Lifelong Learning: I can imagine that any kind of hopes and expectations that I would be an asset to the 21clc team this year have long since waned and cooled, as I have not in any way taken advantage of the wonderful opportunity bestowed upon me when I was invited to be a part of 21clc team two this year. I am now just beginning to utilize the wonderful tools provided to me through this project and i am already blown away. The possibilities are endless. I will post more in the future relating to the implementation of the "things," but right now I will give a simple breakdown of my reflection on Thing One which is created to focus on each educator as a lifelong learner.
The video we watched was the seven and a half habits of life long learner and is modified from Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. (As a disclaimer, I have my communication classes read Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens and work through some of the workbook activities. I find that it encourages reading and breaks intrapersonal communication- First Three Habits- into manageable chunks while putting interpersonal communication- Habits 4,5, and 6- into easy lessons for teens to understand. More on this in future blog posts about curriculum and lesson planning for Oral Comm.) The reason I feel it is important to point out that I am very familiar with the seven habits is that the thing I found to be very helpful in seven habits is the introductory material when Covey talks about paradigms and the way we see a problem. In this activity the thing I found most intriguing was the concept that lifelong learning is attitudinal.
The reality is that most of life is attitudinal, but when you really think about it if a person approaches life as a learning opportunity, then we really never encounter problems or setbacks but only chances to learn more things. If something breaks, it is a chance to learn how to fix it. Or an opportunity to invent something else to use or create new options or solutions. In this way, life is full of possibilities and is exciting. Also, this allows you to complete any task, no matter how seemingly mundane, with cheer knowing that something you are doing or learning might be applicable to some future task. So attitude really is key and everything is a learning opportunity. And if we can approach students with this mindset and get them to buy into this concept, then we can much more effectively cover information. Student motivation is really the key to teaching and convincing students that learning is something we do all the time is a cornerstone to effective instruction.
Thoughts about Reading
11 years ago
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First, I apologize for just now reading your post. But, it's funny how God places people and tools in front of us just when we need it. I needed to hear your words--NOW, even more so than I did in October. I've been really down lately, frustrated with apathetic students, frustrated with the seemingly slow progress of our 21clc project, thinking I'm failing, not doing what I need to be doing but not really knowing what it is I need to do differently. But, you're absolutely right: Life is a learning journey. If we approach challenges as problems to be solved rather than as obstacles to defeat us...well, wouldn't life be more enjoyable, not to mention more productive.
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