10 Questions About Lifelong Learning

I'm a little late with my response to Leslie's "10 On The 10th" questions but I'm answering them anyways. It feels particularly apt to post my answers to these today because I am starting a "new job" this morning. After a year and a half as working as a substitute secretary/librarian for our local school board, last week I got hired for permanent hours!!! I'm so excited!!! So I will now be working as a second secretary at a large JK - Gr 8 school in our board four days a week and today is my first day!!! I'm looking forward to knowing where I'll be headed off to four days a week, being able to gain experience by working with a head secretary, and being able to fully invest in a school community, knowing I am there for the long-term. Assuming I pass the probation period, this position is mine until I choose to resign it.

So without further ado, read on for my responses to these questions about lifelong learning as I take on a new adventure in learning this week :)

 

1) How old were you when you started school? Did you attend pre-kinder and/or kinder or go straight into first grade?

I started kindergarten in September of the year I turned five. I still remember going for my kindergarten visit the previous spring and the name of the kid who showed me around (Amanda) and what she was wearing (a yellow shirt with a quilted blue vest). Those details have remained so clearly in my head.

This is my Kindergarten school photo from October 1977. I was very serious!  

2)  Were you a good student? What was your favorite subject?

I think I was a very good student. I loved following rules and doing what the teacher said. I wasn't good at art or gym (in Kindergarten I could only do 1 sit up in 60 seconds on those physical tests) but I loved reading.

3)  As a child, did you take music lessons? Or play a sport? Do you still play an instrument now?

I did take music lessons. My elementary vice-principal's wife taught me my first years of piano. They had a spiral staircase in their house and I thought it was the neatest thing ever! I didn't really do sports (see above about my sit ups -- hahaha!!!) although we did take swimming lessons. I still can play piano but I don't often make time for it.

4)  Did you attend any kind of training or classes beyond high school? If so, what did you study?  Did you wind up working in a profession or job for which those classes or training prepared you?

I attended university and got my BA - English. That prepared me for pretty much nothing! Hahaha!!! Somehow I fell into work as an administrative assistant and that is pretty much what I have done my entire "career." Currently, I work as an elementary school secretary.

University grad photo, May 1994 

5)  Have you taken any personal growth or adult education classes for fun? During the year that was Covid, did you home school, learn a new app to work from home, teach yourself to do something you might have paid someone else to do for you?

Not really. I mean, I took an Introduction to Judaism course when Dave and I were dating but that was about thirteen years ago. I also took adult ballet lessons for awhile and violin lessons. I love to learn! I didn't really take on new learning during Covid -- maybe I should have?!?!?!

6)  What would you like to learn how to do that you don’t know how to do already?

I keep wanting to go back to violin lessons and I love learning languages. However, right now there isn't a lot of extra time for new lessons for me. However, I am trying to do the "Couch to 5K" program, so maybe I'm learning to run???

7)  Name something that you learned easily. Then name something that was a struggle for you to learn to do.

I learned to read really easily. I remember that, while they didn't really teach reading in Kindergarten, I was invited to stay after school to participate in a reading program. Math was never my favourite subject and probably the one I struggled with the most. Then I hit Grade 12 and had a fabulous math teacher and math was one of my highest marks.

I also only took one year of physics and never really got it. Thankfully, I didn't have to continue on with it, so I didn't :)

My Grade 12 grad photo, June 1990. 

8)  What’s the last thing you remember learning? What kind of learner are you: visual, auditory, hands-on/kinesthetic, verbal, logical/mathematical?

Well, I've been learning how to be a school secretary! Since I was working the last week and a half at a different school, as a substitute, I've been learning all the things the secretaries do to get the school year up and running. It's a lot! I think I'm a hands-on, verbal learner. Let me do it, and talk it through with you, and I'm good.

9)  Hard to teach an old dog new tricks, school of hard knocks, pass with flying colors, learn by heart, burn the midnight oil, pull an all-nighter, play hooky – which of these expression best fits your life lately? Why?

"Burn the midnight oil" fits best because there is so much going on right now. It's hard to be working full-time and still try to be an effective parent and then do all the things adults are expected to do -- grocery shop, laundry, clean the house, etc. There's just never enough hours in a day these days.

10)  What is something you’ve learned from past mistakes?

Even mistakes will teach you something and everyone makes them so don't be afraid to fail.

Also, change your furnace filter every month so your furnace doesn't break down and you'll save on furnace repairs. Oh, and make sure your smoke alarms aren't expired or you'll get a not so lovely, middle of the night, wake up!

11)  Bonus: Share your favorite learning/education quote.

'Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.’ –Mark Twain

'Give a [person] a fish and you feed [them] for a day;

teach a [person] to fish and you feed [them] for a lifetime.' - Maimonides

I didn't have these off the top of my head so I searched learning quotes and really liked these two.

 If you want to read the other posts in this link up, go check out Leslie's link up here.