I was never a math genious; I always had to study extra hard to get good grades in those classes. Not that fractions are difficult to understand, but I like whole numbers. I don't think play should be considered a half-habit. Both children and adults learn from play-whether it's matching the square peg to the square hole, or learning to play an instrument. My college had always pushed the theme of lifelong learning in it's mission as a university. One thing that I have noticed about lifelong learners is their desire to read, yes other forms of media are informative, but there's something about reading a book, aritcle, blog, no matter what it is, that broadens your horizon or sparks your imagination like no other.
In respect to the "8" habits, I find for me the most difficult one to acheive is to look at your problems as challenges. Once I am knowledgeable about a certain subject I do see problems as challeges because I have the skills to do what I need to overcome it. On the other hand, I can become frustrated and discouraged if what I am trying to tackle is out of my league, though I still try even if I'm making zero ground.
Habit #2, which is "Accepting Responsibility for your own Learning", is what I am best at. I am a curious person by nature, not nosey, but curious about the world in many ways. In college I was a very good student and several of my classes I actually enjoyed going to. These days I don't have homework anymore but I still try to stay informed, granted now I can choose what I want to read and not what I am required to. One thing I have learned is that you cannot cheat yourself into learning something; you must go through and test yourself or be tested to truly learn something. Such is the case when you mentor or teach someone else. I would want to make sure I know my stuff when tutoring others; it's not really beneficial to pass on inaccurate information. When you don't know the answer to something, when your mentee asks you a really good question that you aren't positively sure of, you lookup the answer and add that new information into your mental database.
All in all I think these habits are key to being a lifelong learner. One particular habit, having confidence, Habit#4, is the most important behavior: you need to believe in yourself and your capability to learn in order to practice lifetime learning. Oh and if you're not enjoying yourself then learning isn't as fun which is why I'm rounding up to 8.
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You are one step closer to an MP3 player! I am following your blog and will use it to track your progress through the steps. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteHi, you said, you can't cheat yourself into learning. You can.
ReplyDeleteThat is what content-based instruction (CBI) and Theme-based learning (TB) is all about. In educational psychology, they say, content-based instruction is the only way one can develop English as a second language. For example, Espoir Smart English through Movies is a well known and widely accepted program where English up to GRE level is explained with reference to over 1330 Hollywood movies. Any movie lover will get cheated into learning. Similarly I found another program called Smart English through Cricket. No wonder cricket lovers crowd to buy the program.
Therefore, you can cheat yourself, or in that way, other people into learning.