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December 27, 2005
Lifelong Learning
Funny I hadn't thought of talking about adult learning before, especially when the mission statement of my office http://www.glenncoe.org/ has included the phrase "lifelong learning" for as long as I've been a part of it. I also believe in it. We teach Adult Education and handle Senior Nutrition where we include activities for the older members of our county. I just hadn't thought about talking about it here.
And why not? Adults learn all the time. When I was asked to write this blog my first response was, "Oh, sure, I'll be happy to do that." To my friends I was saying "What the heck is a blog?"
I had no clue. So I had to learn about it. I went on the web and found blogs. I wrote to one person in particular because I liked her blog. I asked her what she did, how she did it, and what she was trying to accomplish. I asked questions of friends and found people willing to direct me to people who were writing blogs. Then I asked questions of them. Most were very willing to share what they knew. Then I went to ER's editor David Little and asked what he wanted. He showed me how the program worked or at least what he knew of it at the time. I went off and tried it. I tried some of the things I saw, read about, and was shown. I tried new stuff just to see how it worked and looked. I made major mistakes and wiped stuff out and had to start again. Eventually I learned enough to officially open the blog. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to help a new blogger get started. Guess I learned something!
Okay, the point is not about how to write a blog, but about learning something new. We all do it. You get a new car and it's different than the old one so you have to learn this one. You got a DVD player for Christmas and you're still trying to connect the wires, but you really want to watch The 40 Year Old Virgin (best selling DVD this season-I watched part of it and turned it off. A bit over the top for my taste). You've always wanted to play the piano and you now have a keyboard to learn on. So when do you learn? How? Who teaches you?
On a scarier level, you have a heart attack or find out you have diabetes. Your doctor says change your lifestyle. If you're like most folks you've built up some major habits in eating, sleeping, exercising (or not) and all of a sudden we have to "learn" something new. It's major.
Since New Year's is coming and many of us make the resolutions to change, let's talk about something other than kids and learning. Let's talk about us and learning. In getting ready for the New Year, I'm going to focus on you this week. You and your learning. Begin thinking about what you want to learn, and let's see how you can start and complete the process.
Posted by Dr Joni at December 27, 2005 08:16 AM