Article II- What Learning Is
I believe that
-every single person has the capacity and right to learn.
-to learn is to engage in the exploration of and interaction with the world around you. It is the discovery of new thoughts, ideas, beliefs, skills, and understandings. It is the natural curiosity that exists within each and every one of us in combination with the desire for lifelong growth.
-learning is displayed in a variety of forms, none of which is less important or less capable of promoting growth than any other.
-learning happens both consciously and unconsciously. Of course learning can happen when someone, for example a teacher, is coming into a classroom with the intent of teaching. But learning also happens, and I would argue oftentimes with more of a real-life impact, in those moments when we least expect them. Learning happens in schools, homes, parks, stores, streets, and any where else we spend our time.
-we, as educators and youth workers, have a responsibility to provide positive experiences for young people to be able to learn and grow. It is with a positive youth development mindset that we will be able to not only help young people to learn but also help them to be able to create, seek out, and share their learning experiences-both formal and informal.
-learning is a lifelong process, where the goal and the journey to it are one in the same. Certainly we may have goals along the way that we meet, but if we understand learning as continuous and ever-changing we must then understand the goal of learning not to be some tangible, measureable difference, but rather, we must understand it to be the continued process of seeking out knowledge in order to “better” one’s community, family, understanding, and self (among others).
-positive learning can come from both positive and negative experiences. Experiential learning, similar to democratic learning, talks of the importance of reflection in directing learning and making it more real and relevant to the lives of the learners. Though a learning experience may have been negative, scary, dangerous, or a multitude of other adjectives, reflection on action and learning allows the learner to take those less-than-positive experiences and make something positive out of them. For example, I’ve had plenty of experiences in school that were terrible, experiences that when I think back on them I can’t help but shudder. But because of positive people in my life and my understanding of how I learn best (writing, reflection, dialogue), I was able to take those moments and gain some of the most significant life lessons to date. From negative relationships, I’ve learned that I am stronger than I previously understood myself to be and I learned how to stand up for myself and what I know I deserve. From being shamed by a teacher in high school in front of my entire class, I learned that the cliché “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” was incredibly true of my experience and I learned that, not only do I have a voice, but that if I don’t use it I forfeit it to those who lack understanding/respect for it.
-to learn is grow. And biologically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise we are designed to be in a constant state of growth, whether it be visibly noticeable or on the microbial level. And if you believe those two things to be true, then you must also believe that to learn is, in it’s most basic form, to live.
I believe that
-every single person has the capacity and right to learn.
-to learn is to engage in the exploration of and interaction with the world around you. It is the discovery of new thoughts, ideas, beliefs, skills, and understandings. It is the natural curiosity that exists within each and every one of us in combination with the desire for lifelong growth.
-learning is displayed in a variety of forms, none of which is less important or less capable of promoting growth than any other.
-learning happens both consciously and unconsciously. Of course learning can happen when someone, for example a teacher, is coming into a classroom with the intent of teaching. But learning also happens, and I would argue oftentimes with more of a real-life impact, in those moments when we least expect them. Learning happens in schools, homes, parks, stores, streets, and any where else we spend our time.
-we, as educators and youth workers, have a responsibility to provide positive experiences for young people to be able to learn and grow. It is with a positive youth development mindset that we will be able to not only help young people to learn but also help them to be able to create, seek out, and share their learning experiences-both formal and informal.
-learning is a lifelong process, where the goal and the journey to it are one in the same. Certainly we may have goals along the way that we meet, but if we understand learning as continuous and ever-changing we must then understand the goal of learning not to be some tangible, measureable difference, but rather, we must understand it to be the continued process of seeking out knowledge in order to “better” one’s community, family, understanding, and self (among others).
-positive learning can come from both positive and negative experiences. Experiential learning, similar to democratic learning, talks of the importance of reflection in directing learning and making it more real and relevant to the lives of the learners. Though a learning experience may have been negative, scary, dangerous, or a multitude of other adjectives, reflection on action and learning allows the learner to take those less-than-positive experiences and make something positive out of them. For example, I’ve had plenty of experiences in school that were terrible, experiences that when I think back on them I can’t help but shudder. But because of positive people in my life and my understanding of how I learn best (writing, reflection, dialogue), I was able to take those moments and gain some of the most significant life lessons to date. From negative relationships, I’ve learned that I am stronger than I previously understood myself to be and I learned how to stand up for myself and what I know I deserve. From being shamed by a teacher in high school in front of my entire class, I learned that the cliché “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” was incredibly true of my experience and I learned that, not only do I have a voice, but that if I don’t use it I forfeit it to those who lack understanding/respect for it.
-to learn is grow. And biologically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise we are designed to be in a constant state of growth, whether it be visibly noticeable or on the microbial level. And if you believe those two things to be true, then you must also believe that to learn is, in it’s most basic form, to live.
