Wow – lifelong learning. How important is that? Watching a slideshow about the habits of a lifelong learner got me thinking…(as most things do)…
Most challenging habit for me: To keep my sense of humor. I can get so bogged down in what I need to do and get so task oriented, I forget to laugh at myself. My grandfather had motto I absolutely love:
You have a choice on how to react to anything life throws at you, you can laugh at it or you can cry. Laughing is a whole lot more fun!!
I forget to laugh, though. When I forget to laugh, I get stressed. When I get stressed, I am not fun to be around. When I am not fun to be around, my students will not want to enter my room. If they do not want to enter my room they will not learn anything – period.
Easiest habit for me: Accept failure as a way to learn. As a science student I have found that failure teaches me so much more than success. When an experiment failed, I had to think harder about what I was doing. It was also A LOT easier to prepare the lab write-up than for a successful lab. Some teachers and parents want to take away the challenges and the failures from their children. Remember, students, especially middle school students, are like catepillars undergoing metamorphosis. If you help the butterfly out of his crysalis, you will kill the butterfly. The struggle is what makes them strong enough to live!
Most Important for my class: To accept problems as challenges. I get frustrated when technology doesn’t work as it is supposed to. I personally know some people who like to spend time figuring out why the technology is not working – I DON’T. So, as I work with the new technology for my classroom, I will need to view the problems as challenges and patiently work through them. I can’t call Geek Squad that much! 
