Understanding myself as a learner

The learning that i am going to tell you about is my very first attempt at surfing.

What was the reason for your learning? Did it "just happen" or was it planned?
My first attempt at surfing was not planned. It had been talked about for a while but we had not set down a date to 'give it a go'. I was just going for a run on the beach one day when I saw one of my mates and he asked if I would like to go for a surf with him. After explaining that I had never learnt to surf, he agreed to teach me and so the journey started.

Were you anticipating success? Was your motivation intrinsic or extrinsic?
AS far as success went I was happy not to think about it or failure and just concentrated wholly on taking surfing one step at a time. My motivation was both intrinsic and extrinsic. I really wanted to succeed for my self because I hate loosing and although I was not versing anybody, in my head I was versing the board and the water. I also wanted to succeed so that I did not look like a goose in front of my mate. Another motivating factor was being able to go surfing with my mates if I was able to master the art.

Was it a useful or desirable thing to learn?
There was no real use for me to learn surfing. It was something that I wanted to do for myself, for a bit of fun. I had no intentions of going into surfing competitions or teaching others how to surf, this was all about me being able to cross another sport off my list.

Was it a by heart (rote) type of learning (eg multiplication tables) or was it more about understanding and using the information?
When it came to learning we spent a few minutes on the beach where my mate gave me both verbal and visual instructions before we went out into the water and I got my first Kinaesthetic lesson. The information that I gathered had to be sorted and understood for me to be able to use the correct techniques and methods, so in a way I was understanding and using the information. Once I had the information understood and was using the correct techniques and processes it was all down to rote learning. I spent the whole day in the water paddling out, turning and waiting for a wave, paddling to pick up speed and then once on the wave trying to stand up. All throughout the day I would slip back into the understanding and using information mode as I would do something a little different that either worked or did not work.

What sort of aids did you have in learning? eg did you repeat it over and over again (like a telephone number); did you practice until you were successful; did you sit and ponder its significance?
I repeated the moves over and over again for the whole day. I changed the way that I was doing things slightly when I received new information but for the most part it was very repetitive.

Who did you learn from? Did somebody support you, model or explain the desired learning outcome?
I had my mate to learn from and to give me instructions. There were other people throughout the day who offered their advice as well.

How did you know you were successful in learning it? Did someone praise you; did you experience a feeling of success or satisfaction?
By the end of the day I could stand up on my board and although there was no one else around to tell me that I had succeeded I knew that I could now at least stand up on the board. I was not satisfied at where I was, after a full day in the water, I was thinking that I would be able to move around like all of my mates but I was happy that I could at least stand and it gave me a feeling of accomplishing something that day.