation. Without the strong foundation the first time a huge storm comes the house would fall. However, inside the house you may still want to update things over time. You might put in new counters, or light fixtures to brighten up and improve the house. Our education system is similar. Though the core has not changed much over time i.e. students are still in classrooms, teacher's present concepts, students are assessed on their knowledge, state testing etc. We have updated many key practices and incorporated teaching methods to improve student learning. 

Today we have had a shift in focus, we begin to focus on creating learning environments that are student centered and student driven. CSLE (creating student learning environments) began to uproot in the early 2000s. We are creating student learning environments by adjusting our focus to a student centered environment, then adding the backwards planning method and constructivist learning principles into the daily classroom routine. As a result COVA came into play. COVA is a strategy to incorporate in your classroom or when you are planning with your team. As you plan to create a CSLE you will need to think COVA (choice, ownership, voice, and authentic). Providing students with opportunities to choose their way of presenting ideas, structuring their thoughts, or presenting their findings this directly extends to the ownership aspect. When students are involved in their learning environment and use their own decision making it creates a sense of pride and ownership in their products. Those ideas lead students to clearly be able to voice their opinions of findings to their peers and finally they are giving the opportunity to select and engage in authentic working environments that will equip students with career or college readiness skills. 

References:

Harapnuik, D. K. (2020) Its All About Learning: CSLE+COVA vs Traditional. https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=7050