Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by how much I need to know about learning and teaching. Actually, that’s not quite accurate; often, I feel overwhelmed by how much I want to know.
When I first started teaching Media Studies using the film, The Matrix, I noted some of the philosophical underpinnings and wanted to learn more. The clip below comes back to me often; it opens with symbols of faith followed by a leader who acknowledges his limitations in knowing.
“There is so much in this world that I do not understand.” My sentiments exactly.
The councillor goes on to say that he knows there must be a reason that Neo can do what he does, and I think the councillor is commenting on faith as a necessary part of the human experience. We need to believe that sometimes we don’t know.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m frequently curious and it’s been suggested that I have the characteristics of someone with Attention Deficit Disorder. I purposefully have had to work on developing strategies to stay on task, and to avoid doing too much.
So this morning, while sitting down with my morning coffee, I set about the task of writing my first blog post to chronicle my journey of learning. I’d been reading this site about Metacognition when I came across this TED talk about learning styles:
This video showed me that there is evidence to suggest that preferences in learning styles don’t enhance the learning, that changing our beliefs is really hard, but we must be willing to face different perspectives.
I need to have faith in the fact that I will fail, and faith in the fact that I am not as limited as I think I am.
I need to learn that feeling overwhelmed depends on me, and how I choose to carry the load that I lift.
Thinking in a White Room 