Thing 1: Lifelong Learning

As I watched the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, it gave me an opportunity to reflect upon and understand some of my strengths and weaknesses. Also, I couldn’t help but question whether or not my students self-analyzed in the same way whenever they worked on their modules on learning.com. Until now, I believed that I had good learning habits and that this tutorial would be irrelevant to me. However, it really helped shed some light on my learning methods. I realized that some of the listed things came naturally to me, while I struggled with others. A lot of these habits fall within a gray zone, meaning that they tend to be both easy and difficult for me. I have listed these in the order presented in the tutorials.

Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind. I find myself focusing more towards activities that are simple, easy and involve group work. The more complex tasks and those that require my individual effort are often placed lower on my list of priorities. While these complex and individual tasks tend to be difficult to accomplish, they are more rewarding in the end. However, my focus usually shifts from the reward at the end to the difficulty along the way.

Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning. I know that I am responsible for my own learning, yet I find myself procrastinating and then staying up all night to meet my deadlines. While these deadlines are usually met, it gives rise to my most common excuse... "I still got it done on time." Also, my poor husband get the brunt of the blame even though he is no where near being at fault.

Habit 3: View problems as challenges. When encountered with a problem, initially instead of thinking for a solution, I start to panic and wonder... "Why does this only happen to me??" For example, the other day, a ring got stuck on my finger I freaked out and lost all hope of even getting it off. I continued tugging at it unsuccessfully and eventually envisioned having my finger cut off to have it removed! My coworkers had to tell me to calm down and used some soap to slip the ring out (not a difficult solution).

Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner. In school, I always sat up straight and towards the front in my science and math class because those subjects were easy for me to understand. History class however was a different story. I used to hide in the back of the classroom praying that the teacher did not single me out for a chapter summary. Confidence and competency go hand in hand.

Habit 5: Create your learning toolbox. I always like to have a lot of resources and tools at my disposal. I like to explore new things, even though I might not use it right away. More is better.

Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage. This step is a piece of cake for me. I learn how to use it and think about how soon can I utilize the technology. I like to take risks with new technology, I tried the smart response system for the first time with my class of 32 students. It required a lot of patience at first, but it turned out to be a valuable and fun tool for me and my students.

Habit 7: Teach/mentor others. Knowledge grows as it is passed on. On my campus, I have never held back from helping my coworkers. Other teachers often come to me for help with new technology tools such as hardware (smart response, smart board, etc.) and software. I also love to learn new things and then pass it along to others.

Habit 7 ½: Play. I think one learns best while exploring on their own. In order for me to learn, I have to do it myself. It really doesn't matter how old you are, you have to keep exploring and playing till you get it. My 3 year old nephew figured out how to use my phone in 10 minutes while it took me 3 hours to do the same.