Yes, but What Have I REALLY Learned?

I have been a student for a lot of years of my life. For someone who over-thinks things as much as I tend to do, you would think that with that much experience in learning, I would have more awareness of how I learn. You would also think I would have more awareness of what I learn.

I don't.

Sure, I've picked up some tricks and techniques along the way that work for my brain. If I'm having trouble getting my thoughts organized for a paper or some other assignment, I can tell whether I need to sort my ideas out orally or if I should write them out on Post-it notes to rearrange on a wall. I know that if I miss a day of class, I will always feel like I have missed something more than I can get from the make-up work. I know that if my brain is stuck, moving my body will probably help.

But I also know that if you ask me at the end of class what I learned in that class that day--or even sometimes what we did in that class--I will answer you with a blank stare. By the time I get home, I might be able to answer you, but probably not. Very rarely can I really track my own learning. The best way I can explain it--or my best guess at understanding it--is that when I learn something, really learn it, it becomes so basic and obvious to me that I no longer remember not knowing it. On the one hand, it's wonderful to think that I can learn things in a way that lets new knowledge and old knowledge blend together seamlessly. On the other hand, it's really annoying sometimes.

I don't know if that kind of difficulty tracking your own learning is "normal" or "typical." I don't know if it can be attributed to me being "smart" or having ADHD, or if it's just one of my odd quirks. I just know that that's my experience, and usually if I have experienced something, there are probably other people (most notably, students) who experience the same thing.

So the odds are that I will teach students who will be just as dumbstruck as I am if I ask "What did you learn today?" They will probably get as frustrated as I do with their inability to answer. So I will try to remember that not being able to answer that question doesn't necessarily indicate a lack of learning.

I can see the value of asking that question, of course--it forces students to at least try to monitor their own learning, and their answers can help the teacher assess how well their instruction is reaching the students. And there will probably be situations, like field trips or assemblies, when the best way to gauge what students have learned is with this kind of direct, open-ended question. Plus, having students think about their learning may help at least some students to better process the new information they've been presented.

I'm trying to think of how to wrap this post up into a neat little package, and I'm not coming up with much. I think what I'm really trying to say is that asking "What did you learn today?" can be a useful tool in the classroom, but because of how I tend to respond to it, it's a tool that I'm not likely to make frequent use of.