If you’re reading this, you have access to an Internet connection which also means that you have the ability to learn virtually anything you set your mind to! This post is a primer on the basic tools that you can employ to learn things from just about any discipline.

Google

Google is probably the most powerful learning tool we have today. Google will help you to find the sites you need to learn the foundations of the topic you are learning. Use these search templates to get the best results (fill in the ‘…’ with whatever topic or skill you’re trying to learn):

• “How to …”
• “Best blogs on …”
• “… forum”
• “best books on …”

You also can, and should, use the “how to …” search template on YouTube to get visual tutorials.

Google is always my gateway into the world of whatever topic I am learning. It’s how we can find articles, people, and communities with expert advice on the topic. Chances are that whatever questions you come up with have already been asked so search forums or blog comments to find answers. Many communities collaboratively create beginners guides and if you still have unanswered questions just ask, people love the chance to help.

Books

After using Google to search for the best books, compare several lists from multiple sources and make a mental note when you see multiple sites mention the same book. Chances are that the titles appearing on multiple lists are the best and will make for a good launching point. Grab these books from your local library, download them for free (if its copyright has expired) from Project Gutenberg to read on your computer or your Kindle.

Practice your speed reading skills to really start devouring books. Keep in mind that it is important to know when to slow down; do not sacrifice comprehension for speed. I also recommend taking notes every chapter or section to sum up the main points you want to remember and to also copy down any quotes you like. You can also purchase your books if you choose to mark them up.

Dictionaries

A dictionary, physical or otherwise, is essential for the autodidact because new words are bound to spring up when learning new things. Most people would just skip the words and forget about them and they point they sought to make. Not us. Look those words up whether it be in a physical dictionary or an online alternative such as one of my two favorites, OneLook and Dictionary.com.

Notes

I know that we all have our preferred methods for taking notes, but there are so many neat tools out there that you might find something you like better. Two things I have played with and liked are a client called Zim and a web-based solution, Springnote. Both of them are based on wikis. You’ll see others if you check out some of the links I provide at the end of this post.

Tim Ferris has an excellent blog post on note-taking that I highly recommend.

Know Your Objectives

You don’t always need to read entire books to learn things. If you’re trying to learn X, don’t read the chapters about Y and Z. Use the table of contents and index to find everything about X in the book and only read those parts. If you enjoy the book and the author, make a note of the book for when you or someone you know is looking to learn X, Y, or Z. You can always read the whole book if you want, but, in terms of acquiring a specific skill, you do not need to.

The same thing applies to websites. Sort blog posts by their relevant tags or keywords. Use ctrl+f (the find command) on any site to search by your own keywords. There is an overwhelming amount of information to sift through for any topic. As autodidacts, we need to learn to filter and process information efficiently, quickly, and effectively if we plan to learn something without the guidance of a teacher. Knowing your objectives is how you guide yourself.

Ask Questions

If you cannot find the answers you need, you need to be able to find the person, people, or community that can, whether they exist online or offline. Once you’ve studied the topic to the best of your ability you will discover that you have some unanswered questions. Find someone to ask those questions and have a discussion. Do not fear asking people for help; an autodidact learns from others all the time. We can’t do it alone.

Being an autodidact, a self-taught person, involves learning from countless other people. The distinction between autodidactism and a traditional education is that the autodidact creates his or her own curriculum and selects the study tools, resources, pace, and so on. The traditional student leaves all of that up to the teacher. Being self taught is the act of taking up the responsibilities of a teacher yourself. It does not mean that others cannot teach you. Learning is a social process.

Sites Related to Autodidactism

Here are some sites that I recommend related to autodidacts (in no particular order):

• Khan Academy – A nonprofit organization that seeks to provide a quality, free education to anyone, anywhere.
• Academic Earth – A collection of videos of college lectures, some free some not, on a variety of subjects.
• Wikiversity – “Wikiversity is a Wikimedia Foundation project devoted to learning resources, learning projects, and research for use in all levels, types, and styles of education from pre-school to university, including professional training and informal learning. We invite teachers, students, and researchers to join us in creating open educational resources and collaborative learning communities. To learn more, try a guided tour or start editing now.”
• Self Made Scholar – Has some great articles on self-education. I found the ‘Free Classes’ part of the site to be useless though.
• TheFreeLibrary.com – TONS of information available here on this site! Some categories have a bunch of crap by random people but you can find articles from scholarly journals for free!
• Online Colleges – This is their list of the ’100 best self-education sites for switching careers.’ There are some great resources there (I found Springnote through this list) and if my list leaves you wanting more then maybe this list can help.

I created this lesson to teach ten basic poetry and literary elements to high school students from the Rochester City School District at the Nazareth College/Hillside Work-Scholarship Connect Homework Helpers program. The ten elements covered are as follows: simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, and rhyme (end rhymes and internal rhymes). Each element is defined and has an example from a rap song to demonstrate its use.

Tupac Shakur

That’s the first page of the lesson. The second page has four quotes from four different raps for students to go through and identify each instance of a literary element being used (as well as what that literary element is). I have students break up into groups to do this part cooperatively and then I give them a chance to share afterwards. When we start going over the lines, I personally rap each part for the students, but if you’re not comfortable doing it maybe one of your students will volunteer.

On the third page (not included in the PDF for copyright reasons) I had a couple poems by Tupac Shakur as well as Langston Hughes to be used for comparison. Students can go over the similarities and differences between the poems as well as rap music.

A book that I highly recommend is Tupac Shakur’s The Rose that Grew from Concrete. Not only does it have some awesome poems, but it also includes scans of the actual poems with Tupac’s handwriting and doodles. The student’s really loved seeing it.

To conclude the lesson, I give students the opportunity to write their own poems and raps that they can later share with the class if they want to. I’ve had great success with this; some students have even pulled out their own personal notebooks of poems that they’ve shared.

Feel free to use my lesson as an outline for your own class. My only request if you do decide to is to let me know what you did and how your lesson went. I’m also willing to volunteer to present this lesson to students; it’s a ton of fun!

Click here to download the lesson!
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