Learning - a life skill

“Learning how to learn is life’s most important skill.”

Tony Buzan, author and educational consultant

 I like that quote this morning!  Learning how to learn is certainly a skill to be developed early, so that we can use it our whole lives.  And as we get older, we take trainings that have us identify how we learn best, and how we can reinforce new information to replace the old.  (And we commiserate together about how easy it used to be!!)

But for our Gold girls, they are still learning how to learn.  They’re trying to figure out how to remember information for a math test on Tuesday, how to put together a science fair project and how to strategize to improve their soccer games.  While one goal is to pass a test, another is to figure out how to make the data stick, then write about it in a coherent way, and how to take the information, synthesize it and come out with a well-reasoned analysis. 

As part of our GSLE program, we are helping these girls to do just that!  We are asking the girls to identify an issue. It could be one that they already know about, or it could be one that they find as they investigate their community.  As advisors, we need to help guide them in this process and engage their critical thinking as they LEARN about an issue and the pieces that go with it. 

As we know, and the girls will find out, no one issue stands alone!  The root issue to address may be homeless kids on the street, but investigation and community mapping will identify other issues: lack of education and healthcare, mental illness, local economic situation, lowered expectations, etc.  The Gold girls must take all this info and LEARN how they can address the issue, create a plan and take action.

Again, this is more than a collection project, though providing toiletries, clothes and blankets could be a part, this is a TAKE ACTION project that needs to be more.  As advisors, we need to guide the girls to reach higher and Take Action now.

They also need to learn how their efforts can move on into the future.  How what they did can be sustained by others, upon completion.  And they need to take what they’ve done and learned to address the more global perspective. 

We’re asking our girls to put their passion into a project that makes the world a better place. What a great thing to learn!