Education Stakeholders as Lifelong Learners

This is likely not the first blog post you've read about educators as lifelong learners. The reason: there's value in viewing learning as a journey as oppose to a means to an end.

We're conditioned in some ways to study material for tests and research topics for papers. The end-goal in both instances involves achieving a passing score. Then, many move on to the next imposed challenge. The cycle lives on in those of us who go through the motions. We follow steps and engage in processes prescribed by outside entities without reflecting on meaning and value.

There are moments when educators fail to question understanding, to apply knowledge and skills in novel ways. Upon reflection, it's helpful when educators adopt the model of lifelong learning. Though we don't yet have the capacity to ameliorate our younger selves, it is possible that educators, parents, and students advance as lifelong learners.

What does this mean? The traits of a lifelong learner are numerous; providing a full list of these would take up more space and time than we have. Since education stakeholders tend to focus on identification of appropriate instructional approaches and learning strategies, let's truncate the definition of "lifelong learner". Here's my version...

A lifelong learner is one who pursues problem-based research and 

performs experimentation to assess the fitness of possible solutions 

on an ongoing basis. 

How does it look? In short, we develop processes to learn on our own. We intrinsically seek and solve problems. Four phases are encountered during this journey. Lifelong learners (in any field) tend to...

1. pursue problem-based research
2. identify possible solutions
3. examine solutions via experimentation
4. repeat this process to address a new (or old) problem

Why is it valuable? Many education stakeholders benefit when one person adopts this model of learning. Stakeholder behaviors evince curiosity. For instance, parents model curiosity when they inquire about strategies to address academic challenges and behavior setbacks during parent-teacher conferences. Also, as educators, we manifest curiosity by offering alternatives to struggling families and peers.

Our efforts are not in vain, because lasting growth ensues. Five minutes dedicated to responding to a parent or co-worker activates dormant knowledge and skills. Weeks dedicated to researching strategies for a learning disabled student lead to permanent personal and professional growth, plus undiagnosed and borderline students benefit from the new instructional outlook.

Improving confidence, easing family tensions, facilitating learning, increasing performance, and bridging the transition to more challenging environments are borne out of the intrinsic motivation to view one problem through different lenses. 

As lifelong learners, stakeholders understand that no education is ever complete. We value professional development opportunities and look beyond these to seek solutions to immediate threats to the development of more independent learners. This is the mission of my firm, Jackson Education Support.

Custom products and personalized services offered for educators, parents, and students. Specialty subjects are literacy, math, and science. Schedule a consult to discuss challenges and goals here.

Cure Unmotivated Readers

We know the benefits of reading, so let's challenge ourselves to make reading a fun experience for learners. If something is fun, adults are more likely to do it... So, why wouldn't this be true for children as well?

Though unequivocal differences exist, adults and children learn in similar ways. Both groups must experience motivation to learn. Whereas adults are more motivated by responsibility to family and career, young readers are almost entirely driven by intrinsic motivation. This refers to the "WHY" behind what we do and how we do it.

Read with purpose.

Setting explicit goals is one way to promote intrinsic motivation. Though effecting intrinsic (or individual) motivation seems a futile endeavor, research on human nature helps us create goals whereby learners choose to do the "heavy lifting". 

Bringing your child's reading goals into focus is well worth the effort. Get to know the child. Learn what drives them to take action. Keep reading to learn how...

Bring goals into focus.
Jeremy's teacher suggests that he read more often to build vocabulary and improve comprehension. Following a conversation with Jeremy, you learn he likes cars. He likes custom cars with "pimped out" add-ons, engines, and paint jobs. Your first thought is to buy a book about "pimped out" cars, and wait for his grades to improve.

However, a more effective approach involves setting explicit reading goals whereby Jeremy has input, attainment is uncertain, and short-term tasks are identified. To facilitate intrinsic motivation, these three criteria are integral:

1. Involve the student.
2. Ensure goals are not too easy and not too hard.
3. Develop a hierarchical plan with phases.

What do we know about human nature?

Learners are more likely to take ownership of a project if they have a say in how it unfolds. This first criteria is straightforward. However, we don't want to release children to their own devices without providing guidance.

Guidance with setting goals should be data-driven. That's to say, parents and educators want to examine performance data and set a goal that's neither too hard nor too easy. Human nature prompts us to avoid overly difficult and ridiculously easy tasks. The brain wants to solve a problem or resolve inconsistencies. As such, goal attainment should be probable, yet uncertain in order to achieve optimal levels of intrinsic motivation.

We're also hard-wired for immediate gratification. Since development of reading skill is a life-long process, we increase intrinsic motivation to read by emphasizing the short-term. An ideal approach leverages hierarchical goal systems to demonstrate how short-term tasks relate to a long-term goal. In this way, children visualize how puzzle pieces fit together to form the bigger picture.

How do we leverage goal-setting to make reading fun?

Jeremy's explicit reading goals as reported by the classroom teacher are to (a) build vocabulary and (b) improve comprehension. These are long-term goals. Let's transform the second goal into one that makes learning fun: improve comprehension.

First, we need input from Jeremy. What are Jeremy's ideas for building vocabulary? Depending on his age, he may have little to offer initially. Don't fret. Do research. Ask Jeremy to offer feedback on comprehension practice completed in class; observe his behavior at home for clues about activities that keep his attention.

Let's say Jeremy likes drawing or computer activities, so you challenge him to make comic strips that summarize each chapter of Cars on the Move. With this approach, Jeremy looks forward to reading about an enjoyable topic and drawing comic strips or building them online.

To recap... 

1. We involved Jeremy in developing an explicit, reading comprehension goal. 
2. Since he has the skill (but has not produced comic strips as summaries), it's reasonable to conclude attainment is uncertain. 
3. Comic strips are to be created for each chapter (rather than after reading the 24-page book), so we addressed the need for instant gratification. 

As with implementing any plan of action, remain flexible. Adjust. You may find it's better to create one comic strip frame every few pages. It may be ideal to switch from creating digital comic strips to drawing them by hand. Jeremy may suggest a different summary activity altogether.

Jackson Education Support promotes intrinsic motivation by involving students in setting challenging goals. Personalized learning plans leverage student interests to improve academic performance.

Access a more recently peer-reviewed publication on this topic here.