My Learner History
The goal of this assignment is to explore in some depth your experiences with and ideas about learning. This will be a history paper, in a way, because you must think about what your views of learning are and how you developed those views.
This Learner Narrative should build on and add to your Literacy and Technology Narratives. This is another key part of your life story. So try to add on new pieces that will give you, and your readers, more to think about. On another day, we will focus on you as a teacher. For this time, though, think about yourself as a student or, more importantly, as a learner. You can can certainly focus on experiences in school where you learned things. But you also will have had plenty of out of school experiences learning things (like how to ride a bike, tie your shoes, or drive). Focus on what it is like to be a learner as you write these stories.
The goal here is to think about your own attitudes and ideas about learning. Once you unpack your own beliefs, you should be better able to interact with the beliefs of others and, perhaps, to reshape your own beliefs.
Audience
Your autobiography should be truthful, personal, and meaningful, but also keep in mind that it will be shared with the other class members and also will be posted on the Internet. So as you do your writing, bear in mind that it will be used in a public forum.
Less Help Needed at this Point
Hopefully by now you are feeling a bit more confident doing this personal writing to reflect on your experiences. So rather than give you tons of guidance, this time I just want to encourage you to write some interesting stories.
Key Learner Questions
Your learner narrative should explore the act of learning based on your own personal life history. As you try to capture your learning stories in words, do your best to answer these key questions with the stories you tell:
- What does learning mean to you personally?
- Why is learning important to you?
- Do you consider yourself a lifelong learner? Is that idea important to you? Why or why not?
- What is it like to struggle to learn something?
- Where did your ideas about learning come from?
- Who and what shaped your views of learning?
Your Earliest Learner Memory
As with the other writing you’ve done, see if you can recall a foundational learner memory. What’s one of the earliest memories you have of learning how to do something? Try to recall all the details you can about whatever early memory you pick. Writing about this early memory can often jog other important memories that you have.
Other Learner Memories
From your earliest learner memory, move on through some of the key stories of your life. Select learner-related events from your life which you feel helped you define for yourself what learning means.