{"id":9255,"date":"2016-08-30T12:01:02","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T12:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/2016\/08\/30\/are-you-a-lifelong-learner\/"},"modified":"2016-08-30T12:01:02","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T12:01:02","slug":"are-you-a-lifelong-learner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/2016\/08\/30\/are-you-a-lifelong-learner\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You a Lifelong Learner?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<em>By Bev Munday, Director of Education<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This may seem like a strange question for a post in <em>The Learning Edge<\/em>. After all, aren\u2019t we all about learning and education at Clonlara School? Yes, we are, however, not everyone is a lifelong learner or sees the value of continuing to learn. I&#8217;m not referring to K-12 education here or the learning that continues after you graduate from high school and go on to study at a community college, trade school, or university. I&#8217;m asking: What\u00a0can we all\u00a0do to foster a love for learning that will last a lifetime?<\/p>\n<p>Lifelong learning is not formal education. According to the team at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skillsyouneed.com\/learn\/lifelong-learning.html#ixzz4I9bOSKJE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Skills You Need<\/a>, \u201c\u2026lifelong learning is about creating and maintaining a positive attitude to learning\u2026 Lifelong learning can enhance our understanding of the world around us, provide us with more and better opportunities, and improve our quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So how do you become a lifelong learner? At Clonlara, we want to help\u00a0our students pursue their curiosity, strengths, interests, and talents\u2014and identifying yours is a great place to start whether you are a child or an adult. Taking a moment to answer the following questions can help:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 40px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<li><strong>What are you curious about?<\/strong> When you listen to the news, to those around you, or read an article, what is it that you want to find out? Human beings are naturally curious. Pose a question and then go searching for the answer. This may start with asking those around you, using a search engine, going to your local library to find a book on a specific\u00a0subject, or joining a class.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What are you good at?<\/strong> Once you have learned what comes naturally to you, go to the next level to deepen your strengths and grow your expertise.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What interests or hobbies do you have?<\/strong> These can be great sources of lifelong learning and joy, enhancing the skills you already have.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What talents do you have?<\/strong> Are you a musician, artist, juggler, speed reader, chef? These and many other talents can lead to a life of exploring and honing that talent, turning your talents into your expertise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to answering the questions above, you can<\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 40px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<li><strong>Find out how you learn best and identify your learning style.<\/strong> Sometimes a student is switched off by learning because the way they were taught is not the way they learn best. To discover how you learn best, try these assessments: Edutopia&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edutopia.org\/multiple-intelligences-assessment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Multiple Intelligences Self-Assessment<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0HowToLearn&#8217;s <a style=\"text-decoration: none\" href=\"http:\/\/www.howtolearn.com\/learning-styles-quiz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learning Styles Quiz<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make a list.<\/strong> Keep a notebook or electronic list of what you want to know, learn more about, or learn to do.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be flexible.<\/strong>\u00a0If you have plans today and suddenly something happens or is said that sparks yours or your child&#8217;s curiosity, let this be the day where you learn something new and unexpected!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keep reading.<\/strong> This can be one of the easiest and best ways to learn something new or just broaden your horizons on a subject to see if you want to know more about it. Take some time to visit your library and browse the shelves.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Teach others.<\/strong> This is the best way to solidify what you have learned, and it gives you\u00a0the incentive\u00a0to know more about a subject than your \u201cpupils.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>Find jobs or careers that encourage learning.<\/strong> Wow is this powerful! In my position at Clonlara, I am often challenged to keep learning either by something a student or family has said or done, or in striving to provide better services and stay current in education theory and trends in a world that is rapidly changing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are certainly many benefits to becoming a lifelong learner. Henry Ford said, \u201cAnyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.\u201d I would love to hear about the benefits you see and about the things that keep you learning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other\u00a0Resources to\u00a0Inspire Lifelong Learning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/playlists\/300\/the_love_of_lifelong_learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Love of Lifelong Learning Playlist<\/a>\u00a0from TED<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.diygenius.com\/100-self-education-resources-for-lifelong-learners\/?utm_content=buffer354b6&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=plus.google.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">100+ Self-Education Resources for Lifelong Learners<\/a>\u00a0from DIY Genius[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Bev Munday, Director of Education This may seem like a strange question for a post in The Learning Edge. After all, aren\u2019t we all about learning and education at Clonlara School? Yes, we are, however, not everyone is a lifelong learner or sees the value of continuing to learn. I&#8217;m not referring to K-12 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}