Thing 1 Life Long Learning

 Atrophy of the brain is a condition no one should aspire to full fill. Learning is something I intend to practice for as long as I have my wits about me.  I have spent the last twenty years working in private schools. Inspired by Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror," I hope to make a change by teaching Pedagogy and Meta-cognition.  I have spent much of my life studying leadership. I find my interests drawn more to how we can develop higher level thinking skills in digital natives. My lifelong learning goal is help lead education as a practice by leading our future teachers to be their best. Inspired by Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I would like to outline my thoughts on life long learning in a similar albeit loosely structured manor.

1. Begin with the end in mind. This is an important task.  I am reminded of flying.  When I learned to fly, the most important step before take off was to plan where I would land the plane. My goal at take off was to land.  My goal for now is to graduate with an M Ed. Without vocalizing your goal is it too easy to drift along the way.

2. Accept responsibility for your learning. They say you have no one to blame but yourself.  But what about injuries, last minute emergencies at work, family crises and the like.  You still have to "cowboy up" and focus on your goal.  It is your task in a crisis to get back on track to your goal.  By accepting responsibility you accept the challenge to manage your future and achieve your goal.

3. View problems as Challenges.  The world is full of obstacles, they are like boulders in a stream, you need to be fluid and move around them, and put them behind you quickly.

4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, lifelong learner.  To Live a life of significance, we must learn to do something new everyday.  Life is change, we must adopt and learn those changes. With technology, change comes more rapidly. never the less we must endeavor to learn as much as we can for as along as we can.  Researches say, your mind can stagnate if it is not exercised properly.

5. Create your own learning tool kit. Something I learned in the Army, develop and carry with you a tool box.  It is a metaphorical tool that carries your one liners, best lesson plans, effective disciplinary acts, pearls of wisdom and the like.  My favorite is the 3X5 card.  each morning over coffee I look at the day and make sure I plan ahead appropriately.  I jot down concerns and challenges that might get in the way and possible resolutions.  Just filling out the card is the tool itself. I have more examples below in my learning contract.

6. Use technology to your advantage. Evernote it. when in unsure send it to the cloud. Technology is the edge that makes us all equal, provided we use it to make up our short comings and to give us insight.

7. Teach and mentor others. As I have said many times before," Learn one, Do one, Teach one"  and " it takes a village to raise a child." Each person should have a teacher, mentor and  friend.  Like wise each should be a mentor to someone raising, a teacher to someone learning, and a friend to someone special.  It seems so obvious to me. Mentors can instill innovation and persistence in mentees.  Two valuable qualities needing development in our culture.

7 1/2. Play Here is the real challenge. Find the time. This is why we play jokes one each other at work or get silly from time to time in class.  A boss of mine one said we " work hard and play hard", I trust the wisdom is in the symmetry.

 Here is my life long learning contract.  It includes both the short terms goals of assignments in this class, but also long term goals out to the distant future.

 My Learning Contract

Looking Back.  I believe the most important or favorable step is number one.  Begin with the end in mind, which seems like a no brainer to me.  If I don't plot a path, I often get distracted along the way.

Number 5 is the most problematic.  It is hard to explain what is meant by a "toolkit".  I learned the term early on as I mentioned. Still, I find its use problematic. It is like practice forward.  or practice for an event that hasn't occurred yet.  Then hold on to that practiced skill and use it when the opportunity comes alone. The goal is to have an answer ready ahead of time.