Course Journal: Category 2
PIDP 3100
Professor Glenn Galy
March 12th, 2015
Sean Harris
“An educated person is one who has learned how to learn, how to adapt to change”
Objective
This quote jumped out at me because this is a philosophy that I have always held and tried to impart on my classes. It is not enough
to only guide students through the study material; adult educators need to give their students the tools to continue learning outside
of the classroom. When I think back on some of my most successful students they all seemed to share a specific trait. When
presented with a point they did not take it at face value. They wanted to learn what was behind the point, what the exceptions to the
rule were and where they could practice the rule in real-life. Because these students had that curiosity as well the tools to dive
deeper into the point they were able to research the point outside of class which helped them to excel at the point inside the class.
Reflective
I realized from this quote something about teaching that I have noticed in my own teaching mentors. That you do not necessarily
have to know everything about your subject to be effective in the classroom. What you need to know is how to learn more about
your subject and in turn, how to give your students the tools they need to learn more about the subject on their own. The quote on
its own gave me a great deal of insight; however, the expanded section from the quote was what really spoke to me. “further, the role
of educators is self-directed learning, is to act facilitators, or guides as opposed to content experts” (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p.31)
Interpretive
The most enlightening part of this quote to me was realizing that if I shift how I am teaching in my classes it will free up more time for
me to focus on the needs of individual students rather than just trying to get through my lessons on time. For example, placing more
of an emphasis on things like project based learning where my students get to learn and practice individual study skills will free me
up to focus in on where my students are during the course of the lesson and to make individual adjustments where needed. Further,
by designing lessons that take into account that adult learning can be considered to be problem-centered rather than content based
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014, p.46) I can also speak directly to my students motivation and likely keep them more engaged.
Decisional
What I will take away from this quote to apply to all my classes from now on will be the idea of pre-teaching study skills rather than
jumping directly into content. By teaching my students how to learn first I will be providing them with tools that will help not only
them further down the road, but also will help me to provide an engaging and valuable experience to my students.
References
Merriam S.B., Bierema, L.L. (2014). Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.