| I have worked out that I have taught well over a | | | | and they may never know why. |
| thousand children during my career as a teacher. | | | | I have read somewhere that fish have no concept of |
| I have taught children from pre kindergarten to | | | | water, it is just something that is so much part of their |
| university level. I have worked with children from many | | | | lives that they never think about it - assuming fish think! |
| different backgrounds and cultures, including Romany | | | | I believe that the same thing happens with children and |
| children, abused children, privileged children, immigrant | | | | learning. Learning is just so much part of what they do, |
| and refugee children. I have taught children with severe | | | | of who they are, that the idea of children needing to |
| and moderate learning disabilities, children classified as | | | | learn HOW to learn hardly ever arises. |
| gifted learners, and all types of children in between. | | | | But people learn how to learn all the time. For instance, |
| Throughout this long and varied teaching career, a | | | | before you took a car out on the road to learn how to |
| career that I have Ioved and feel privileged to have | | | | drive safely in traffic you needed to have learned |
| had, I kept searching for the secret to what made | | | | where the brake pedal was, how to switch the engine |
| some children more successful than others. What was | | | | on, how to signal left or right, and how to use the |
| it that helped some children better learners than others, | | | | mirrors. You needed to learn how the car worked |
| made them better able to reach their learning potential | | | | before you took it on the road and learned how to |
| and be happy, eager, students ready to do their best | | | | drive. Imagine what would have happened if you had |
| and to be all that they could be? | | | | not learned how to handle the car before driving off. |
| What makes the difference between a student who | | | | Do you think you would have learned how to drive |
| underachieves in school and one who reaches his or | | | | well? Probably not. You would have been so busy |
| her leaning potential? | | | | trying to work out how to brake, signal, or watch other |
| There are the usual suspects; the quality of the | | | | cars that you would have great difficulty learning how |
| teaching a child receives, the type of school they | | | | to drive. |
| attend, and the expectations of parents and teachers. I | | | | It is the same when children are trying to learn. They |
| know that all these have an influence on how well a | | | | need to know HOW to learn before that they can |
| child learns, but none of them could explain why I knew | | | | concentrate on WHAT they need to learn. Children |
| that some children I taught were going to make it, to | | | | who don't know how to learn are always struggling to |
| be successful, and others were not. What was it that | | | | keep up, to be all that they can be, to reach their |
| made a child who was part of a large, socially | | | | learning potential. |
| deprived family, attending in an inner city school that | | | | The sad part is that it needn't be this way. |
| was scare of resources, be able to reach their learning | | | | All that is needed is an awareness that children do not |
| potential when students from more privileged | | | | just learn, they need to learn how to learn, and we |
| backgrounds, attending schools with many resources, | | | | need to help them. It is not difficult to teach children |
| did not? | | | | how to learn, it does not need detailed training or |
| It took me a long time to find out, and when I did the | | | | specific skill to be able to help children learn how to |
| answer was so simple that it came as a shock. | | | | learn. What is needed is an understanding of how to |
| The children who succeed in school and in life are the | | | | help children learn how to learn, how to ensure that |
| ones who know how to learn. | | | | children have the skills they need to become the |
| No matter how bright or privileged a child is, unless he | | | | eager, happy learners that they are meant to be. |
| or she knows how to learn they will never reach their | | | | The one thing we can do that guarantees success is |
| learning potential, they will always be underachievers, | | | | to help children learn how to learn. |