Thing #1

With my advanced age (comparable to the rest of the class anyway) I quickly came to realize that once I finished my first undergraduate and master's degrees that learning could not stop with the acquisition of a piece of paper.  Becoming a professional "anything" has ancillary responsibilities attached to the field. Imagine the effectiveness of the professor who did not keep up with the peer reviewed work in the chosen field.

The 7½Habits conveys to the reader what the basic tenets of a lifelong learner might look like. Embracing new ideas and ways of accomplishing tasks that may have become second nature is scary and is sometimes met with severe skepticism. Opening up and being a willing collaborator might be the first step in successful teaching. Nobody can know it all.

Perhaps keeping a journal of daily trials and successes might be a great idea for tracking the teaching journey that is soon to become reality. Using the blogosphere for that specific purpose is a great way to share and, of course, save paper. Or, if the thoughts are too personal, a digital diary can take the place of a shared blog.

Finally, accepting responsibility for my own learning (Habit 2) will be the easy habit to embrace because I do not enjoy being ignorant about a subject I teach. I view using technology to my advantage (Habit 6) as, perhaps, my Achilles heel.  However, looking forward, I do see the instructional technologies class as my savior. All this blogging and tweeting stuff surely cannot be as difficult as learning how to use that Radio Shack TRS-80 my father bought for the family in 1979.

       Radio Shack TRS-80



Photo retrieved from  https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRjILbg-qxRG1c_sijFy89eY3ljUOECC63TJ2MMUdgmm5SYtmX5IQ