Why should teaching the processes of learning be on the front burner this year in your classroom? I think this familiar proverb answers that question best, “If a man is hungry and you give him a fish, he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The paramount goal of education today is to make students nimble, lifelong, confident learners, capable of acquiring the knowledge they need when they collaborate, problem solve and create. While purposely selected static or declarative knowledge (e.g., facts, principles, concepts) that adds to a student's depth of understanding and sense of context is an essential part of a broad education, procedural or dynamic knowledge (e.g., strategies, metacognition, habits of mind) is the enduring basis of autonomy, creativity and problem solving.
