I believe in practicing what you preach and I think an important quality in life is to never stop learning new things. Continuously challenging and stimulating our brains has been linked to having a more vibrant and fulfilling life in our later years. Something that I go out of the way to do on a regular basis is to make sure my students are aware that I'm still eager to learn new things.
As a masters student, I regularly come into class and share new ideas that I have come across. Not too long ago I had a discussion with my class about ideas that I became aware about related to self-regulated learning. I was sharing with them things that helped me get through writing papers and staying focused while completing assignments. I often like keeping them up-to-date with tools that I learned about for google documents and they do the same.
I often learn new technology tools together with my class. Things that I come across that seem like they may be a cool tool and I'm unsure how to use, I'll test them out with my class. We then decide together, after the fact, if that technology tool was useful or not.
Lifelong learning is something that everyone should be doing and I think it is important that our students know that we are doing this.
Dave
References
Narushima, M. (2008). More than nickels and dimes: the health benefits of a community‐based lifelong learning programme for older adults. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 27(6), 673–692.
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post! I also think it's extremely important to role model lifelong learning. My current students are regularly surprised that I am taking a master's degree while teaching full time. They believe that they want to finish their schooling in order to start a job, make money, and live an easier life than they have now. I like to think that by demonstrating my love for learning, I am having a positive effect on theirs and helping them understand that we need to continue learning throughout our lives in order to better ourselves.