Another Side to the Story

I had my third conference presentation this year on yesterday in Augusta Georgia. I presented at the Georgia Educational Research Association 2017 Conference. The title of the conference was Knowledge to Action: Achieving the Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity (click
​here for the conference program).

​The title of my presentation was "Another Side to the Story: Middle School Students Collaborating in an After-School ICT Enrichment Program." ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology.

During the presentation, I talked about how students worked together during the program. I received good feedback from those who attended the session on what they liked, what they saw as hindrances, and what I might do moving forward. One attendee also provided a good idea on what I could do that would address the possible hindrances to the program, and I plan on putting it on my dissertation to do list. I also moderated two other sessions after my presentation. I like learning about what others are doing. It helps me to make connections with people and my research as well.

On Monday, I text my other niece, she's an assistant chef on a cruise line in Hawaii, while I was preparing for this conference and getting ready for another one that happens next week. I liked our conversation and asked her if I could share it, and she said yes.

Me: Hi, How are you?

Niece: Hey, I'm good, getting better at my job. [She started August 20th]

Me: Yaaay!!! I'm glad to know it!!! I learn more and more about my job each and every day. Next week I go to a conference just to learn about rules and regulations because there are soooo many to follow.

Niece: Yes, same here.

Me: I present at a conference on Friday to share what I'm learning with my research with my advisor. And to find out what others are learning through their research. I like to learn. There is always something to learn. And different ways of learning. It is important to know how you learn best and ways of incorporating that in your learning experience.

Niece: Yeah, you're right. It's frustrating sometimes, but you feel better about it and get confidence once you understand the new info.

​Me: Yep, learn to accept that you don't know it all (or at least all the ways of doing something), that no one knows it all, you get better the more you know, and you are better when you know more (even more ways of doing the same task) because you have options to refer back to/choose from. Just keep swimming.

I learn information best by listening, reading, and taking notes. I learn how to do something best by doing the task myself, opposed to being shown how to do it.

To figure out how you learn, reflect on things that you know the most and how you went about learning those things. Then try to repeat those actions in areas that you are not familiar or struggling and see how much you learn. 

Happy learning,

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