Thing #1: Lifelong Learning Habits

A tutorial located here describes lifelong learning as a self-motivated ongoing pursuit of knowledge that is not limited to the confines of a classroom or particular stage of life. The seven and a half habits of life long learners described in this tutorial are as follows:

1.  Begin with the end in mind
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning
3. View problems as challenges
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
5. Create your own learning toolbox
6. Use technology to your advantage
7. Teach and mentor others

And 7.5 is to play! 

Thinking back on those who I view as life long learners, they always seem to be up to date on current events and have some stockpile of informational websites they check daily, are great mentors, and seem unafraid to tackle learning a new subject or language.  The people I am thinking of were people I knew in college, previous employers, and teachers from grade school.  Of the list above, I can see how each of them abide by some, if not all of those seven and a half habits.

Of these habits, I can identify my strongest and weakest areas.  The strongest would probably be the first, beginning with the end in mind.  For instance, as I work through my courses I try to keep in mind that everything I complete and turn in could be in my portfolio that I ultimately present to a potential employer.  However, this mindset occasionally presents an overwhelming sense, and at those moments I just try to take things a step at a time.  My weakest habit would be in creating my own learning toolbox.  Those life long learners who I think back on and admire had a myriad of resources they frequented.  My hope is through these courses and my own endeavors over the next year and a half I can continue to improve and build my learning toolbox.

By discovering the resources available through Web 2.0, my hope is to build a second toolbox- a resource toolbox.  These resources will consist of information, websites, and strategies I will ultimately use in my career as a teacher.  For instance, from a teachers perspective I can appreciate the great potential blogs hold.  Just last week I was substitute teaching for an English Honors class at a local high school, and the students were expected to write a weekly blog using their vocabulary words on a given topic. This activity not only provided a venue to apply their vocabulary words, but also practice their writing skills.

Blogging is an aspect of Web 2.0, which I have never really given much consideration before this course.  Since the start of this course and my formal introduction to this tool, I have found myself looking to others in the "blogosphere" for inspiration and information.  I started by Googling "Best Blogs of 2013" and have since found great sources of information on subjects aside from teaching for recipes, decorating, fitness, and not to mention fantasy football guides!  I was surprised at the wealth of information blogs present of which I was previously unaware.