Lifelong Learners

In Should All Educators Be Lifelong Learners? From @DavidGeurin Blog, David Geurin asks,

Are you making time for your reading and growth? How do you find the time? Do you believe educators should be lifelong learners? 

I am constantly learning every day! Learning means you are interested in personal growth and makes you more knowledgeable about the world around you. Every night I think about what I learned that day because I think it is important to be conscious about my learning and not take it for granted. To me, each day is a clean slate and there are so many opportunities to learn something new. One way I do this is to blog about the new things that I have learned while traveling.

Sometimes knowledge from my earlier learning can really help me at different times. I might not need the information at the time I learned it but it will come in handy in the future.

I also like learning from people who have similar interests whether in person or online. I have learned a lot of knitting from my weekly knitting group and also from my online knitting friends. If I need help, advice, or suggestions about teaching, I can easily go online and ask my educator friends for input.

Traveling is a great way to learn new things! When I am able to go to a new place, I meet new people and learn about different cultures, religions, or local activities that are interesting. Every place we have visited in and out of the country has something unique about it that makes it special. We like to ask locals to tell us the one thing in their town that we should not miss. By doing this, we have a fun conversation with others and many times it makes them think about the special things where they live. I try to think about my town and how I would answer that question if someone asks me.

When we travel, I read blogs from other people who have visited the same places and wrote about it. I try to do the same thing so if I go back to the same place, I will have something to refer back to if needed. If others ask me about the place they plan to visit, I can refer them to my write-up in case my information could help them.

I think it is important that we model being a lifelong learner to our students. I also think we need to teach them how to find ways to learn new things after they leave the classroom. It is also important for them to think about the new things that they have learned.

How would you answer David’s question? Please share.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash