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Dr. Dianna Lindsay's picture
Dr. Dianna Lindsay
After 43 years in my chosen profession, I remain excited, alive, and learning! From an active Twitter Account to blogging, from teaching Constitutional Law to Pre-AP English, from a national winner...
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Life Long Learning: What Does This Mean?

  • As educators, we hear and even banter the phrase "life-long-learning". What does it mean and how does it apply to me as a teaching principal? Certainly, I have any number of excuses to say, "I am a life-long learner as I have my dual roles." Or, I can always quip, "I am busy enough with these dual roles and of course I am always learning! I am after all, a teacher with a myriad of lessons and faculty demonstrations of my teaching." But to really be a life-long-learner, I believe there are four essential elements.
  • First, the adult life-long-learner must take-on a new topic, study, or skill. It cannot be an added dimension to something already mastered. Such learning is maintaining sharpness within a content area or leadership responsibility. This maintaining is expected in every profession and necessary to being relevant! This type of learning is why we are expected to earn CEUs(continuing education units). No one gets a "pass" for essentially being current in a profession.
  • Second, a life-long-learner is accountable to someone else teaching the new endeavor. Someone in a superior knowledge role or skill of the new area being attempted. The person can be an accomplished pianist if you are the novice or a professor outside of your content. This person must be guiding the learning, checking for understanding, providing feedback, and assuring progress.
  • Third, the new learning needs to be practiced inside and outside of the comfort zone. This performance requires use, application or demonstration and has risk associated with it. Vocabulary should be added to the new learning as well as a new set of skills if this learning is to be authentic. The risks in new learning include demonstrating the new knowledge in front of others and running the very real option of failure in front of others. This alone does not guarantee new learning but it does publicly demonstrate the earnest attempt of stepping outside of the personal comfort zone.
  • Forth, the adult in any new learning should teach or demonstrate the new idea, skill or content to someone else. This closes the understanding loop in my judgment and proves some level of familiarity with the area under study. And, if all of this sounds familiar it should! When we declare ourselves as life-long-learners, we are in essence saying that we are not afraid to learn, unlearn and relearn in any area of weakness. This is what we expect our students to do everyday and to do it in front of their peer group!