For MEd class, we read a chapter in the book Cognitive Coaching called Achieving Holonomy. I liked the writing and thought it had some interesting points. The book defines holonomy in terms of how it can be used in cognitive coaching. Holonomy is achieved when a person acts as both an individual and a significant contributor to a community. They are influenced by what is around them, but at the same time influence that system also. It is broken up into five states of mind: efficacy, flexibility, craftsmanship, consciousness, and interdependence.
Holonomy is shown in the MEd program in the way that we reflect on ourselves and our teaching and then bring it back to our schools and share it with our community. It is an individual effort that ultimately will result in improving our teaching and we can share it with our colleagues to improve our teams.
The chapter talks about a study that asked employees in a business cooperation to rank the the parts of holonomy as most important to least important. They ranked consciousness as the most important. I am not sure if I can rank any part as more important than another part. Interdependence could be the most important on my list because I think we can't survive without working together and we produce such a better product when everyone contributes. But, without the other states, holonomy would not work as it is supposed to.
Each of the different states of holonomy can be seen in my classroom:
An efficacious person believes that they control what happens and that the outcome of a situation depends on their effort. This is shown in how the master's program teaches us to look at our teaching practices and change and improve them. As a teacher, I really think that what I do and how I act each day makes a difference to my students.
Flexibility is when a person can step back and look at a problem from a different view. I liked how the chapter said "trusting their creative unconscious will work productively." It is hard to stand in the middle of chaos (also known as 9th grade geometry class) and believe that things will work out in the end, but a flexible person can do that.
Craftsmanship is precision in the processes we teach and the language we use. It continues to amaze me how my students will mimic my language. When I started out as a new teacher I tried to simplify my language because I just wanted the lower students to "get it". Now, I make an effort to use the technical terms along with the simplified version and I am always surprised how easily many of the students add those new words to their vocabulary.
Consciousness is a persons ability to be aware of what is happening to them internally and externally. In the classroom this is shown through how we monitor and adjust to any situation. The chapter talks about how it is a "gut feeling." I think this is a big part of what makes a teacher good. When we are getting our teaching degree, we don't learn how to respond to every single problem, but as we become more experienced, we know when our students need more time, when they need someone to talk to, and how we want to present ourselves in our classroom.
Interdependence is when a person contributes to the common goal, but also gains resources from their community. This trait can be seen even at the basic level in our students and how they work with a group. In my engineering class, the groups that present the best projects are always the ones that have strong individuals who work well together and share what they do for the good of the team. Oftentimes a group that has the smartest students in the class is not the most successful because they don't know how to work towards group goals. I think this is one of the most important traits of holonomy and we as teachers must realize it and work together so that our students get the best possible benefits.
Resources:
Costa, A. & Garmson, R. (1993). Achieving holonomy. Cognitive Coaching. New York: Christopher-Gordon Publishers
