EDS 103: Module 3.4: Learning is serious fun.

I take learning quite seriously, apparently. So much so that in college, when I realized I don’t really learn when I take too many subjects at a time, rather than take 21 units per sem to finish on time, I underloaded and graduated a year late. In the end, I had a grade point average that gave me cum laude standing, but I wasn’t qualified to graduate with honors because of my underloaded semesters. I definitely prioritize learning over grades. And I know I learned because nearly everything we took up here in in EDS 103 is still familiar to me, even if I took Psychology of Learning nearly 20 years ago. Thank God my parents weren’t too uptight about it. They let me decide to stay in college a year longer. And while they expressed regret (sayang!) at my non-cum laude, seeing that it wasn’t really a big deal to me I think they got over it soon enough (anyway both my brothers graduated with honors the year after I did so they got their moments on stage. Thanks bros!).

Maybe the fact that I take learning seriously is why it took me a couple of days and nights to reflect on this journal entry. Reading the teacher’s suggested questions really made me think. Am I a passive learner? Or do I construct knowledge? Does being a passive learner, who prefers learning with a More Knowledgeable Other, necessarily mean you don’t construct knowledge? Am I only one or the other?

To figure this out about myself, I reflected on some of my learning experiences in the years between graduating from college and becoming a formal educator. Between 2002 and 2014, I have worn a great and many hats, mostly as a housewife who had the time to pursue all sorts of creative endeavors now unavailable to currently full-time employed me.

1. Chinese Painting – A trip to a museum in Hong Kong left me intensely fascinated with Chinese watercolor painting. I have taken watercolor classes in my childhood, but it seemed to me that the Chinese style was magical. When an ad came up that Chinese painting classes would be available in the Yuchengco Museum, I immediately signed myself up, bought all the necessary materials (so expensive!) and religiously attended every Saturday afternoon. Teacher would show us the strokes and then put them together paint a whole painting right in front of us. After that, we were expected to replicate the strokes. And she would watch us and correct the strokes that we make and our homework is to replicate the painting she showed us how to make in class. There was a new painting every Saturday, which meant if you didn’t do your homework, you will not learn the skill. You already have to move on the following session. I put in 2-3 three hour sessions every week to repeat strokes over and over and over again, until I felt confident enough to copy teacher’s painting. I ALWAYS had homework to show each Saturday, and more often than not, the teacher is pleased with my work. Many of my classmates were working professionals or elderly Chinese ladies, who simply took the class for an afternoon of painting and chismis each week. I really practiced. I did this for maybe 2-2.5 years on and off (had to stop when we moved to a new house far from the museum). I loved it so much. My paintings are framed and hang in many of my relatives’ homes or offices.
2. Interior Design – My brother, then a new professional, bought his first condo, an empty studio unit in Makati. He was unwilling to hire a professional designer so he asked for my help. At the time, I redecorated my sister’s bedroom and my own new home, but this condo was different, because it wasn’t just rearranging furniture. To maximize the space, I felt that we had to design bespoke furniture that would serve multiple functions (I watched a lot of HGTV while at home breastfeeding infants). Without any formal training in interior design, I measured his flat, considered his needs, and designed nearly every piece of furniture in his entire flat, tailor made for him. (Like, his headboard is also a hidden shoe rack, but measured specifically to his shoes, so if he sold the flat to someone with bigger feet, their shoes wouldn’t fit in the shoe rack. Same with the closets, I measured his shirts.) I even taught myself Google Sketchup and made a 3D rendering of his then future condo. We hired a contractor who built my designs, and it was a bit frustrating because the walls were not at precise 90° angles but in the end, it looked so nice, the building management used to ask to show it to potential buyers. He has lived comfortably in that condo for years now, and he keeps it neat and well maintained.
3. Jazz Dance – At some point in my illustrious career as a housewife I began to experience back pains so severe they kept me up at night. When I went to a doctor, he said this is caused by my sedentary lifestyle. I am thin, so I don’t feel the need to exercise. But apparently, not exercising also causes back pains. He recommended pilates or yoge, neither of which appealed to me. But when I enrolled my daughters in ballet school near my home, I wondered if perhaps I could join a dance class there. I picked Jazz Basic, having heard from a neighbor co-parent that she used to take jazz in that same school. I thought I would be learning with other adults, but nope, my classmates were teenage ballerinas. Wow. They were so flexible and graceful, they flitted around like butterflies. I had the grace of a toad, and did not possess even half their endurance. Those first 1.5 hour sessions were the WORST. But I stuck with it, and after a year, I even joined my teenagers (most were 1/3 my age! and I was the second shortest in class!) in a recital at the CCP. I was never the best, and I never advanced to Intermediate Jazz, I doubt I ever would have, had I continued, but I know I learned to dance jazz. I could never have done that on my own. And I had to really not care about not fitting in.
4. Calligraphy – I missed painting, but I never had the swathes of time I used to be able to devote to it (1 child had turned into 3 at some point) and calligraphy became all the rage on social media, and you can create something beautiful with a few short words. So I bought books, I watched videos, I taught myself similarly to how I learned interior design. But then sometimes there are questions I wanted to ask, or techniques I wanted to see others do, so I also occasionally joined calligraphy workshops. But mostly, I practiced nearly every day. I soon got commissions and invitation envelope addressing work. Just by mostly teaching myself, I got good enough to be paid for my work. I still do calligraphy up to now, free for friends, because teaching and learning to teach takes up all my time, I almost never get the chance to bring out my pens anymore. Except when classes get called off, or on long breaks.

From these four examples, I think it’s safe to say I am, for the most part, a constructivist learner. If something interests me intensely, I pursue it and teach myself. In these instances, my MKOs are books, the internet, and even TV shows. If I can’t, I find a teacher who can, and practice and practice until I can do it on my own. I really think about what I am learning, sometimes I can’t sleep at night, designing things in my head, or visualizing a choreography I have to memorize by next session. If there is a step or a stroke I can’t seem to get, I don’t like giving up on it, I watch and learn. Sometimes it’s beyond my physical possibility (my jazz classmates can kick so high up their knees can touch their noses. I. Just. Can’t.) so I let it go and just do my best (dance teacher is very patient with me), sometimes I know I can do it if I figure out the right technique and go for it.

Now I am in my latest foray into learning, the UPOU PTC course is learning like I’ve never experienced learning before. No classrooms, but so many requirements. And really, I WANT to do well and submit everything on time, but I am not a housewife anymore. I am a full time teacher, with two preparations and 160 students. I know that load is nothing compared to public school teachers, and I’m not complaining. All I’m saying is I can’t help but put my students ahead of my learning. And isn’t that what we are learning in this class anyway? To be learner centered? I feel that if I had more time, I could really get into this online learning thing. I like how I could “be in class” and be at home in my pajamas at the same time. I would read all the materials and come up with more ideas and applications. Right now, my plate is so full I feel myself spread thin. But I am determined to continue to learn.