Review: Steps along the Learning Journey

Part 1  Mrs. J’s Musings today: October 25, 2013

Remember the Learning Journey?

How well do you understand your place in it?

A quick review: a learner has a question, (right now I am interested in learning how to make sweet relish); they seek out resources that may provide an answer (I turn to the convenience of the internet), they ‘play’ (work, make, experiment-I haven’t yet taken the opportunity) with the answer to prove its accuracy (or error). They articulate (apply words to) (… or… I will spread my creation on a sandwich) what they have learned; finally, they ‘publish’ their words. Publish? (I will munch it down and hope it is as good as the sample I had last week)

‘Publish’ means putting the words into the sentence FORMS that communicate the learner’s desired meaning and deciding who needs to read the words and why and what place or venue this can best be accomplished. (It may also mean putting my new understanding into other FORMS-media of choice; creating the relish, for instance and sharing it with others.

All writing is words ordered in sentence FORMS.  FORMS are limited and learnable. Content – what is articulated in those FORMS – is individual and infinite. 

         LEARN FORMS BEFORE CONTENT!!

We are ultimately responsible for our own words, but they are disjointed bits without the FORMS (patterns) that determine meaning. Words contained in FORMS generate meaning. (Ingredients according to order produce relish.) Understanding FORMS well gives you creative control over your content (words). Meaningful content generates understanding, for yourself and your readers. Your questions can be well and thoroughly answered, by you!

Learning Journey Part 2

What follows is a bit of a rant I published last spring. It adds to the discussion of the Learning Journey above; it still works for me and is reprinted below for your thoughtful consideration:

“Teachers are overworked and underpaid,

What energy it takes to turn a torrent into a trickle;

Then to direct that trickle down narrow,

Well-marked channels.”

This is the perfect metaphor for all I have learned in many decades of working in the teaching profession. If I can leave anything profound to the rising generation of teachers it is this: the children arriving at my first grade classroom door knew how to learn and were full of 6 years of doing it brilliantly! And no two of them were alike in their learning; their interests; their genius. Let them teach you their different ways of knowing.

Stop expending effort turning this torrent of learning into the trickle of conformity demanded by workbooks and standardized tests and bells ringing. Instead, step into the flood by following their natural learning journey.   Remember you are their resource not their reason, find out their background knowledge before presenting your ‘great’ (curriculum) idea. Let them ask the questions that indicate personal gaps between knowing and understanding; let them re-arrange and play with the new information until it works through their bodies and into their minds to filling understanding gaps.

Provide opportunities for them to explore all the media, all the different ways of showing how their understanding can be articulated; articulation is the best assessment.

Imagination and creativity are expected of our learners; frequently demanded in workbook pages, no less! Until prior knowledge and present learning connect in understanding (and is articulated) there is no framework on which to hang the power of imagining. And the habit of recording thoughts and ideas assists in this development. 

Creativity feeds on the power of imaginative connections, examining possibilities and turning them into visible products or services; every learner can make a difference in this world if we learn to follow the natural learning journey in their world.