Learning to learn

There are many foundational skills that learners need.  Some are taught to them explicitly while others are expected of students.  Some such skills are time management, organization and learning to learn.

What do we mean by ‘learning to learn‘?

A student has to figure out what is required of them in the learning process and the specific goal they are working towards as the first step.  For example, what is the specific goal for today’s study session: foundational understanding, learning to apply or focused studying towards a test/exam?

The goal of all learning is foundational understanding: the ability to get to the crux of a concept and understand it enough to apply and synthesize beyond a literal understanding.  However, there are further expectations of students in our education systems today, mainstream or alternative.

Source: Thinglink

How does one make sense of the text book?  How does one extract enough from the text book to understand and answer questions?  What kinds of questions does one frame for themselves?  Does one question the text – what is the need for questioning in the first place?

Next steps revolve around organizing the text – how does one make notes?  Does a student understand their own styles of learning?  What works for one individual might be visual while another might be comfortable with text in bullet points on flash cards.

Many students stumble upon what works for them.  Sometimes.  Many more struggle through exams, hating the process instead of seeing it as an assessment of what they have understood.  The fact that many exams are not set up to assess learning and end up assessing memory is neither here nor there – students have to go through enough assessments to get to study what they choose to.

Learning to learn as well as learning skills to study efficiently and effectively were never more important, given the pressure children face in education systems these days.  And yet, it is the top skill that is not taught in many schools.

The Teachers Collective has extensive experience teaching study skills in school systems and is happy to bring proven, structured best practices to children in the Grade 6 – Grade 8 age group (roughly 11 years to 14 years of age).  We like to work in small groups so that there is enough activity based understanding.  We will demonstrate using content that is grade appropriate after which students will use newly taught skills on their textbooks, which they will bring to the workshop.

Do watch this page or follow us on Facebook for details of a two part workshop on Study Skills and Visual Notemaking in January 2018.  The venue is Untitled Arts, J P Nagar.

Spaces are limited, so do write in to us at theteacherscollective@gmail.com or comment to this post, so that we can keep you informed.  The official sign up link with all details will be operational in December.

Looking forward to meeting your wards and any parents who are interested in sitting in to observe (which all parents are invited to do!).