Learning is a journey, and the journey itself is part of what teaches.
With our next batch of ECD practitioners starting out on their journey we are thinking how, what and why they are going to learn with us...
Learning is a journey, and the journey itself is part of what teaches. So the act of learning new knowledge is itself part of learning the knowledge.
I love the immediacy of Twitter, Google, Facebook and now Pintrest but at the same time I want to remember that although one can pick up facts and pieces of very useful knowledge from short articles and even a photo we need to remember that knowledge is something that must be built up painstakingly inside us all – from when we are tiny infants!
Our brains are all so different and our experiences from birth form our brains and bodies and interrelate the mental and physical like an amazing patchwork or layers and layers of bright, black, rough, smooth, see-through, dull, patterned cloth. Each different.
So we all need have different foundations and layers to build on. The educator has to have some conception of this so that they can help each person we teach start to build from where they have built their knowledge base.
Once one becomes knowledgeable in an area – after much reading, thinking, writing, talking – it can feel what ones knows is easy. But we need to remember that we gained that knowledge slowly and with great effort. And we need to respect others need to do the same thing. So that their knowledge as broad and deep as a mighty river too!
So yes, have ‘tricks’ to learn new facts, have interesting ways of teaching new things, have 5 things to help with this or that – but don’t forget to also encourage real solid learning and the ways in which it comes about.
Respect ones students enough to allow them that challenging journey for themselves. Walk with them, show them the way, let them walk ahead on their own a bit, point up a tricky rock face they need to climb, show why shortcuts are sometimes long cuts
...allow your students to fall in love with the love of learning!