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RUNNING HEAD: LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

Lifelong Learning Plan

Mellissa Webb

Wesleyan College
LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

Abstract

This paper talks about how important it is to know your weaknesses and strengths in

order to implement any type of lifelong learning plan. It also talks about how important music

and learning outside of school and testing is. I believe lifelong learning isnt just a nice thing to

say, but an actual method that you should live by. I plan to use my strengths to help build my

weaknesses and use them both together to learn something new for the rest of my life.
LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

Lifelong Learning Plan

Many people are unaware that even after you finish school, you still are learning new

things every day. When you learn how to use that new phone you buy or the new app on the

phone, you are learning something. It may not be the traditional view of learning, with books and

papers, but it is still learning none the less. Learning isnt something you just do at a young age,

its a lifelong journey that only you know the best way to handle yourself in order to continue

learning for the rest of your life.

By the time you are in at least late high school and early college you are expected to

know how to study, how to write papers, and how to be prepared for class every day. How do

you figure out how it is best for you to study, write papers and prepare for class? Most people

just use the first method they are taught to study, may not know how to write papers efficiently

and prepare for class strictly by reading the assigned reading or skimming it at the very least.

However, what if you consulted your strengths and weaknesses before beginning any of these

tasks? If you know your strengths and your weaknesses, then you can tailor your study sessions,

paper writing, and class preparations to work specifically for you. And not only that, but if you

know your strengths and weaknesses, it will help you build skills to continue to learn for the rest

of your life, not just through high school or college, but through your entire life.
LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

My lifelong learning plan will look different than anyone elses lifelong learning plan,

because it is tailored to fit my specific needs and strengths and weaknesses. So, what are some of

my strengths and weaknesses? I know I am a logical-mathematical thinker and am musically

intelligent and know myself pretty well, so that means I have more intrapersonal intelligence

than interpersonal, but I still have some interpersonal intelligence. I have a tendency toward

verbal-linguistic intelligence but I am not strong with visual-spatial intelligence. Knowing these

things is the first step in building a plan that works for myself. Since I am stronger in

intrapersonal, logical-mathematical and musical intelligences, I try to use those to my benefit. I

spend my time studying or doing work, mostly alone, as I work better with less distractions and

people for me can be distractions from my work. I am always playing music. I have music

playing in the background no matter where I am. I especially keep music playing while reading

or writing papers, as I am doing that now. I also am a logical-mathematical thinker, so this

means I tend to think of things very simplistically and logically and find the easiest way to do

things that works for me. Knowing these things I am strong in, helps me get things done in a

timely manner and helps me accomplish and be successful in learning.

Knowing my weaknesses also helps me be successful and accomplish my goals I have for

myself. Setting goals and following through with them has always been one of my weaknesses,

even though it is part of being intrapersonally intelligent. I still am looking for a way to help

myself from procrastinating on work I need to get done, because that is one of my biggest

weaknesses. However, because I procrastinate, I also have to find ways to accomplish my tasks

in a logical and quick manner, this is where my logical-mathematical intelligence helps.


LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

According to Dunlap and Grabinger, Lifelong learning is intentional learning that

people engage in throughout their lives for personal and professional fulfillment and to improve

the quality of their lives. I completely agree with this statement. Learning is continuous. It

doesnt stop at a certain age. Learning throughout your lifetime helps you accomplish goals in a

professional setting and become more intelligent in personal connections and knowing yourself

well.

The term lifelong learning suggests something linear, but its far more: its lifelong,

lifewide, and lifedeep (Longworth). Lifelong learning is not determined by one path, its based

on your specific needs and your desires and what you want to accomplish in your lifelong

learning plan. There is no right or wrong way to lifelong learning, as long as you are learning,

you can always adjust it to best fit your needs at any given time.

I plan on continuing to have music drive my focus on tasks that I find difficult. I always

am humming or singing or just listening to music to help me focus on any given task. I have

found that this works for me and I know it will for the rest of my life. Eleanor Roosevelt stated

Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever

reasons, turn his back on life (Boswell). With a focus on using music to my advantage, I will

never find myself turning my back on life, I know that for sure. Also, music makes it possible

to master difficult abstract concepts faster and with greater retention (Boyd). Music, if you are

inclined toward it, can help you become such a better learner and really focus and grasp concepts

that you normally would not without music.


LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

I plan on becoming a teacher, and I plan on teaching my students the importance of

lifelong learning as well. I really want to emphasize that learning does not stop after you leave

the classroom, it continues for the rest of your life, in the most mysterious and curious ways and

to keep wanting to learn. This is against the direction in which public schools have gone as of

late, however, I feel as if it is part of my duty as a future teacher to help students realize that the

end goal for learning is not just a test, but just overall curiosity and the want for knowledge.

(Day)

With my lifelong learning plan, I intend to use my logical-mathematical, musical, and

intrapersonal intelligences to my benefit. However, I still plan on challenging myself to become

stronger in the other intelligences throughout my lifetime. I hope to become more interpersonally

intelligent, spatially aware, and become more comfortable in nature while still using my

strengths to help build my weaknesses.

I really hope to help my future students in my classroom be comfortable in knowing their

strengths and weaknesses as well, and use them to their advantage to help them learn how they

learn best. Once you know your strengths and weaknesses in the multiple intelligences field, you

can better your learning process and help build your weaker points up with the help of your

strengths. I feel as though this is one of the more important goals as a teacher that I will have;

helping students really understand how they learn best and how they can always improve their

learning skills.

Another goal of mine is to use music to help strengthen my other multiple intelligences.

Earlier, I stated that music helps you focus on more complex concepts and tasks easily. With the
LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

help of music, I think I can help strengthen my weaker intelligences of spatial, naturalist, and

interpersonal intelligences. Music is a powerful and influential part of my life and I hope to

continue to use it to my benefit throughout my life.

Another strength I have is bodily-kinesthetic. I have been playing sports ever since I was

young. I just finished my collegiate career of softball this year but thats not going to stop me

from using softball and the bodily-kinesthetic strength I built from all of the years I played

softball, soccer, and basketball. I plan to continue to use sports and physical activity as a stress

reliever and hope to continue my softball career as a coach or a player if I am able to find a team

to play as an adult.

Lifelong learning is a process that should always be looked at as small, reachable goals. I

dont look at lifelong learning as a whole lifetime of learning needed to be done. Rather, I see it

as small, attainable goals that I will reach throughout my lifetime. Lifelong learning is the end

goal. Lessons in between are the small goals. With each lesson, I plan to build to the end goal of

strengthen every aspect of my life using my strengths and weaknesses together to help build my

lifelong goal of at least learning one new thing each day, no matter the subject.
LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

References

Boswell, J.. (1992). Human Potential and Lifelong Learning. Music Educators Journal, 79(4), 3840.

Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3398529

Boyd, C., & Campbell, D. G. (1991). Rhythms of learning: Creative tools for developing lifelong skills.

Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press.

Day, C. (1999). Developing teachers: The challenges of lifelong learning. London: Falmer Press.

Dunlap, J. C., & Grabinger, S. (2008). Preparing Students for Lifelong Learning: A Review of

Instructional Features and Teaching Methodologies. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 16(2),

6-25. doi:10.1111/j.1937-8327.2003.tb00276.x

Longworth, N. (2003). Lifelong learning in action: Transforming education in the 21st century. London:

Kogan Page.

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