You can teach an old dog new tricks!!!!

This year, I have embarked on a journey of study.  I have been fortunate to have won a 'teachnz' scholarship and been granted a years leave to finally complete my BEd upgrade and do a postgrad, hopefully on my way to attaining my Masters in Education.
Wow...who would've thought!!!!

Being halfway through the first semester, I've had time to sink my teeth into the 2 upgrade and 1 postgrad papers I'm completing this first half of the year.  I'm doing 'Leadership in Education in a Digital Age', 'Critical Literacy' and 'Teaching and Learning in the Visual Arts'.  All three papers are quite diverse, and I am completely immersed in them, loving every ounce of learning I'm getting. 

I look back on what tertiary study was like for me as a teenager and how 'disengaged' I was by the learning I did then.  I just wanted teachers college to end, so that I could get out there and begin the real work - at the chalk face so to speak.  I waited 20 years to venture back into University and 'oh my' how my learning this time around has changed.  As a 'mature' student, I have so much more experience to hang my hat on and connect to the readings and discussions I'm participating in.  Everything I read is either a revelation, confirmation, affirmation or complication (challenge) of my thinking. 

To have the time to soak up the learning I think has been key to my learning experience this time round.  I have my family, as always at the forefront of everything, and then I have my studies...completely unclouded by the business of a working school.  It took a few weeks to let work go and completely direct my focus onto the papers I am doing, but once I completely moved my focus, I have found study all encompassing.  It's surreal really to feel the freedom of it.

So, throughout this year, I will be posting my experiences, my findings and my assignments on my

blog to use as reflection and to remind me of the immense learning I am doing.  My experience has been and will continue to be a privilege and the people I meet both in person and online through the learning are also a privilege to learn from and with.  If there is anyone out there who reads this, and has the opportunity to go back to study...take it...with both hands...and hold onto it...don't let go...let it be the start of life long learning!

Because who says 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks!!!"...?