Introduction

The story that I shared in the Preface is only one example of why our students need to become knowledge-able in our world today. Students need to develop a sense of innate curiosity, as well as the emotional and psychological courage that is required to accomplish any task, and succeed in any environment. But first, we as educators and leaders need to learn how to become knowledge-able so that we can model the learning process for our students.

I define knowledge-able as the ability to independently acquire new information and skills. And in order to become knowledge-able, one must develop the confidence and competence that is needed to truly maximize learning. If our students are able to learn how to master these skills, then I believe they will be better positioned to answer any question, complete any task, and solve any problem.

As a passionate teacher and leader in education, I have taught in both public and private schools, as well as the graduate level as an adjunct professor. And for the last 10 years, I have also worked as an independent contractor by offering my consulting services to schools and other educational organizations. During this time I have been hired to deliver keynote presentations, lead workshops, and create custom professional development experiences for teachers on a variety of topics in education—specifically around the use of innovative technology and inquiry-based learning.

I like to think of this book as a hybrid of an education textbook and a personal memoir. Over the years I have gained a lot of knowledge from textbooks, but I find them to be a bit dry at times. And I have gained a lot of insight from memoirs, but I haven’t found them to be particularly informative. Therefore, my intention with this book is to blend these two approaches to learning, hopefully offering a balance of information that is meaningful and immediately applicable.

My aim with this book is to offer a unique collection of my own personal experiences in education, coupled with research and strategies that are synthesized into patterns and themes to highlight the importance of the learning process for student achievement. Throughout this book you will find that I make several connections between seemingly unrelated ideas in education and put them together to create something new. To help make sense of these ideas, I have laid out the groundwork in four parts of this book where I share the building blocks of why, what, how, and what now.

In Part I, I make the case for a knowledge-able classroom by sharing stories, experience, and research that provide evidence to support the need to shift the process of learning to the forefront of education. In this section, I identify and examine the art and science of learning and how it has contributed to some of the most innovative teaching practices.

Part II illuminates the conditions that amplify learning. In this section, I share how teachers can act as learning conditioners to help increase their students’ readiness to learn. This section also sheds light on compelling correlations between some of these conditions, in addition to how to use them to build your own capacity as a teacher, as well as a learner.

In Part III of this book, I share how to apply the ABLE Cycle to become knowledge-able. I also explain how educators can specifically use this framework to become independent, lifelong learners by teaching them how to learn more effectively. This section uses the power of real-world examples, strategies, tools, and resources to provide the advice, structure, and guidance needed to become a better learner.

Part IV helps you look inward and outward so that you can take the necessary steps to become knowledge-able. I ask you to reflect on your own experiences, as well as the information provided in this book, to put the ABLE Cycle to work. I also encourage you to make a personalized action plan to integrate at least one of your takeaways from this book into your own teaching practice. I hope you will continue to apply the knowledge that you constructed from reading this book to accomplish your own personal goals, as well as helping your students to achieve theirs.

I should also warn you: this book is not a roadmap. If you are looking for a book that claims it has the answer to education’s biggest problems with step-by-step instructions, then this book might not be for you. What I do offer, however, is a comprehensive set of ideas either to help you reground in your current beliefs around teaching and learning or to rethink what we know about best practices in education.

My intention with this book is not to tell you what you should do in your classroom, or what your school policies around learning should look like. In my years as an educator, I have come to understand and appreciate the complexity of teaching and learning. I fully recognize that every classroom has its own unique challenges, and every community has its own needs and strengths. I intend, however, to provide you with information, tools, and resources that you might consider using to make improvements in your own classroom, school, or community.

I also recognize that not everyone who reads this book is an educator by trade. This book was written with teachers in mind, but there are plenty of applicable takeaways for college professors, parents, businesspeople, or anyone who simply wants to become a better learner. Even if you are in a different profession, you likely spend more time than you realize teaching others—whether as a parent, mentor, colleague, or friend. Believe it or not, we’re all in the education business. Therefore, I challenge you to think about how you can apply the lessons, ideas, and strategies found in this book to your own life, both as a learner and as a teacher.

In writing this book, my goal is to raise awareness on just how important it is for students to learn how to learn; how important it is to learn about themselves as learners; how important it is to learn how to ask meaningful questions; how important it is to learn how to access and leverage credible resources to help them make difficult decisions and solve challenging problems; how important it is to develop interpersonal skills that will help them work collaboratively with others in the learning process; and how important it is to be able to confidently present their ideas and reflect on their learning.

In this book, I will make the claim that in the education space, the process of learning is arguably more important than the product of knowledge. To be clear, I’m not saying that knowledge is not important to education. Without knowledge, we cannot develop deep meaning and understanding, and we cannot build upon the knowledge that we have already created. What I am saying is when students are explicitly taught how to learn more effectively, they increase their potential to learn anything they desire.

However, in the real world, I believe that the opposite is true. In the real world, results matter, productivity matters, and sales matter. In the real world, people need to make a living off of goods and services. Therefore, if we can shift the process of learning to the forefront of education, then we will be teaching students how to learn anything in order to effectively capitalize on producing positive results in the workplace and in life.

I don’t expect you to agree with everything I believe. My hope is that you will be intrigued by how I think. I am aware that some of the ideas expressed here might stir up controversy, disrupt the beliefs of your own teaching practice, or even challenge your school’s academic structure. As you read this book, I challenge you to borrow these ideas and to keep an open mind. I firmly believe that respectful disagreement creates an opportunity for learning, which can lead to productive conversations and creative solutions.

On the other hand, you might find yourself in agreement with these ideas but feel like you don’t have the authority or autonomy to implement them in your own classroom or school. If this is the case, I recommend initiating conversations with individuals on your school leadership team as an entry point. Regardless of your viewpoints, by the end of this book, I hope that you will see that by focusing on the learning process, we can help to instill a love of learning in our students that will sustain them for the rest of their lives.

This book is an invitation to let go of some of the traditional instructional methods that are no longer serving our students in a rapidly changing world. It is also an opportunity to explore what it looks like when students have ownership of their learning and when teachers provide them with the right conditions to maximize their learning.

If we are able to double down on the process of learning, I believe we can teach our students to become confident and competent learners who will enter this world as empathetic, critical thinkers ready to accomplish any task and succeed in any environment, thereby shifting the paradigm of education from one that is knowledgeable to one that is knowledge-able. Let’s get started.