I recently heard a pastor say something to the effect:
"We listen in lines.
But…
We learn in circles.
We grow in circles.
We change in circles."
As I take it, here's the point.
Whether at a place of worship or at a school (or at any other place of learning), most of us think that we are learning when we are sitting passively, and yet attentively, in an orderly line with others, listening, watching, and taking notes from an expert teacher…as the teacher presents the materials to us.
In contrast, according to the speaker, if you (or me) think that we are learning by just being present in class, by sitting in lines, we are sorely mistaken. Let me be frank. We are in fact self-deceived. We are merely listening but not learning; not growing; not changing. Listening ≠ Learning.
I realize these are strong words (strong medicine). But, as Dr. John Dunlosky, professor of psychology, suggests, we are all easily tricked into imaging and believing that we are learning when we are merely studying. https://www.aft.org/periodicals/dunlosky.pdf There is in fact a big difference between studying and learning.
Let me be direct.
In my own view, learning requires us to live and move in circles. It requires us to move beyond the lines of our classroom environment, to no longer just sit still and silent, but rather to share with others what we are thinking, to loop back through our notes to distill and reshape them using our own words, and to make what we have heard into something personally meaningful to us individually. In short, it means to act…to act upon what we have heard.
If that sounds difficult, it is. But, it's not impossible…for any of us.
However, it does mean, as Dr. Dunlosky observes, that we will often feel uncomfortable and uncertain about our learning (indeed, whether we are even learning at all). That's because learning means that we understand that – as presently situated – we have things to learn, things that we don't yet know, and indeed that we don't really know anything until what we learn becomes part of who we are as human beings. And, that happens in circles not lines. It happens with us daily interacting and acting with and upon the materials. It happens when we pause and reflect. It happens when we share and debate with others what we are thinking. It happens because learning is really in reality a social activity, a social enterprise that helps shape us into who we are as people.
So, as you celebrate this upcoming Labor Day holiday, feel free to step back and think about your past learning. In particular, take time to reflect on how you personally learned something in the past that now sticks with you forever. Perhaps it was learning to play guitar. Perhaps learning arithmetic. Perhaps learning to meditate and be mindful. Whatever it was, the things that you have learned – really learned – all occurred because you moved beyond the line into creating meaningful circles of relationships with what you heard and watched. So, take the next step in being a learner by taking charge of your learning journey, and, in the process, you will grow and change. In short, you'll learn. (Scott Johns).
