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I was always told I was bad at science. It’s true that I got bad grades in the subject but looking back it didn’t help that everyone around me reinforced the narrative. I found myself wondering why I would even try since I was obviously bad at it. But then I had a science teacher who really took the time to find out what interested me and I remember her saying nice things about me to my parents. After doing well in her class I realized I could be good at science.

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My junior high history teacher made a huge impact on my thoughts about school and learning. She wold animatedly tell history as action packed stories in front of the class and captivated me. I remember she would always challenge us to put ourselves in history and ask ourselves how we would react or what we would have done. This made me examine my own experience and context and compare it with historic figures. I learned a lot about myself and history in her class.

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In the third grade I remember missing out on recess because I was falling behind on my reading skills. Instead of playing outside I was sent to this other classroom where there were stuffed animals and a board with names and stickers next to names showing how many books everyone had read. Once I understood that if I read enough books I would receive a stuffed animal and once I read every book required I would get to go back to recess with my friends I took off like a lightening bolt. This was my first experience of failure in school and having the removal of fun with friends was a game changer... However, realizing I could receive something for doing well brought me to a whole new motivation to perform

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My homework pages were usually filled with doodles, because if I had to do something that wasn't creative I would need to take art breaks. I have a lot of really weird characters that were developed over time.

--Christen

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Ugh. So, I have to go back to my poor child learner? :( Maybe I missed this because I was so busy, so tired, or maybe I just didn't want to relive the trauma.

I was educated in an extreme, religious school where I was told over and over that science, math, and theology were for men and that woman were only preparing to be homemakers.

The big, big problem for me was I loved theology. Deeply. I was grappling with predestination versus freewill for all of middle school. It felt like a life sentence to love something so much and be told there was no path forward. Sure, I could read, but I couldn't be a pastor or theologian. Women were forbidden to be in any leadership roles.

I remember a lot of tears. I remember feeling like I wish I could change myself so that I could continue learning. I still get really heartsick when I think about how adults worked to stunt my ability because they had such a strong worldview that wouldn't account for my passionate learning quest.

--Christen

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A subject that was challenging for me was Language Arts, specifically reading comprehension.  The challenge I faced was that I was not exposed to reading until I started attending formal schooling in the second grade.   My parents are from an indigenous Mexican culture where the traditional way of teaching was through storytelling and ritual learning.  Both of my parents were illiterate and had less than two years of formal education in Mexico.   My second grade teacher Ms. Kirkpatrick was able to identify I had the no concept of how to sound out words.  She set up an intervention to support me in developing reading skills to catch up to reading levels. I now recall visiting Mexico and going to visit the school my cousins attended one of the teachers asked me to read (in Spanish).  I felt the same all over because even though I spoke Spanish, I had no concept of how to read it.  The intervention helped develop strong skills.
Bartolo Marquez

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I was always told I was bad at science. It’s true that I got bad grades in the subject but looking back it didn’t help that everyone around me reinforced the narrative. I found myself wondering why I would even try since I was obviously bad at it. But then I had a science teacher who really took the time to find out what interested me and I remember her saying nice things about me to my parents. After doing well in her class I realized I could be good at science.

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My junior high history teacher made a huge impact on my thoughts about school and learning. She wold animatedly tell history as action packed stories in front of the class and captivated me. I remember she would always challenge us to put ourselves in history and ask ourselves how we would react or what we would have done. This made me examine my own experience and context and compare it with historic figures. I learned a lot about myself and history in her class.

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A great example of a teacher addressing one of the Knowles learning principles was a culinary class of mine. One of the principles utilized was the teacher preparing their learners that helped developed realistic expectations. For instance, as there were lectures involved in the class Monday - Wednesday that consisted of proper terminology in the food industry and pictures of how certain food should look and be prepared. When Thursday came around, there was a demonstration made by the teacher with “tips of tricks” because even though we learned how perfect we needed to cook the food we just learned, the food wax made by professionals and we just needed to demonstrate that we know how to cook with flavor and leaving nothing raw or burnt.    Eboni

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A great example of a teacher addressing one of the Knowles learning principles was a culinary class of mine. One of the principles utilized was the teacher preparing their learners that helped developed realistic expectations. For instance, as there were lectures involved in the class Monday - Wednesday that consisted of proper terminology in the food industry and pictures of how certain food should look and be prepared. When Thursday came around, there was a demonstration made by the teacher with “tips of tricks” because even though we learned how perfect we needed to cook the food we just learned, the food wax made by professionals and we just needed to demonstrate that we know how to cook with flavor and leaving nothing raw or burnt.    Eboni

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As a child, History was the most difficult subject to comprehend. Every single history class I’ve has was primarily made of a lecture, reading, and summary of the reading as an assignment. For the way I learned, I needed something more than just listening to dates and statements of the past. I needed interaction with the learning material and thorough explanations rather than breezing by topics. Though there was this teacher in high school that introduced a new topic of history about race. I cant recall much other than it was a class with a topic that my school hasn’t introduced before. I also remember bits and pieces of having two teachers be involved in lessons, group projects, reward systems, and really challenging class conversations. To my recollection, these two teachers of the same class established a climate beneficial for learning.     Eboni

