Nearing the end..

What have I learnt from this unit? What have I learnt from my experience of university? What will I take forward with me as I begin my teaching career?
Funnily enough these questions are ones that I have not consciously thought of too much over the past three and a half years. But today it dawned on me. I have learnt how to learn.
I have learnt the skills of learning. I now better understand how and why I learn as an individual, but also how and why others may learn. I learn because I want to. I learn because I have a thirst for knowledge. Because I have a drive and passion in me that makes me look towards the future. I can not help but be intrigued by the world and the people that surround me. I can not help but be hungry to learn why people and things work the way they do. I want to know.
So, in order to take this particular skill of learning and make use of it I need to understand that of my students. What drives them? How do they learn? And do they want to learn?
The last question is one that is intriguing and one that was hinted at during our tutorial last week. As a teacher, there is only so much we can do in the way of teaching. But the first step, before any teaching and learning can be done is for the students to be there. To turn up. To show an interest in learning. Beyond that, we, as teachers, need to motivate and engage our students so they 'press the button'. So they turn around and open their eyes to the learning that can be done.
Whilst learning can be inflicted it can not be enforced. If someone does not want to learn then they won't.
As I begin my career this analogy of the button and the turning chair (from the tv show 'the Voice') will remain with me. I hope that I can get my students there, to press the button, turn around and open their eyes to their own learning.