I’m a teacher but, unlike most teachers I know, I am not passionate about teaching. Rather, I’m passionate about learning.

This blog will be an attempt to record my learning…as a teacher, as a “student”, as a human being. The challenge is to document – via this blog – one item I’ve learned a day. Obviously, some days are packed, like today, when I attended a professional development course. The fun will be in dissecting days when learning isn’t so obvious.

Learn To Learn

This was the title of the course I attended today. There was some theory:

• learning is an assessable product but it is also a (teach-able) process
• learning is a factor of skill and will (cognitive and affective) as well as reflection (metacognitive)
• learning is a cycle of planning, acting and reflecting/evaluating
• learning necessitates a questioning mind (in my opinion, questioning is a manifestation of opening one’s mind, a necessary premise for learning it self)
• learning is personal/individual as well as social/interactive

I really enjoyed the strategies and examples, some experiential, that were shared. The list is massive so  I’ve picked just a few here, possibly the ones I’m most likely to adopt.

1. Metacognitive thinking, aka thinking about thinking: KWHL, self-assessment (Journal, learning log)
2. Critical Thinking : PCQ/PMI, analogies (similarities and differences)
3. Creative Thinking: SCAMPER
4. Questioning: Progressive Questioning, Socratic
5. Remembering: RAP, 30-word/short summary, analogies (making connections)

KWHL

K: What do I know now? (Foundation)

W: What do I have to learn?  (Goal)

H: How can I learn more (Plan and Activities)

L: What have I learned (Evaluation)

Journals – Potential scaffolds:

1. What I recall and What I wonder
2. What did I learn and what did I not learn (questions, confusions)

PCQ

P: Pros, positives, plusses, advantages

C: Cons, negatives, minues, disadvantages

Q: Questions, consequences, what-ifs, interesting

SCAMPER

Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify/Minify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Reverse/Rearrange

This has obvious application in design-oriented task but may also be used to challenge assumptions and the status quo.

Progressive Questioning

Have the open-mind of a 5-yr old who constantly asks What, Why and How. Of course, the purpose is not to ‘annoy’ but to get a deeper and/or broader understanding.

Socratic Questioning

The list is massive but the crux is asking questions to clarify and probe. Apart from the overt given, questioning should encompass assumptions, reasons, evidence, perspectives, implications.

RAP

R: Read and highlight key words/phrases

A: Ask key questions

P: Put into own words