101. The Transformative Power of AI

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Folks, let’s face it. Our classrooms are going to look a little different this year. AI, specifically ChatGPT, is going to change the way we design learning experiences and assess student mastery. I’ll be honest, when I first explored the ChatGPT platform I was terrified. As I have dug deeper into the technology and its capabilities, I realized that while it does pose significant challenges — it also presents us with some pretty amazing opportunities. In this series, we will explore what AI is capable of, its implications in the classroom, and how it can benefit both teachers and students. Let’s start by examining where we have been, where we are currently, and looking forward to where we are going. Whether this is a trip you wanted to go on or not, the AI train has left the station and it is time for all of us to jump on board. From Card Catalogs to Artificial Intelligence I belong to the micro-generation called Xennial. Xennials are considered to be a “bridge” between Generation X a...
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#62: Bounce Forward: The Power of Adaptability

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I will teach you in a room, I will teach you on zoom, I will teach you in a house, I will teach you with my mouse, I will teach you here or there, I will teach you because I care.
-Author unknown

We made it!! First Semester? ✔ Winter Break? Bring it on! I am ready to disconnect, spend some time with my family, rest and recharge. I really thought that this school year would be a piece of cake after last year. Last year we became the masters of pivoting. New schedule? Teaching two groups of students in different locations at the same time? Sanitizing desks between classes? Done, done, and done. This year my school returned to full-time in-person learning and I am thrilled to have my students back. However, my new normal is not the normal that I am used to. I think it is time for me to make peace with the realization that education will be forever changed as a result of the pandemic - and that can be a really good thing.

COVID-19 laid bare many of the inequalities evident in education. It also forced us to innovate in ways that were previously unimaginable. Now is the time to leverage what we have learned and build the system we always needed. With that in mind, I have a tough question for you…

What do you want your classroom to look like in a post-pandemic world?

Cognitive restructuring is a therapeutic technique designed to change the way a person thinks about a problem. I have found that looking at obstacles as opportunities helps me to remain hopeful and engaged. However, it does not happen naturally for me (especially when I am in survival mode and just trying to drag myself over the finish line). I recently read an article that caused me to stop and reflect on my growth as an educator over the past two years. Growth that is a direct result of the educational disruption that is causing me such stress!

We all know students who really struggled during online learning, but you probably also know students who thrived during online learning. In this post, I am going to look at one of the underlying reasons why some students were able to navigate the transition to online learning so effectively and explore ways that we can apply what we learned to help all of our students (and ourselves) achieve success in the future.

Andrew Martin and his colleagues at The University of South Wales just published an article about students' online learning self-efficacy and achievement during remote instruction. Self-efficacy is the belief that each individual holds regarding their own ability to succeed in a given situation, such as online learning. He explored a number of factors including resilience, adaptation, online learning support and parental support. He discovered that resilience was not the biggest factor in determining student self-efficacy and later achievement. It was the students ability to adapt to their new environment that had the greatest impact.

Resilience is one's ability to bounce back from adversity. According to the APA, resilience is "the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress." Hallmarks of resilience include an internal locus of control, effective problem-solving skills, emotional regulation, self-compassion, and social connections. There are some great resources out there to help students become more resilient including one which was just released by the APA called "BAM! A Student/Teacher COVID Recovery Program". This is an AMAZING resource. It includes clearly defined learning objectives, lesson materials and activities, and even a script for the teacher to follow if they wish! I plan on using this in my Stress and Health unit. You can access this free module here.

Adaptability is "the capacity to regulate one's behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in response to novel, variable, uncertain, and unexpected situations and circumstances" (Martin, 2021). The goal of resilience is to bounce back to your previous state. The goal of adaptability is to bounce forward to an altered state. Both skills are necessary for our students to succeed. The wisdom lies in discerning which is needed in a given situation and how to teach students how they can adjust their behavior, thinking, and emotions to navigate a changing environment.

The following questions can help us discern which skill is needed in a given situation:
  • What does the situation call for?
  • Is it a return to the original state or will there be a difference, and if so, how significant does the difference need to be?
  • Is it a question of coping, reframing and/or redoing what has been done before, or is it about doing, thinking, or being different? (Simpson, 2019)
Resilience and adaptability are skills that our students will need in the classroom, on the field, at work, and in their relationships, everyday for the rest of their lives. In his article, The Adaptability Advantage, Martin contends that in uncertain times that both resilience and adaptability matter but that knowing when is time to adjust can be the difference between treading water and swimming. This applies to all of us, students and teachers alike.

As the first semester dust settles, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on what you have learned and identify some changes that you made that you would like to continue using moving forward. For example, I am now requiring my students to turn in everythng online. This has streamlined my grading process and I have found myself leaving more detailed feedback because I can type it. It works, I am keeping it.

So, here's my big question for you - and I would LOVE it if you answered it in the comments section below. How can you use what you learned last year to make education more accessible to your students and more sustainable for you as the teacher?  I know I don't want to just bounce back to where I was pre-pandemic. I want to bounce forward and apply what I have learned to create a better classroom for tomorrow.

I hope you have a joyous and restful holiday season! Until next year,
Cori

Last Post: #61 Connections Count: How Social Connections Protest Us


References

Martin, A. (2021, November 17). The adaptability advantage. Character Lab. Retrieved November 28, 2021, from https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/the-adaptability-advantage/

Martin, A. J., Collie, R. J., & Nagy, R. P. (2021). Adaptability and high school students’ online learning during COVID-19: A job demands-resources perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.702163

Martin, A. J., Nejad, H., Colmar, S., & Liem, G. A. (2012). Adaptability: Conceptual and empirical perspectives on responses to change, novelty and uncertainty. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 22(1), 58–81. https://doi.org/10.1017/jgc.2012.8

Martin, A. J., Nejad, H. G., Colmar, S., & Liem, G. A. (2013). Adaptability: How students’ responses to uncertainty and novelty predict their academic and non-academic outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), 728–746. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032794

Simpson, R. (2019, April 11). Where does the need for resilience end and the need to adapt begin? The OCM. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from https://www.theocm.co.uk/insights/where-does-need-resilience-end-and-need-adapt-begin




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