Myself as a Learner

21 September 1998 @ 0:00 | Posted in » Bob, Education

Educational Organization and Leadership: 0828.546
Submitted 21 September 1998

My early years in school would be unremarkable to recount. I was a student who sat in class, listened to what my teacher said, and completed my homework nightly. Through this ritual, I learned how to follow directions precisely, earn good grades, and receive a pat on the head for being a good boy.

It was not until my final year of high school that I broke loose of this formality. It was almost through necessity. Having been such a good student early in my schooling, I was able to enroll at a fine preparatory school that promised a first class education. There I was no longer able to shine by sitting and listening and I struggled to solve the mystery of this new school. Yet, midway through my final year, sitting in English class, listening to my professor spew endlessly about the merits of Hamlet, I shattered the barricade by proclaiming, much to the shock of everyone present, that Hamlet was indeed an asshole.

Actually, the enlightenment came immediately following that remark when I was called to defend my statement. This was truly a first for me. I had interjected an original thought (no matter how crass it may have been) into a class discussion and now was asked my opinion, which I readily gave. Although my professor disagreed with my point of view, he congratulated me on a well-phrased defense. From then on, I found a comfortable way for me to learn: participate!

Throughout my undergraduate program as a philosophy student, I participated in my classes. By participating, I was engaged to the material we learned. Engagement is an active process and it is not for the light-hearted. I learned that positions need research and opinions can enrage. Through my development, I stumbled and that frustrated me. Yet, I knew I was better for it.

All of that and I scored as a sequential processor on the “Learning Combination Inventory” (Johnston, Christine A., and Gary R. Dainton. “Learning Combination Inventory.” 1997). Sequential and precise were the two processes in which I scored the highest with this tool and apparently, I avoid technical processing. Upon reviewing the questions, I think my responses are accurate, but I do not feel these scores represent me as a learner.

I, like all learners, rely on the combination of these processes. It is true my VCR clock blinks, yet I tear apart computer systems regularly. How technical am I really? It depends on what is being addressed. How sequential am I? An hour after teaching my nine-year old students all day, I probably am quite sequential. I like to think I am a diverse learner, one who can use many tools in which to seize a learning opportunity.

The Interactive Learning Model (Let Me Learn, www.letmelearn.org/concept.htm., 1998) supports a combination of processes: cognition, conation, and affectation. I ascribe high value to education, and even though I seek to engage in the process of it, I like to bear the grunt work (papers, projects, etc.) individually. I am precise with my words for I will red-line office memos as quickly as they are Xeroxed. My technical interest in a subject is dependent upon the value I ascribe to the material. Through it all, however, I seek to assemble what I am learning within my defined paradigm. The greater the discord with this paradigm, the greater the effort to capture the learning.

How I process all that is presented is just as much of a combination. The material defines the method, although as I grow older I find that I rely less upon the concrete and more upon the abstract. The paradigm is fragile (and essential) and it is too important not to be able to reconcile the new into what I know.