Adventures in Learning

Hi, Megan here, from Flaming Renaissance ; I'm really excited to be your Getting to Know You Host for September. Honestly, I find this category a little intimidating... Can I actually think of four new topics to ask you about?? That's been bugging me ever since I volunteered to host this month.

Luckily, last week I posted over on my blog about learning, and I thought that might be a fabulous place to begin over here too. A book I was reading (The Myth of Ability) sparked a post about the myths we have when it comes to education.

(Not that we need to get into that here, but just in case you are interested the myths are that we believe people either are geniuses or they aren't - you are constrained by your genetic intellegence, and that you are born with a gift or you aren't - things like math, art, science are innate abilities that can't really be taught. Both WRONG!)

Here's the little excerpt from my blog that sparked this week's Getting to Know You:

If we were only allowed to pursue those things in life that teachers had noticed our ability to excel in I’d be doing… well, nothing. I never really excelled at anything in school. I was only ever an average student (good at learning, but not better than the others at anyone thing). Actually, I used to have a terrible complex about the fact that I wasn’t actually good at anything. (I’m still prone to compare my work to that of others and start to doubt why I (paint, write, speak, you fill in the blank) when they are so much better than me. I’m working on overcoming that, but that’s neither here nor there.)

If you believed that you could learn anything with the right teacher, what would you be learning to do? If you had the ability to become good at anything what would you do?

So, what did you excel in in school (if anything)? Do you still pursue that subject in someway or have you forgotten about it?

Do you, or have you believed in the myths about education?

If you believed you could learn anything with the right teacher, what would you like to learn to do?

If you really believed you could become a genius at anything just by putting your mind to it, what would you put your mind to?

What have you always wished you understod better, or wished you could learn about?

I love to learn new things; I am an information junkie! I'm actually studying aromatherapy at the moment (and a few other things for my business too), but what I really want to learn and have been holding back on is painting with acrylics. I've taken watercolor classes, and am pretty good at them, but acrylics handle differently and I just can't seem to get my paints to do what I want them to. So, if I was going to believe that I could learn anything I set my mind to, I suppose I'd be out searching for an acrylics class and really pursuing that.

Your turn! Make sure that you leave a link to your blog post so that we can all read about your adventures in learning.

Comments

[Rodman]

Hi guys. The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
I am from Uruguay and too poorly know English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Over the cockney hard increases as scooter curses played less multiple with albums, the kind of model released."

:( Thanks in advance. Rodman.

[Jana]

I did it!!!!!!!! *proud of accomplishment* This is the first GTKY day I've participated in, for... months! Thanks for giving a great topic!

http://janasjourneys.blogspot.com/2007/09/getting-to-know-you-adventures-in.html

[Cat.]

My answers are up. I don't play very often, but I couldn't pass this topic up! :-) Great questions!!

[Lisa]

Hi Megan- Thank you for the thought provoking prompts. My answers can be found here: http://fleur-de-lisa.com/?p=2284

[Lisa]

Hi Megan- Thank you for the thought provoking prompts. My answers can be found here: http://fleur-de-lisa.com/?p=2284

[windyangels]

Hi Megan,
Nice meeting you.
I didn't take time to check your post before writing my response to your questions. However I slid in a few moments to think about what you said. My reply is here.
http://windyangelsandyou.blogspot.com/2007/09/create-connection-myths-of-education.html
Thanks for the interesting questions,
Wendy

[Lovie]

What did I excel at in school? English-got the English award every year from 7th thru 12th grade. Yeah, I know, Smarty Pants. I must say however, that I've done a good deal of backsliding in the last few decades. Can't remember some grammar rules for the life of me. And, even tho' I have forgotten a lot of the rules, I guess I still pursue that subject in that over the years I have written essays about my life and have recently started a blog! I am so excited about that.

I'm not really sure if I have believed the myths about education. Maybe not since anytime I have wanted to learn something, I have sought out a teacher and learned it to the best of my ability. Right now, I am learning to knit and would really like to become a good knitter. Right now I would describe myself as a so-so knitter.

The thing that I would really like to learn more about is the computer. I am fascinated by it and not very good at using it. I want to discover my inner geek I guess.