I have always seem to have been engaged in an ongoing conversation with myself. I have used this conversation and continue to use it to process new ideas, feelings, and experiences. Previously, I had thought this might be a sign of the onset of schizophrenia. Luckily, I have discovered there is a method to my madness after all. This conversation is what Harri-Augstein and Thomas call a learning conversation and is a key component of what makes a self-organized learner. (1991)

The first step to being a self-organized learner is to develop an awareness that every moment has the potential to be a learning experience. I first recognized the importance and power of awareness when I was in Germany doing time in the army. In my travels around Europe, I would always take a few minutes to find someplace and sit still. I tried to take in a completely as possible both the sensory details of my surroundings and my feelings at the time. I thought my awareness was at an all time high. However, I realize now that I only used that awareness when I was someplace spectacular, like Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. It was only when I became aware of my surroundings and experience in a familiar setting that I found that awareness can lead to learning at any time and any place.

This awareness came to me while I was in Germany, standing in a mud and thinking of my company's immanent trip to Bosnia. With my luck of something interesting always happening to me (a blessing, not a curse), I was sure to be the first person blown to smithereens. I had the time to take a mental inventory of my past and realized I had already accomplished many strange and wonderful things. I really had no reason not to be happy.

At that moment I became very aware of my surroundings; the quiet sound of the rain and the beauty of the woods. Two seconds before I had merely seen it as a miserable mud hole. It was then that a good friend, Sgt. Will, came by and tossed me an orange out of a truck window. That orange was my Joycean epiphany. I became clearly aware of all the things around me I normally took for granted. I felt like I was tasting, really tasting, an orange for the first time. I realized that awareness is not something that should be turned on or off when the occasion arises. When engaged all the time, awareness can make every experience a learning experience.

This experience might not seem like much, but it was very meaningful to me. Harri-Augstein and Thomas say that in order for an individual to learn, the learning experience must be meaningful to them. It is then integrated into the set of personal meanings which the individual holds. This is how we learn. The first step is to be aware of the learning experience. The learners must then reflect on the experience and what it means to them. If the experience is meaningful, it will add to and possibly alter the learner's set of personal meanings. This process of constructing personal meaning is what Harri-Augstein and Thomas call a learning conversation (1991).

My internal conversation is a learning conversation in which I am taking I new information and reflecting on how it fits in with my prior knowledge. I not only use this dialogue to reflect on my own learning, but to evaluate how well I have accomplished my objectives. I am a harsh critic and my goal is usually perfection. I do not think I am a failure, however, if I do not reach this perfection. I merely use the perfect model to evaluate what I could have done better and then integrate this into my learning so that I can do better the next time. Since each learning experience is unique, I can learn from the experience no matter what the results are. Therefore, if we are aware of learning as we go, we are, in effect, learning how to learn.

My first experience with learning how to learn came as I began to seriously question my ability to teach. I volunteered some time at the local alternative high school and became blatantly aware that knowing and loving literature was not enough to make me an effective teacher. If I did not make it personally meaningful to the students, I might as well be talking to a platypus.

I quickly became aware that each student has their own set of values and beliefs which shape how and to what they respond. In order for me to get them interested in literature, I had to discover what was important to them. I strongly believe that each individual is unique and as Harri-Augstein and Thomas say. "the learner's own evaluation should have priority." (1991) My goal was not merely to expose them to literature, but to allow them to develop the tools necessary to make their own effective evaluations. One could say they were waiting for me to bring them Pamplona when all I had was an orange. My role as a teacher was to enable them to see that both the orange and Pamplona had value.

The ability to fully utilize our capacity for learning has many obstacles. Often we develop personal myths which are beliefs about how and what we are able to learn.(Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991) These beliefs are negative influences when they interfere with learning. One of the methods I use to overcome these blocks is to remind myself why I am doing whatever it is that I am doing. These motivations are very similar to the five basic needs that motivate human beings according to William Glasser. (1986) These needs are for power, love/belonging freedom, fun and survival.

When in a rut, I will focus on the fact that in order for me to do what I want to do (to teach), I must be able to do well in my schooling and learn as much as possible. Failure to do so could lead to an existence which is neither intellectually challenging nor rewarding. This would be mental suicide, and therefore, succeeding is a matter of survival. Secondly, I think of my parents who are counting on me to succeed. Glasser would call this the need for love. third, I think of power. I often feel that a difficult project is thumbing its nose at me. Therefore, my motivation becomes teaching that project who is the boss. Next, I think perhaps of freedom. I realize that the best way to insure my personal freedom and have control over my life is to learn as much as possible.

Confronting these needs can be intimidating. They are, in fact, motivators because of what could happen if I did not reach my learning objectives. That is where the last need comes into effect. Learning should be fun. Sometimes all I have to do is remind myself that I am learning because I love to learn and that this is not a difficult labor but an enjoyable task. Sleeping in a car in Norway is difficult. Writing a paper is easy.

The most concrete example I can think of which reflects using a learning conversation is the process I use when drawing the Joe Snuffy cartoon for the school paper. This process is similar not only to the ideas of Harri-Augstein and Thomas, but equally identifiable with the four roles of the creative thinker defined by von Oech. (1986) The first step in drawing a cartoon is to think of things in terms of cartoons. This calls for an awareness of everything around me as having the potential to work into a cartoon. Von Oech calls this the role of the Artist. This can be as simple as thinking your teacher said "I'd wash my fish" rather than "I'd watch my fish", or as realizing that the equivalent of the St. Louis art museum in Kirksville is a small restaurant. Awareness, or the role of the Artist, means looking at things in new ways.

Von Oech's Explorer is responsible for rearranging these new ideas into new and complete entities. The Artist recognizes the comparison between the St. Louis art museum and the Kirksville restaurant, but the Explorer must shape the idea into an actual cartoon. An examination of other possibilities leads to more ideas until the time for action arises. First, however, comes the Judge. The Judge must evaluate which, if any, of the ideas are worth pursuing. In view of the cartoon, a comparison of benefits of big city living vs. living in Kirksville took prevailed.

The Judge then hands the baton to the Warrior. The Warriors job is to carry the idea as far as it will go while warding off any negative reactions and criticism. Harri-Augstein and Thomas state that learning is an ongoing cycle and von Oech's idea of the four roles is also cyclical. The Warrior is immortal and always returns. Even a cartoon that causes nothing but hate mail will result in feedback from which I can learn.

Since every experience is unique, we can learn from whatever we do. An awareness that every experience can be a learning experience maximizes our learning potential. This is very empowering. Instead of making excuses we must confront the fact we can learn anything. I, for one, have always felt that I could learn how to do anything well. I used to think this was the onset of a delusional narcissism. I now know that by using learning conversations, I can learn +anything.