Oliver Dul: Y7: Expert Learner’s Manifesto

How do you learn the right way? How do you gain more knowledge? How do you develop a path to pursue an answer to a problem? Keep reading this manifesto to find the answers to these questions and more.

Anyone can benefit from this manifesto whether you are a student, teacher, athlete or anybody else who wants to achieve success.

You, the reader, will have more knowledge and understanding if you follow these steps to mastery. You will have more confidence in yourself. You will feel a sense of achievement when you solve a problem that has been hindering you. This is because being an expert learner means having the power of knowledge. An expert learner is like a super computer which has access to all the data in the world but how do you become one?

To be an expert learner you have to be purposeful, resourceful and knowledgeable. Being purposeful means taking particular actions for specific reasons. An example of being purposeful is to regularly have breaks and good sleep. Why is sleep so important you ask? It helps us consolidate the information that we have learnt. Consolidation means to make something stronger or more solid. This idea comes from Stanislas Dehaene, a cognitive neuroscientist which means that he studies how the brain works and thinks. Think about it like this; sleep is like a software upgrade for our brains.

Upgrading our brains is one of the key purposes of education. But, what does it mean to be truly educated? As Noam Chomsky said, ‘to be truly educated means to know where to look, how to look, how to question, how to challenge, how to proceed independently, to deal with the challenges that the world presents to you…’ Just remember though, education is a path through a long jungle.

Do you want to be successful? To be successful you need to have attention, determination, motivation and organisation. Success will cement your self belief. Believe and you will achieve. Have a growth mindset not a fixed mindset. Finally, if you follow and read the rules in this manifesto, not even Athena with all of her knowledge will be as smart as you!

Follow these steps if you want to have happiness, success and respect.

1. We will cultivate a growth mindset; we will use every chance to learn whether that is through success or failure.
2. We will learn from our errors; we will recognise that making mistakes are the best ways of learning.
3. We will magnify the information we are learning through intense focus; we will use our learning time to wring every last drop of value out of our current intellectual capacity.
4. We will visualise a successful future; we will strive to set ourselves targets for continual improvement and have a clear purpose in life.
5. We will organise our learning resources and time; we will plan effective strategies for reaching our goals, monitor our progress and modify our strategies as needed.
6. We will solve problems that block our progress; we will pursue answers to dilemmas by asking ourselves questions to find effective routes towards solutions
7. We will always practise deliberately; we will practise with a specific purpose such as working to eliminate our weaknesses.
8. We will consistently aim for 100%; we will program our muscular and neural-circuitry to execute skills at the highest possible level with the least amount of thinking possible.
9. We will activate prior knowledge in our new learning; we will link new information with prior learning to transform it into meaningful and useable knowledge.
10. We will formulate plans for learning; we will monitor our journey towards the peak of ourselves, formulate effective strategies and plans, and abandon the ineffective ones.

BANG! Your successful. Knowledge will help you smash through the walls that stand between you and your future.