Passion Led Me Here

What passion leads you to where you are currently learning? What brings you to this place, today? At the beginning of new courses, or a new school year, we’re often asked what influences our decisions or has shaped our lives (e.g. ‘what did you do last summer?’ activities). This is not always easy to answer since there are many ways we shift through our influencers – sometimes these can be the most random of events, conversations, or memorable moments. How do we decide which ‘step’ we’ve taken that brings us down one path or another, which direction we’ve taken and which one we’ve left uncharted.

While responding to the discussion prompt for this week, I randomly searched for the author of the text for this course, only to discover this gem of a video, where Daniel Willingham describes how he came to be where he is today, as a writer and thinker about how brain research and psychology influence what happens in the classroom. It’s evident in this reflection that it’s often a random event that shifts our directions and makes new connections.

Further to this is the information that Willingham adds to my ‘brain formation’ as he talks about critical thinking, memory, brain structures, practice, and learning.

 

Image Attribution:

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash, two person standing on gray tile paving