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