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As a child, History was the most difficult subject to comprehend. Every single history class I’ve has was primarily made of a lecture, reading, and summary of the reading as an assignment. For the way I learned, I needed something more than just listening to dates and statements of the past. I needed interaction with the learning material and thorough explanations rather than breezing by topics. Though there was this teacher in high school that introduced a new topic of history about race. I cant recall much other than it was a class with a topic that my school hasn’t introduced before. I also remember bits and pieces of having two teachers be involved in lessons, group projects, reward systems, and really challenging class conversations. To my recollection, these two teachers of the same class established a climate beneficial for learning.     Eboni

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On June 7, 2022, my freshman and junior year English teachers retired. I graduated in 1985; you do the math. Laura Faustini Yocum was my freshman year English teacher in 1981. She was a first-year teacher. At the end of the year, she recommended that I move to the "above average" section for 10th grade English where I had Mr. Dan Brown who happened to be her English teacher in high school and also my cross-country and track coach. Valerie Donner was my junior year teacher. She had been there a few years before I took her class in 1983. Again, you do the math. She encouraged me to take speech class where I learned that I was pretty comfortable standing in front of people talking. In my senior year, I had Mr. Frank Smith who, you guessed it, taught Dan Brown. Each week, Mr. Smith would read the best essays aloud in class. I tried every week to make the cut. Thanks to all of these teachers, I became a fairly confident writer, which improved my sense of self. Sans Laura Faustini Yocum's recommendation, I would be living in a trailer on the Lynard Skynard side of Jacksonville, FL doing God knows what kinda 🤬 activities.
Rob

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I cringe when I tell this story, but I think many of us may have had this same experience. In order to learn Math, I was told I needed to know it, or I would be cleaning floors in the future. Did it tell me the reasons I needed math? Not really. However, it taught me something else as a kid: janitors were "low," and mathematics was a path out of a humiliating lower class future. Unfortunately, the repetition of this "need to know" was typical, and I wonder how much it instilled class bias in all of us. Not cool.

How many of you had this experience, and what was your reaction? How has it impacted you to this day?

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I have been away from childhood for a while, so the details are a bit fuzzy. I had "American Literature," and the teacher was very intimidating. As you can imagine, adding additionally intimidating and unfamiliar material like poetry made the environment much worse. Our teacher maintained his intimidating postures (I think it came naturally to him), but in order to help us through Poe's "The Raven," he brought in elements of popular culture to help us connect the unknown (poetry) to the familiar (popular culture). We listened or viewed several versions of the poem, but the version that I remember the most was The Simpson's version of "The Raven." Homer played the speaker of the poem. The teacher managed to connect something unfamiliar (poetry) to something we all knew. It made things less intimidating, and it reframed poetry as something old and intimidating into something familiar and humorous.

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Dude, I do not care, said my 15-year-old self.

At my Catholic high school, was tracked in the "above average" group in my high school, which kept me on a fairly seriously academic path, but not as serious as my classmates in "honors". Can you imagine schools tracking students by "average (junior college or trade), above average (state schools), and honors (Notre Dame )"? I enjoyed English, speech, and television (yes, we had a television class). I also did OK with science but struggled with math because I was simply not motivated to learn. Consequently, I did not put in the "practice time". However, I did well enough to take "Advanced Math" my senior year, which was the class for students not ready for calculus. My teacher for Advanced Math inspired me to care enough that I actually did well. I learned to love math and went on to major in mechanical engineering in college. Wait, no I did not. However, she was an excellent teacher who encouraged me to practice. I escaped with a "B".

Thanks to that teacher, Mrs. I wish I could remember your name, I did well in college algebra, but I struggled in my second college math course called "Finite math", which was more commonly referred to as jock math or more kindly, math for poets. It was not hard; I just did not care if a tree fell in the forest and nobody was there..oh wait, that was a different class, which is a "not motivated" story for another time. Back to Finite Math, a few of my classmates went on to have careers in the NFL and NBA, and as Deion Sanders said, "I know how to count my money".  And count he did.

Rob

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We had to learn about the history of Ohio in 8th grade. I place this in Orientation to Learning but not sure the best fit. I put it here because, although I did not love history in general, I appreciated understanding the community that I was a part of and that, at 13, I was developing into a contributor to my society. We also had to learn to draw the map of Ohio and label all of the major cities and what their industrial contributions were to the economy. I omitted a bunch for the benefit of legibility just now! I think drawing the map of Ohio made the facts much more realistic for me.

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This is a photo of me from my junior year HS yearbook (circa 1986! Note my Swatch watch). I went to an all girls Catholic high school, which was primarily run and taught by old nuns. My love was science, math and French by this point, and the religion classes were taught by a person whose experience was so different from mine. I was an emerging woman who was ready to discover life and be independent, but this class was mired in concepts of punishment and belief systems that did not resonate with me at all. It would have been a lot better if they taught us empathy and compassion. (Case in point: My HS friend made a really mean comment in a thought bubble coming out of my mouth when she signed my yearbook, which I covered up to share this photo. People were not learning compassion or empathy in that class).

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When teachers listen as much as they talk

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When teachers listen as much as they talk

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Michelle: Mr. