Identify something you have learned simply because you enjoyed learning it. It can be something you learned in school or anywhere else. What are you good at? What do you know more about than most people? What skills have you mastered? What are your hobbies? What have you spent a lot of time doing? To complete this step, simply write the completion of this sentence in your journal: "One thing I enjoyed learning is..."
One thing I enjoyed learning is Math. Any kind of math. I take it on like grabbing a bull by its horns. I'm good at it too! But it all makes sense with this neural network explanation they give you about how learning and the brain works. Because I can sit and do math all day, all night. Homework was odds 1-60? I was doing all 60 questions. Because I could.
With a focus on the information or skill you loved learning, write answers to the following questions (and anything else that will explain how you prefer to learn):
How did you gather the information or skills you needed to learn this?
What did you do to learn the information or skills needed to learn this?
What else did you learn from this?
When you engaged in learning this, how long did you usually spend?
I remember, my freshman year of high school, my math teacher was a nazi. Everybody and their mother "hated" him. He was mean, he was complex, and he was an excellent teacher! I was such a gum chewer (and still am) and it was forbidden in the hallway in front of his classroom. Caught chewing gum? You wrote times tables, 3 pages, front to back. If you didn't turn them in the next day, you got three more pages. The next day? You still didn't produce 3 pages of front to back times tables of 1-12, of coarse what do you think? Yep! You go three more. But that next day, when you didn't turn them in and didn't have any done, the time had come. My first Saturday school. I sat in the library for hours not only writing the 9 pages of front to back 1-12 times tables but also writing ANOTHER 9 pages on top of it!
Now, I wasn't thrilled about math at this point in time. If anything, I hated it. I didn't ever wanna do it or see it again. But by golley, I knew every times table 1-12. I could promise you that. But then Monday came around, 1st period, walk into math class, annoyed already because my hand still cramped from Saturday, my teacher turns on the over head, dims the lights, begins blah blah blah-ing and guess what?! That basic knowledge of your basic 1-12 times tables made my math career 100 times easier and 10 times better. High school algebra, freshman year of high school first 9 weeks, my average was a 94. Great that's an A! 2nd 9 weeks, my average was a 98. And it never dropped below that.
Not only did I chew more gum to keep up with my times tables, but I also took my homework seriously and then some. Once again, homework was odds 1-60, all 60 questions were being done. The odds to be turned in, the evens to be kept for reference. What is that saying? Practice makes perfect!
What feedback did you use to determine how well you had learned this?
Textbooks are equipped with practice tests and end of section questions. So after every section and every chapter, I took the time to utilize these questions and take these practice tests. Textbooks are also equipped with an answer key in the far back of the pages so if I were to get a wrong answer, I would work the question backwards to establish where I went wrong in solving the problem and I would note the mishap for my studies before quiz's and tests. It may have been my own personal evaluation but it kept me on my toes.
How did you feel when you engaged in learning this?
What were the rewards for learning this?
It was exciting. I was one of the smartest in the class. It was like a boost of confidence. Plus it always made it exciting to learn something new! Because what else were you gonna be able to do?! Complex algebra was like learning the ABC'S! And it gave me a better view on life. Opened up door to opportunity and realizing how smart I really was. When really, it isn't about how smart you are but how much you apply yourself. It is lack of application that a lot of people suffer from. Not from being smart or stupid.
Write about what you have learned or relearned about learning and how you will use this knowledge to maximize your learning.
It's time to face the facts here. Routine, learning, having the ability to succeed, comes from the application of ones self. Because it is the practice that makes the success: the routine, the learning.
I flunked out of college last year because I didn't apply myself like I had the semester before better yet my freshman year of high school.
I lost my weight because I made sure I got up every morning and pushed myself (even if I didn't feel like it) to go running.
I gained my weight because I decided to become lazy and my neural networks developed the routine of laying in bed in the mornings instead of motivating my legs.
When I was writing my last paragraph, it was so refreshing to finally have an answer as to what caused my downward slope. Decisions I was making and routines I was getting into because in the end, it was what I was teaching my brain to do. They were the neural networks I was creating. Which, in turn, were replacing the neural networks I had already created but didn't practice as much anymore until I didn't practice them at all.
So with a sigh of relief and a deep breath of relaxation, I retire. Good night.
No comments:
Post a Comment