Making It Mine

"You learn something new every day".

How many times have you heard yourself or others say that? How accurate is it? I'm inclined to think I'm re-learning as many things most days as I am learning brand new things. That's good - every time I re-learn something there's a better chance that learning will become mine.

Most of my post-graduate work was devoted to how adults learn. Over and over, especially in guitar teaching to adults, I have seen clear evidence to support a maxim I heard continually during my studies: Adults learn through spaced repetition. An illustration: How do you get a new word to take hold in your vocabulary? For me, it's the spaced repetition that does it. I rarely get comfortable with a new word before seeing it in print several times. For visual learners, that exposure and a handy dictionary may be enough to get started using a word. My preferred learning method is auditory so I also like to hear a couple people say it aloud - more repetition. Sometimes, I give new words a "test drive" by writing them privately, in my journal etc. This last approach is frequently used by those who prefer a kinesthetic method of learning. Regardless of preference, repetition is key. And repetition is a form of re-learning.

So, what did you re-learn today? Yesterday? What did you notice about the way you went about re-learning?  Did you read something, listen to someone, use your hands? Some combination of two or all three of those? How close is the learning to being yours now?