Becoming a Life Long Learner: Prevailing in the Classroom and in Life

As I begin another semester, I've prepared two videos (about 10 minutes each) to help facilitate and maximize learning. I'm embedding them below with notes:

Part One: Motivation and Belief

 

 

Remember in the movie The Matrix, Neo gets a crash course in which he learns new skills merely through uploads directly to his mind?

Wouldn’t that be great for learning Greek, Hebrew, IBS, and Exegesis as well as the other courses in our curriculum.

Learning isn’t easy, but it is essential for becoming the men and women that God created us to be.

One of the challenges of theological education is that the curriculum covers a wide variety of courses. This guarantees that all of us will find ourselves out of our comfort zone from time to time.

Biblical studies classes are challenging. Reading the Bible is both a skill and an art. This class will push you to develop new ways of listening to Scripture. Whenever we are confronted with new learnings, it is vital to recognize that learning takes time and intentional practice.

Reflect on the wisdom in these quotations:

“All things are difficult before they are easy.” Thomas Folk

“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance, one cannot fly into flying.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Motivation:

(1) Recognizing the vital importance of learning.

a.     Missional Need: Our World Needs the Good News

b.     Scripture as the ocean. How deep?

c.      Set learning goals.

                                               i.     Michelangelo “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

                                              ii.     Jim Rohn “You want to set a goal that is big enough that in the process of achieving it you become someone worth becoming.”

(2) Believing that you can actually learn.

a.     Be positive. Mary Kay “If you say ‘you can’ you can; if you say, ‘you can’t’ you are right.”  Zig Ziglar: “A positive attitude doesn’t let you do anything, but it allows you to do everything better than a negative attitude.”

b.     Use affirmations: “I love learning to read the Bible closely.” “I enjoy getting better at Greek and Hebrew every day.”

c.      Prioritizing your Time (What is important versus the urgent)

 Part Two: Process and Perseverance

Process:

(1) Pray.

(2) Breakdown the skill into key parts

(3) Practice intentionally. Put the time in. Do it correctly. Don’t cheat yourself.

(4) Persevere.

Recognize the stages:

Apprentice – Creative-Active – Mastery (See Mastery by Robert Greene)

Learn how to learn. Study your learning style. Figure out best times for you to study and be ruthless in carving out those times. Take 100% responsibility for your own success.

Plan your semester in advance.

Closing Thoughts:

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Confucious

“What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” William Faulkner