Thing 1: Lifelong Learning

After watching the tutorial on 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong learners ( http://www.plcmc.org/public/learning/player.html ), I realize that each of those discussed habits are very important and each a big deal of its own. I believe that constant learning is what keeps a persons from becoming stagnant and is one of the more important aspect of life. Habit one, "Determining a specific goal before beginning," is easy for me. As a matter of fact it is in itself what prompts me to begin most projects at all. I may change the way I go about obtaining the goal after I begin, but keeping the goal in mind keeps me going. It is very natural for me when I want to accomplish something. Habit 2, "Accepting responsibility for your own learning," is a habit that I have had to bring back to naturalization. It had been diminished in my first 13 years of school because it seems that teachers were always telling us exactly how to do something, too much so. This time around, I have accepted that it is my own responsibility to discover how I'm going to learn. Habit 3, "View problems as challenges," remind me of Habit 1. When a problem occurs it is very natural for me to think, "Ok, how can this be resolved or fixed?" So, to me, problems are challenges -- or more something that shouldn't be so should be fixed. Habit 4, "Having confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner. The people in my life such as my husband, parents and friends renew this in me whenever I need it. Such renewal helps my self-confidence thus reviving my competence so that I can concentrate on what I need to accomplish. Habit 5, "Creating your own toolbox," is pretty easy for me, but needs to be expanded. In this age of "the internet becoming our toolbox" it has become a habit of mine to only consider the internet as a resource. I need to push myself to use books more often. Habit 6, "Using technology to your advantage" is not very natural to me-- at least seeking new technology is not. I am very excited to be in this class just for that reason! Habit 7, "Teach/mentor others" is very natural for me. I am a natural teacher. I hate it when someone, and even I, do not understand something. So I like to help people learn in any way I can. Habit 7 1/2, "Play" is natural for me at times that it is appropriate. THe reminder is nice, becasue it is easy to let things get too serious!


To be continued...