Learning Log 4

a. Why do we need to develop self-directed learners?

Teachers often say that they wish their pupils were more responsible for their own learning. If we want to understand and develop more self-directed learners, it’s productive to focus on what such a learner should be able to do. At best, self-directed learners can generate their own learning, select from their environment appropriate resources needed for learning,  generate with others motivation and goals, promote and develop with others dialogue for learning and inter-relate learning from various contexts of their learning landscapes. Classrooms become learning communities.

 b. As future teachers, how will you help your students become self-directed learners?

    Education is about more than setting up a fish (knowledge) distribution center and handing fish out to all who come to the institution. Education is about fishing lessons, equipping people with the competence and confidence to fish (learn) for the rest of their lives. This is not simply about job preparation. This is preparation for life: family, church, community, work, avocations, leisure time, and relationships. That is the liberal arts vision behind education. As such, an education that simply disseminates knowledge is a limited one.
    The main goal of education is not about credits, diplomas, letter grades, degrees, or classes. It is about cultivating knowledge, skills, and dispositions that empower us to live the good life, to develop wisdom and eloquence, to become lifelong learners, and to use what we learn in service to our neighbor.    Here are at least 3 simple ideas that educators, parents, students, and learning organizations might want to consider; ideas that promise to help with the goal of fishing lessons over simple fish distribution.1) Learning in Depth – I wrote about a program / project recently known and Learning in Depth, but in this case I am using the phrase more broadly. 2) Create a “My” Learning Journal – This can be a physical or digital journal, but the goal is to document three or four aspects of your learning over an extended period. 1) What am I learning? 2) Why am I learning it? 3) How am I learning it? 4) Where am I learning it? This is not just about keeping track of what teachers assign in classes. It is a journal about lessons from all of life: lessons from school, relationships, personal media consumption and leisure time. It allows students to expand their understanding of learning as something that is larger than just what happens in classes.3) Have Students Develop and Gradually Build a Personal Learning Network – Google the phrase and you will find most of the examples focused upon teachers and other professionals leveraging digital tools and communities to develop a network of people and resource that they use for their ongoing professional growth and development.

 c. What student-support materials will you provide your students to help them become self-directed?

As a future teacher, I would like to present my students the instructional materials that is needed in the lesson. Second one is I would like to let them use websites in the internet that is needed in the class with proper guidance because from these steps, I can help them become self-directed learners.