Using an Efficacy Notebook for Reflection and Connection

View or share this material in a Google Doc: Using an Efficacy Notebook for Reflection and Connection

Objective

You will design and learn to use a Digital Efficacy Notebook (from www.myqportal.com) to capture your ideas, questions, insights, and connections as you continue to engage in work around equity-related topics in education.

This activity is estimated to take 10 minutes initially and then varies upon use.

Watch this Video

“While empowerment is bestowed upon you by someone else, efficacy comes from within: it is your own ability to decide upon a desired outcome and make it happen.” — Dr. Nancy Sulla, Building Executive Function: The Missing Link to Student Achievement 

As educators, we want students to not only be empowered but efficacious. We want students to have the confidence in their ability to make a plan and see that plan come to fruition, for that is efficacy! To this end, a traditional student notebook is set up as a teacher-centered organizational tool for students, where each page likely has similar, if not the same, information on it, based on the teacher’s actions. However, the Efficacy Notebook is student-centered, designed to reflect an individual student’s learning. It provides a means for students to make connections to what they are learning and apply it to the larger problem they are trying to solve. 

Watch this video to learn more about the Efficacy Notebook:

Take Action

As you explore continued professional learning around Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education and issues related to equity, create an Efficacy Notebook to house your reflections, connections, thoughts, questions, and ideas. Obtain either a paper notebook or journal or create a digital document (Google Doc, Microsoft Word, etc.). Start your first entry by answering these questions:

  • What are your major takeaways about Culturally Responsive-Sustaining
  • Education and issues related to equity from these modules?
  • How have you changed your instructional practice thus far as a result of these modules?
  • What additional learning experiences will you pursue to continue to grow comfortable and confident with the content?