Week One-Thing #2

Well, I am not as scared now, after poking around the blog, and checking out some of the resources from previous learners. One thing I really liked was the 7 and 1/2 habits of lifelong learners. MOTORVATION as a concept, (and as a practice) has a lot to do with life long learning. I like Stephen Covey's book Seven Habits of Highly Effective people. These two only share one habit directly, and others indirectly.

Habit #1 Begin with the end in mind.

This is a fundamental part of teaching. I can remember early in my career when I would get halfway through a unit and think, where was I going with this? Where am I going now? To be successful, I need clear objectives. I have to see what I want to have happen in the end. I have to be able to envision it.
The envisioning process is very powerful. I am not a tech coward; I simply didn't prioritize the class, until today. I actually have some pretty lofty goals for technology and me. We will get to those later.

Habit two-take responsibility for your own learning. More and more, the authority is being reduced in learning. Before you did what you were told, and you were rewarded or punished with grades. Now, as the world becomes more learner-centered, the need for an external authority is diminishing. More and more teachers are guides, not simply sources of information. Now, what I learn is for me, and should have some purpose for me, not simply an external hoop or benchmark. I am responsible for my own learning.

Habit three-view problems as challenges. Technology can be frustrating if we let it, as can anything. When I was young, working on cars could often be very frustrating. You get under there and you've got grease and dirt coming down on you and you can't quite reach it, and it won't come loose, so you start thrashing around and you end up with bloody knuckles, no closer to your goal. Now, I look forward to it. It is a practice in patience. And when I run out, I just take a step back and take a little break. If I am lucky enough, there is someone there to take over for a bit. That's the synergy the seven habits of highly effective people talks about.

Habit four-Have confidence with yourself as a learner-The difficulty here is expressed in my first post. I am successful in many realms, all of which took a degree of patience and priority. I think I have that for the variety of skills that I will learn through this course and beyond.

Habit five-create your own learning toolbox. It seems it used to be that we did one thing and hopefully we did that thing well. In fact, many last names are simply expressions of the one thing that we did well, Baker, Fleischer, Wasserzieher-I take it the BlackSmiths were rather prolific. Now we are expected to do so much more. Even if you are a baker, you are expected to have a website and a membership, that emails them a newsletter monthly. Right there a number sof skills are required. Even if you get some technical help, you are still expected to type, not to mention be a salesperson and social networker. And to think, you only wanted to be a baker. In teaching, it is very critical to have a number of technological skills. Can you make movies, podcasts, manipulate learning modules, fix your own tech, etc. This class will help me expand my learning toolbox.

Habit 6-use technology to your advantage. Thankfully, there is a place in our schools for the technology illiterate. Still, they are becoming more and more rare. I had high school teachers that used to count grades by hand. Next year the district will move over to a platform that will require the use of an online grade book. It isn't adapt or die, it's adapt or spend-long-hours-in-training-sessions. Personally, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to use a paper grade book. Soon, people will say similar things about whiteboards.

Habit 7-teach/mentor others. You have got to pass it on, pay it forward. There are people who have helped me along the way. It is my obligation to do the same. I have been able to help people with technology, but only minor tricks, like helping with grade books, or setting up airports. Now I can become a greater resource.

Habit 7 1/2-Play! this is a real important one. Technology opens up a vast new world of creativity and it must be tapped if we are to see the full benefits. My brother seems to take to technology more easily. I believe it is because he is playing with it in his head. It is all a puzzle or a riddle to be solved, a neat function to learn, something cool to make. And it is! On that note, I'm off to see what is taking so long for my simpsonized avatar!