My Learning Philosophy

What is worth knowing?

The more you know, the more you can do. The main challenge is finding ways to help others understand that simple truth. That is especially difficult when what is worth knowing for me may not be worth knowing for the path that someone else will traverse.

Creativity is the goal.

We are all creative individuals.

Creativity (both little "c" creativity with limited scope of impact and big "C" Creativity with world-shaking levels of innovation) is the crowning achievement of all learning. Learning that does not result in the creation of some new (to us or to the world) idea or "product" will fade and be forgotten. Approaching learning with the goal of expanding creativity can provide compelling motivation to acquire knowledge, build skills, and share our learning with others.

Choice is Essential

Building relevance and agency

For students to be truly engaged, they need to make decisions about their learning. The more we support their ability to make choices, the more we empower them to become agents of their own learning, planting the seeds for lifelong curiosity. Students need opportunities to choose:

• What they learn,
• How they learn,
• How they demonstrate that learning.

Curiosity is the Seed

Nurturing it is essential to learning.

Without a spark of interest, learning can never really get started. That spark is curiosity. Unfortunately, studies have shown that a startlingly high percentage of students are less curious the longer they are in school. In essence, schools seem to be great at killing the natural curiosity that we see in the early years. Even if it can get messy at times, our teaching and learning should allow for side trips into what students are already curious about. When their interests are valued, they will be more open to the connections between their existing interests and the stuff they "should" learn.

Courage to Learn

Taking risks and failing forward

"Mistakes are an inevitable consequence of doing something new." -Ed Catmull, Co-founder of Pixar We cannot be afraid to take risks if we want to be creative. Neither can our students. We need to create environments where it is safe to try new things and fail. In those types of environments, we can pick ourselves up and try again, learning along the way.

Play is a catalyst for learning, accelerating the ways we construct knowledge, build meaningful connections with others, and create impactful solutions to challenging problems.

Learning

Building a toolset for life.

Learning equips us with knowledge, skills, and aptitudes that enrich our lives and empower us to improve the world around us. Learning involves three interrelated and overlapping tasks:

• Constructing knowledge of information and content
• Developing skills that involve the application of knowledge in context
• Practicing metacognition to enhance the effectiveness of learning