Lifelong Learning Project: My Personal Mission Statement

Questions from my readers and some other friends had me sitting at the dining room table this evening, pen in hand, asking myself, "What is my real goal with this 'self-education' thing?" "I want to learn" is great, but I knew I needed a better answer even just for myself. This education means more to me than that. I needed something I could look at and live by, something that would begin a path I could follow from now until my time runs out. And here it is:



LIFELONG LEARNING PROJECT PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

To provide myself a broad, liberal, literature-focused education using books, both fiction and nonfiction, online and audio educational tools, and utilizing my blog as a virtual classroom to encourage interaction with other readers.

Because this is a Lifelong Learning Project, there is no final Ultimate Goal, but I will create a set of general, fluid goals each year and support them with alterable quarterly plans and more concrete monthly plans as I identify individual educational themes I would like to actively pursue.

I will read literature and texts pertaining to the chosen themes and seek out additional tools to expand and build upon my reading.

I will regularly post my discoveries, thoughts and conclusions on Books 'N Border Collies, encourage interaction with my readers and respond to all comments left by you, my virtual classmates.



Welcome to my Lifelong Learning Project! My next immediate goal will be to post those "general, fluid goals" for 2009, my second quarter "alterable" plan and my "more concrete" plan for the rest of March and April. I'll have that up by the end of the week. I have to think about that for a bit! :-)

Happy learning, everyone!

A Failure To Plan. . .

. . . is a plan to fail. Annoying, but true. I've been distracted, and I need to utilize this blog to keep me at least halfway focused. Therefore, here is my plan for the rest of March:

Read: Book III of The Faerie Queene
Read: Catherine Carmier by Ernest J. Gaines
Read: Day by Elie Wiesel
Read: Survival In Auschwitz by Primo Levy
Read: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Stone
Listen To: Teaching Company lecture on Tristam Shandy
Read: Chapters 3 & 4 from The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative
Read: Chapter 2 from Writing About Literature

There. Now I have all of you to demand an explanation if I slack off. :-) It's not too demanding being as there are only about two weeks left of the month, and my T-Wolves will be demanding a chunk of my attention with the NBA season winding down. Once that is over (April 15 for us), it's gloves-off for my learning plan!

Feel free to comment or ask questions about anything I'm doing or reading for my Lifelong Learning Project (temporary name until I come up with something clever). Interaction with classmates is an important component of the educational experience! :-)

Happy Friday, All!