The easiest lifelong learning habit for me is teaching and/ or mentoring others. I do not claim to be a walking encyclopedia. Nor was I the valedictorian in high school or in college, far from it. I have found that I have an innate nature to teach and mentor others. Looking back at my past work experiences, the positions I held always involved some level of teaching or mentoring others. I tend to gravitate to jobs or opportunities to teach someone whenever possible because it challenges me to present information in a different format so that it is relatable to whom I am speaking. Teaching or mentoring others is something that I love doing because I want to help others help themselves. To me, knowledge is more powerful when passed along for others to benefit as well.
There are two lifelong learning habits that constantly test me. The first one is having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I have struggled with this my entire life. Never mind that I was the first in my family to get a college education, I tend to overlook what I have accomplished and push myself to work harder. In working harder, I tend to not leave time for me to unwind or play. Taking time to play is the other lifelong learning habit that I do not make time to do. Yes, the easiest habit is the hardest one for me to adopt. I get caught up in doing the next errand, chore, etc. that the next thing I know the time for me to play is gone.
By working with Web 2.0 tools, I want to be able to using these tools efficiently in order to teach 7th grade Spanish. The actual setting up of this blog was not too hard. I just kept forgetting where to access my blog draft for editing. So far, I can see myself creating blogs for my future Spanish classes. It can be a way we can have a weekly class blog commentary on a particular topic.
We both share the same issue of finding it difficult to play. I can relate to your need to work hard and succeed. I was also the first in my family to finish college and so a lot of pressure gets placed on me to succeed. In all of this I admire your ability to teach and mentor others.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. Congrats to you on your accomplish!!! Yes, the pressure can get to be too much. I started this semester wanting to make time to play even though it is the hardest thing to do with everything else going on. If I don't then, the pressure wins and I lose. So, I'm going to start small and watch a favorite show of mine on Sunday nights. It may not be a physical activity, but it is something I enjoy. What will you do?
ReplyDeleteOpps. I made a typo. I mean to say accomplishment. That's what happens when I read over my post too many times. Things just look right when they are not.
DeleteIt was hard for me to narrow down to one aspect of lifelong learning that I struggled with. I had chosen keeping an organized tool box, but I also struggle with having confidence in myself as a learner. One thing that I try to tell myself when I struggle with this is that we would not be in this program if we were not smart! I tell myself this every time I start to wonder about my intelligence.
ReplyDeleteThanks Morgan! For a moment there, it seemed as if I was gaining wisdom from the great Jedi Master Yoda himself, minus the Yoda speak. I will try to remember that.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading about your previous jobs always relating to teaching, I regretted not having written something similar. It was like I was reading about my own past. I never considered teaching as a profession. People told me to change my major in college, but I was not interested in teaching. Looking back now, I was a fool. I had always enjoyed children. I coached the swim team in my neighborhood, did swim lessons, babysat, and tutored in high school. After college, I had my first encounter with actually teaching when I taught English in Spain for a year. This was the first time I actually thought I might really enjoy teaching. Maybe you can help me with my Spanish since you’ll be teaching 7th grade Spanish. Mine was pretty good while I lived there, but I came back to the US 2 ½ years ago, and it has gone downhill ever since!
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! I promise that I read your response not long after you posted it. I could have sworn that I responded right back!!! So sorry...
ReplyDeletePeople also told me that I should be a teacher. I looked at them as if they had horns growing out of their heads. I was young and stubborn. I always loved the education field and all that it offered. I just did not know how I could be a part of it. I had a degree and did not know what to do with it. I've been to Spain too. That was so long ago though. Podemos platicar, como les dicen en Espana, cuando sea.
Opps. I think the Spaniards use charlar instead of platicar.
ReplyDelete[Here's the translation for the last sentence from the previous post: We can talk ( in Spanish), as they say in Spain, whenever. This translation was provided for others reading this post who do not read Spanish.]