Not By Rote Please…

January 18, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha47 Comments

So many times, I have registered for an online program with a lot of enthusiasm, but halfway through it all, I just barely limp to finish or my interest wane’s completely and after settling down to analyse why my interest wavers, I got to realize way back before now, that for me to maintain an optimum balanced interest in a learning activity, it’s got to be interactive enough.

I like bashing ideas with other people, loosening the screws and bolts of a theory and piecing it back together, that way, years from when I learnt it, it stays with me.

I got to realize that though rote learning might work for a lot of people, to a large extent, I can do well by rote learning but I excel by interactive learning.

I would have returned to school long before now but due to family exigencies, I have been pushing it to the side. As a matter of fact, I registered for a Communication Arts program, but because it was online, I backed out and didn’t bother starting it off. I knew that within a few months, I would be bored to tears with it all.

Same issue cropped up with a program I enrolled for at the University of London, due to it’s online/distance learning nature, I had to be truthful to myself, knowing that I would probably start but not finish it and then waste money unnecessarily.

What works best for me really is reading on my own, then bringing a discussion group together and bouncing all the learning curves around.

I remember when I was taking my chartered exams and I knew Quantitative Techniques was not my fort, I hunkered down, learnt all the formulas, did loads of exercises on my own, then cemented my efforts by engaging my course mates in a discussion group. When the results came out, even I was surprised to have received a distinction for that course. Go figure. I probably wouldn’t have scored that high if not for the discussion groups.

That said, I am considering enrolling back in formal education in a year or two. I look forward to going to class, getting involved in adult education and maybe being the oldest Mama among the students, but that’s totally cool by me.

I am sure that it would be interesting because I will make it so.

The Daily Post Learning Style.

What’s your learning style? Do you prefer learning in a group and in an interactive setting? Or one-on-one? Do you retain information best through lectures, or visuals, or simply by reading books?

A Nanny Goat and Her Young Ones….

November 19, 2015November 19, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha27 Comments

When we analyze the state of things and how it appears that norms and values, respect and everything have been eroded, it also occurs to me that as adults, parents, custodians and educators of the young ones under our care, we are equally failing in passing on these expected values, right norms, respect and all that is deemed to constitute a responsible human onto these young ones.

Behavioural skills, social norms and beliefs are learnt and they do not grow on trees. They are acquired through constant teaching and emulation. A child is only radicalized through the teachings of an adult or someone in a position of respect. A child is equally taught respect from early days!

The younger generation did not wake up spoilt! Not at all!

We the older generation loaded them with ammunition like kegs of gunpowder and it takes just a strike of a match for them to combust.

They watch and learn from us, add their own individuality and whatever the end result turns into is a product of that.

In essence a child is a by-product of his/her upbringing and society.

We should therefore hold ourselves 90% responsible for the spate of violence, moral decadence, loss of respect and every other vice that rears up its ugly head in today’s World.

We should not lose sight of the fact that we wield a lot of authority in helping these young ones form, therefore we should exercise it in the right manner.

A lot of times, when I take a look today at the my own life cycle, it does not fail to occur to me that the tenets which I have held mostly onto are those ones inculcated in me in my formative years and I daresay that those tenets are the ones that kept me from sinking, even when I furiously dug pits that could have caved in on me. “When a child is raised in the way that he should go, when he grows, he will not depart from it.”

Let me share a couple of African proverbs for today, and bid you a good day.

”When the nanny goat eats grass, it’s young ones watch her mouth and imitate.”

”If a child shoots an arrow that reaches the top of a tall palm tree, then it must be that an elderly person carved the bow and arrow for him.”

”The instruction of a child in youth is like engraving on a stone.”

”When a mother hen has been caught and killed, her chicks become easy prey.”

Once again, Chape thank you for inviting me to the quotes challenge. I shall extend the same courtesy to these awesome bloggers:

Danny

Maria Jansson

Jennifer Calvert

Kind regards,

The Daily Post · Writing

Learning is Ad Infinitum…

September 30, 2015February 19, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha32 Comments

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Lazy Learners.”

I fretted to get good grades, but that was when I was very young.

Now I fret to do my best because that is what pleases me to do.

However I am not going to fret myself to death;

For those things that I want to learn but haven’t gotten round to doing them for various reasons that are unavoidable,

Learning process is ad infinitum. We learn till the day we die.

I have a long list of things that I would like to learn, because it pleases me to know them.

What I do each day, is to learn something new, no matter how minutiae,

God willing even in my dotage, I shall trudge on to those martial arts classes,

I shall probably learn a bit of Japanese along the way;

Basket weaving for the fun of it,

Taking better pictures through practicing;

It’s a long list of things to learn…..

It just never ends..

Uncategorized · Writing

Little Tweets….

September 11, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha32 Comments

In response to Writing 101, Day 5: Let social media inspire you:

One of the goals of Writing 101 is to tap into new and unexpected places for post ideas. Today, let’s look to Twitter for inspiration. Don’t worry — you don’t need a Twitter account to participate in this prompt. Below, you’ll see five tweets: each tweet is interesting in its own way, and we hope one will elicit a response from you.

I chose to respond to all tweets: