Learning Teaching Learning

I teach.

Now.

But not always. Once I was a student. Most everyone was at one time, I'm guessing. And unless we try really, really hard, we all are lifelong learners. It's too bad that lifelong learning has the patina of academic-speak, as if there is a specific process or pedagogy.

We learn to walk; we learn to drive; we learn we hate algebra. We learn life isn't fair; we learn nice guys don't always finish last; we learn that we are all mortal. Somewhere in there are shoehorned into a formal education, whether public, private or home. We learn the basics of counting, a touch of history, a smattering of art, a bit of the King's English. (Lately, no where near enough of the King's English! Someone please bring back diagramming sentences.)

As I said, I didn't always teach. I learned to be a cinematographer, an editor, then a director. I learned a half-dozen computer languages, and I learned how to animate. I learned about multimedia and the Web as it happened. And all of that created my first career. And my second. And my third.

Often I lectured. And taught seminars. And trained staff. Until one day I was teaching full-time at a two-year college, sharing what I had learned in my lifelong journey with others.

This blog is part of a long-term (if not lifelong) project involving my students in our "Intro to e-Life: the Evolving Web" class. We'll talk about teaching, teachers, schools, learning, why and when we hate and love education, why we're all still in school... from the perspective of students whose attention is on learning new skills and growing beyond the basics.

Is there life beyond learning? Can I never retire? What do my students have to teach the teacher? I can't wait to learn.