The Key to Powerful Learning Chapter 3

8/10/2019 The Key to Powerful Learning Chapter 3

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The Key toPowerful Learning:

Slow Downto Speed UpGEOFFREY CAINE, LL.M.


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01Learning: The Keyto Success in anUncertain World

03 - 09

02How YourBrain/MindLearns

10 - 17

03Plan YourWork then Workyour Plan

18 - 22

04Slow Down toSpeed Up

23 - 30

05Purpose andMeaning

31 - 36

06Clarify Your Goals:Aim Highand Aim Low

37 - 42

07EarlySteps

43 - 49

08Get the Conceptand Makeit Personal

50 - 55

09Ride the Spiralof Learning

56 - 59

10Thinking ThingsThrough

60 - 69

11The Art ofCommitting Thingsto Memory

70 - 78

12Get Real Playfully

79 - 83

13And TheresMore

84 - 86

TABLE OF

CONTENTS


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03Plan Your

Work thenWork YourPlan

The big picture doesnt just come from

distance; it also comes from time.

Simon Sinek


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403 PLAN YOUR WORK THEN WORK YOUR PLAN

T

he key to successful, dynamic learning lies in the

approach. Its all well and good to know that we are

born with a wide range of tools. Its a dierent thing

altogether to mix and match, to put them togetherin ways that work well. Here, in summary form, is the

map I am oering you in the chapters that follow.

Note, rst, that learning never occurs in a straight line. So take

one step as far as you can, then take another. And another. As you

progress you will nd that you can come back to earlier steps, dig

deeper and go higher. I call it riding the spiral of learning. Adjust

it to suit yourself, and enjoy!

Slow down to speed up

As much as possible let go of urgency (even if only for a few

minutes at a time) and take the time to go deep enough to build

great foundations. That will rain success on you in the medium

and long term.

Find a purpose with passion & meaning

Live into a purpose that is profoundly meaningful to you and

taps into a personal passion. A powerful purpose in a meaningful

context organizes all of your biological and psychological

resources to work on your behalf.


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Clarify your goals

Frame your purpose in terms of a goal-based scenario a

meaningful context. Then aim high for competence in the real

world, and at the same time aim low at the level where you

can approach the skill or subject matter with very little pressure

and a great deal of satisfaction.

Begin in a way that suits you

The best way to begin is not always the obvious way to begin.

So take some time to forage for materials and examine some of

the advice out there. Find a point of entry that maximizes the

time and eort that you put into learning.

Personalize the concept

Every skill, from plumbing to parenting, is grounded in a general

organizing concept. And that concept can then be reframed in

a way that deeply appeals to you. Get those two aspects of the

core concept deep in your psyche.

Think it through

Some individual steps and ideas are obvious; others need to bethought through. Fortunately there are many powerful ways to

think things through that are available to all of us.

Develop a scaffold

Nothing is more valuable than having a sound, reliable platform

as you work toward mastery. It so happens that erecting a scaold

and building initial rails to run on are also ways to have somequick victories and early successes.

Use your different memory systems

As much as possible engage your natural, autobiographical

memory system and also make sure to deal with and process



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feedback from what actually happens. But when needed, feel

free to memorize creatively and in a variety of dierent ways.

Get real playfully

Use the entire world and all of your experience as a rehearsal

hall, and have fun with it.

Theres always more

Everything is connected. Things change, knowledge changes,

perspectives change. For these and other reasons, make sure you

come to closure and remain open to the wonderfully rich world

of new possibility. Even as you become expert, make sure that you

aim for open-minded expertise!

People get there in dierent ways there is, for instance, diving in

versus observing, experimenting versus reading the instructions,

going it alone versus teaming up with others. The key is to ride

the spiral of learning feeling free to circle back to a step you

may already have taken a little way.



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Create an action guide for yourself, based on the steps in this

chapter. Depending upon your particular learning preference,

situation and need, this guide might be a checklist, ow chart,

four-quadrant template, step ladder or a pie chart. I could

have done this for you, but creating one for yourself is a great

way to learn.

Another way to create an action guide is to break it into

three sections. Ask yourself WHY you want to learn something,

WHAT exactly you want to learn, and HOW you will goabout learning.

Use your action guide regularly. Mark o the place or places

where you think you are focusing at any point in time. Feel

free to come back to it, modify it, and generally grow it as

you learn.

Talk with others about the dierent steps. Think about

them from time to time and from dierent points of view

(e.g. learner, teacher, parent, manager, employee, your own

spiritual path, and anything else that appeals).

ACTION GUIDE


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Aboutthe Author

Georey Caine has spent his life learning about learning and

listening, both in the course of his career and as abiding interests.

Amongst other things he has been a professor of law, education

services manager for a software company, education consultant,and process coach. He spends most of his time writing, speaking,

conducting workshops on deep listening and deep learning, and

enjoying the arts loving mountain village of Idyllwild, California,

where he lives with his wife, three cats, and four glorious seasons.

Georey has written two e-books in hisListening to Lifeseries, both

available on Amazon Kindle. They are 9 Skills for Listening to Life

and5 Essential Elements for Creating a Culture of Listening.

Georey and his wife, Renate, have also written nine books and many

articles applying their synthesis of the research on learning from

psychology and neuroscience to help improve teaching and enhance

education at all levels. Their two most recent books on education are:

Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional LearningCommunity: The Art of Learning Together(2010, ASCD).

Natural Learning for a Connected World: Education,

Technology and the Human Brain (2011, Teachers College Press).


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You can find Geoffrey on-line here:

www.Thewayofthelearner.com goes in depth into the inner shifts

that learners need to make in order to see the world and themselves

in new ways.

www.Cainelearning.com is a living archive of the Caines work andwritings on learning, listening and education for the last 25 years.

www.thts-n-pieces.net features Georeys whimsical, semi-spiritual

writing on invented topics.

His guest posts can also be found on www.Funderstanding.com


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The Key to Powerful Learning:Slow Down to Speed Up

Georey Caine 2014

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be

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storage and retrieval system, without permission

in writing from the copyright holder.

The scientic bases for this book are found in

decades of interest in reading about and studying

how people learn and listen.

The electronic editions of this book are produced

and published by Funderstanding. For information

on the cutting edge in educational practice and

products, visit www.Funderstanding.com.

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VERSION THIS BOOK,

PLEASE VISIT

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