Learning is a lifelong process. We have been learning from our surroundings in a natural way. It is an inborn attitude. Learning in a formal manner can be introduced in many ways in the school. The teacher and technology act as facilitators in this process. Although surroundings play a great role in making the environment of learning conducive, but learning is an innate process and always originates from within. A teacher is first, a good learner and then a teacher.
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn – Phil Collins. By using various learning strategies, a teacher helps an individual to become a good learner.
LEARNING STRATEGIES
Learning strategies comprise a set of points that assist a learner to achieve effective learning. The teacher’s support and guidance plays a key role in inculcating good learning.
Setting Goals:-The teacher helps learners to develop a roadmap for reaching educational goals. A learner sets short and long term goals and works towards them.
Good Organiser:-The teacher familiarises a learner with useful facts and information in order to give a structural direction to learning. A learner takes care of due dates, test days, assignment submission and other important information.
Active Involvement:-The teacher involves the students in various activities to develop interest in learning and the learners respond to an activity by applying information.
Choose to Work Independently or in Groups-Depending on the concept of the lesson, the teacher offers a chance for discussion in groups where the learners share each other’s perception of learning things and learning occurs by sharing. If the task has a rigid goal, the teacher prefers the learner to remain independent.
Time Management:-The teacher breaks down the bigger task into various parts and sets time to complete each part. Thus, the learner is able to understand the value of time and tries to organize his time.
Questioning:-The teacher asks questions to check the understanding, memorizing and analysing capacity of the learner.
The learner:-answers the questions on the basis of his abilities.
Meaningful material:-The teacher works with the content material, looking at how it fits and applies to different circumstances. If the learner develops good understanding of the subject, it helps his command over the subject.
CONDITION OPTIMUM LEARNING
Learning is a cognitive process. To keep the learner’s brain in a receptive mode, it is important that he should take enough rest through good sleep. A learner tends to be more creative and expressive under unstressed circumstances. Rather than spending long hours, it is better to adapt little learning in parts. Setting of learning targets is very important as this helps to evaluate the learning process.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LEARNER
According to the teacher, a good learner exhibits the following sets of characteristics.
Curiosity:- He loves the discovery part of learning and his curiosity is addictive. Eagerness to learn beyond the books propels learning forward.
Self Assessment:-A good learner spends quality time in reading, finding and exploring lots of information. He carries out lots of discussion to impart clarity and he is not the one who gives up easily. He is capable of assessing his own performance.
Flexible Mindset:-A good learner adds new things to the existing structure and compares it with what he already knows. He is always ready to interact with people and share knowledge for keeping the learning spirit alive.
Search for new Knowledge Resource:-A good learner is never satisfied with how much he knows. He believes in knowing more and is always engaged in useful learning activities in search of new things.
Learning Style:-If the teacher is aware of the learning style of the student, the teacher can frame the methodology in such a way, that the teaching style matches the learning style and learning can be enhanced. As learning improves, it enhances self esteem. This improves teacher-student relationship – as the student is more interested in learning if he is more successful.
LEARNING STYLES
It depends on the way a learner perceives things.
Auditory learning style:-Some students are able to remember things in a better way if they hear information. The teacher can provide verbal instructions, organize role play, discussion, use rhythm and sound memory aids. A learner can listen to audio tapes, stories, videos, songs, etc.
Visual learning:-Some students can remember what they see and prefer a visual source of information such as videos or internet. The teacher graphically organizes flash cards and display charts, posters, pictures, reading of textbook and videos. The learners are able to recall information by remembering how it was set on a page.
Kinaesthetic learning style:-Some people learn better if they get actively involved and do the task by themselves. The teacher organizes various activities and projects. The students get involved in model making and solving puzzles.
Tactile learning style:-Learning by touching and doing. The students understand and remember things through physical movement.
REFLECTIONS ON LEARNING
‘You can teach a student a lesson for a day, but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue to learn as long as he lives’ and this is possible by engaging students in active learning by use of various activities and skills to encourage learning abilities and motivating them. Some of the ideas are listed as-
Predicting skills :-These are used to find out solutions to problems. Teachers can ask questions that involve students in deep thinking to find the answers.
Drafting and note taking :-Teachers ask the learners to make use of graphics, tables, flowcharts, tree diagrams and abbreviations to make notes rather than writing full sentences. This helps to concentrate on the topic within a limited space and to revise quickly.
Risk taking:-The teacher gives a chance to learners to speak on a topic which the learners have not yet started. So the learners try to do this by taking risks. Sometimes the learners are challenged by giving questions based on higher order thinking which enables them to think logically and rationally.
Using feedback constructively:-The teacher suggests repeating of the work with certain additions and deletions for improvement. The learner learns by making necessary changes in his work.
Worksheets:- A lot of innovative worksheets also help to practice the concept better. Revising the topic and integrating it across subjects helps learners learn better.
Audio & visual:-It has been found that matter seen and heard at the same time always makes a better impact on understanding and retention capacities.
Use of activities:-The use of various activities such as word search, freeze frame, running dictation, labelling, jigsaw task, close test, role play, etc. helps to imbibe learning in an interactive manner.
Use of games:-Games lubricate the body and the mind and create a relaxing environment for the learner.
Using ICT:- For effective integration of technology into a course, it is important to first identify the desired learning outcomes and then select the technology that enables interaction to support these learning outcomes.
Teachers can collaborate with students to share their ideas and resources online. In this way learners can proceed at their own pace.
Online learning is now a new trend in teaching-learning field where the young learners and teachers all can learn together.
In the classroom, everyone is a student and everyone is a teacher. If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. But if you are determined to learn, no one can stop you. As teachers we must remember that every student can learn just not on the same day and in the same way but, we must believe that all the students are capable of achieving their goal.
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