Building knowledge - week 4

February 23, 2010

In week four, more so than any other week, I feel that I am building on my pre-existing knowledge. I have struggled to accept new knowledge and build upon what I have previously learned. The uncomfortable factor in the building of new learning is that I feel like I am replacing my learning more so than building on it. The reading from Mayes this week helped me understand that it is not replacing older knowledge when learning new knowledge; rather, it is about building on what I already know and adding more concrete material to it. Also, Mayes discusses the fact that we learn best what we are most interested in. This makes me reflect on when I was a little kid and I struggled to have the desire to read and one of my teachers told me that I should read what I was interested in. After, I started to read what I was interested in the teacher was amazed that I was able to stay further and further ahead of the required reading assignments for the class. This just reinforces how important it is to focus and learn what is truly interesting to me. At this point I am full force ahead, and still constantly switching between the reading and dictionary.com.