Importance of life-long learning from the teacher’s perspective Essay

Most people think of learning as formal education at a college, polytechnic or university. We're told from a young age, that we should get a good education. And well, generally speaking, it is true, a formal education with the resulting qualifications are important in most situations. As a good education may maximise our potential to discover a better, greater fulfilling job, earn more money, and, perhaps, become more successful within our chosen career.
However, 'schooling' is only one type of learning. There are so much more opportunities to further one's knowledge and develop the skills we need throughout our life. Knowledge can be acquired and skill-sets developed anywhere  learning is unavoidable and happens all the time.
However, lifelong learning is about creating and maintaining a positive attitude to learning both for our personal and professional development.
There are many differing perspectives of how to obtain knowledge and install it into others. To me, knowledge is the act of lifelong learning, and can enhance our understanding of people, places, situations and can give us with better opportunities to improve our quality of life.
I am a strong believer that lifelong learning is just as valuable as formal education. As an educator I want to inspire a want to learn, it is my responsibility to create an environment that allows a group of students with diverse learning styles to maximise their potential to retain the information and apply it to real world situations. I do this by encouraging students to engage in hands-on exercises, actively participate in small group discussions and critiques, and interact on a one-on-one basis with me during class.
I believe that life-long learning occurs when students can connect to the information presented. I strive to create a personal connection with the students in my class by incorporating my research and life experiences into my lessons. I feel that these conversations help the students connect with me on a personal level and, as a result, become more engaged in the classroom. I also try to learn about each student so I can tailor course materials to the students. Finally, I try to show the real-world applicability of the topics that we are discussing.
Becoming an effective teacher is a lifelong process and I am always striving to find ways to stimulate learning and intellectual growth in my students. I have found that students can offer timely and critical feedback. In addition to reflecting on the end of the course feedback, I have used anonymous feedback during the course to help me adapt to the class. This feedback was critical when I started teaching and has allowed me to address comments such as "talking too fast" or "not allowing enough time to take notes" while I was still teaching the class. I also believe that, as educators, we can learn a lot from one another, I actively seek peer reviews and feedback from my colleagues about teaching techniques and gain opinions on how to most effectively present material.