“learning from experience requires more than just experiencing, you need to be noticing.”*
The John Mason readings highlights the tragedy happening both in practice and far too many classrooms; looking, but not watching, hearing, but not listening, thinking, but not understanding. Too many of us feel that merely experiencing the class or working in the field constitutes as enough as actually learning, however what many of us also fail to do is to pay close attention and notice what is happening around us to truly take in the information. To ensure that we may take further notice in our classes, Mason suggests looking at the finer details, taking note of a lecturers mannerisms or way of speech, something that we may easily connect to, can replicate, and/or associate with the learning experience itself. In a sense, by coming to reflect the styles and behavior of the teacher or experience itself, we may gain a greater understanding of the task at hand.
Whilst we can’t simply “decide to notice” as that it cannot guarantee noticing for sure, what we can do is decide to be more attentive and train ourselves to notice.