My Learning Journal Self-Directed Learner James McKinney.docx

My Learning Journal:
Self-Directed Learner
James McKinney
RTCH500: Research, Writing, and Ministry Preparation
Dr. Warren
January 20, 2023

Reading this chapter has clarified that I am beyond equipped for the online education
before me; I am a self-directed adult learner. The article does a great job of laying out how our
upbringing and academic environments influence how we currently learn. Much of what they
leverage as talking points is normative for most. My history is anything but ordinary.
During my Junior year in High school, at the age of fifteen, I was kicked out of my
house. I opted not to get a GED but to do the work required to graduate with my friends while
maintaining a full-time job to pay for my newest obligation, rent. It was at that moment that my
academic success became mine. I owned it wholly.