I am restraining from Impulsivity! Please indulge me.

I am taking a much needed moment of reflection and restraining impulstivity! 

After coming out of Cyclone Ului which hit the North Queensland coast on 21 March 2010 110 klm north of Mackay, my family and I, and all of those around us were so fortunate to have only had minimal damage to our homes or properties, if any. 

Mackay was not in the heart of the cyclone when it crossed the Queensland coast at 1.30am, but we did however experience destructive winds which the Bureau of Meterology (B.O.M.) classify as 125 - 164 km/h winds with minor house damage possible. Significant damage to signs, trees and caravans. Heavy damage to some crops. Risk of power failure. Small boats may break moorings.

For my family, we received minimal, but inconvenient damage as our home office was destroyed and we  received structural damage to our roof and gutters, causing leakage.  Here though, I must mention that our beautiful home is 75 years old and she has stood the test of time and Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului somewhat remarkably!

So, you may be wondering why I am addressing this issue today, 2 weeks after Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului's arrival, and what relevance it has to my studies, and restraint of impulsivity?

Well, similiar to tens of thousands of others affected by Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului, after initially loosing power in the first week and luckily regaining it quite soon, we moved on to contacting the insurance company, then the builder.  This was all done upon the backdrop of the daily and consistent wine of chain saws and industrial "mulchers" removing downed trees in our neighbourhood.  Amongst all of this, my "classroom" had dbeen destroyed.  But, I was not to be perturbed, I relocated with my laptop to another part of the house.  It was difficult howerver as I have been largely unable to find a "quiet spot" to study.  I have not been able to leave the house to go elsewhere for the most part, as I have had to be home for insurance inspecters, builders, window replacement workers and the like.

OK.  So this morning I have realised just how much the disruption has affected my motivation to learn as I pulled into the drive way with the industrial mulcher beside me.  This prompted me to reflect back on what I have been studying.  I have been ever so slowly plodding through the coursework and not knowing why I have not been up to my usual standards.  As I write this blog, there is a gentleman working on putting new windows in our home - of which I am very grateful, but it does nothing for my focus or concentration!  And behind that noise is the industrial tree mulcher next door removing and mulching some more debree.  He is the third in 10 days, after the school across the road (which went for days) and then the neighbour on the other side who lost a big Macadamia Nut tree.  And next week, we will be having our entire roof replaced.

I am not writing this to be taken in a negative light. It is part of the process of my reflection and I simply wanted to highlight how important I feel motivation is to the learning process as mine as certainly wavered over the past week or so.  Reflecting back at Maslow's Motivational Theory which is modelled by his Hierachy of Needs (1970), he states that no learning can take place until certain needs are met, the most basic of these needs being the psyshological need which includes food, water, shelter and warmth.  If these needs are not met, we cannot go on further up the hierarchy.  Or similary, if something happens to diminish our motivation, we go back down to the bottom of the hierarchy to start again.

With this then, I was also able to reflect on the higher order habit of mind categories and how, at this point in time, I need to "refrain impulsivity".  My attitudes and perceptions (the first assumption in the Dimensions of Learning framework) have been impacted upon with my comfort zone in my classroom having been removed and my motiviation levels having wavered.  However, this is all temporary and through reflection I have come to see that it is how I perceive the situation that has made the biggest impact and how, by changing my attitudes and perceptions and embracing the general categories of the Habits of Mind (namely critical thinking, creative thinking, and self-regulated thinking) I can turn the situation around.  I found this youtube video very relative. 

In short, this has helped me to realise how I can make an impact on my learners.  Through my learning journing, I am experiening what my learners will experience, giving me the ability to relate.  And, realising my motivation - or lack of my usual level of it - I am able to make adjustments to my attitudes and perceptions.  As outlined in The Dimensions of Learning, certainly Attitudes and Perceptions and Habits of Mind do lay the background for all learning (2006, p7).



Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and Personality (2nd. ed.). Harper & Row.
Marzano, J., Pickering. J. (2006). Dimensions of Learning : Teacher's Manual (2nd ed.). Victoria. Hawker Brownlow Education.
Maslow's Hierarch of Needs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxdNzOVRAmA&feature=fvw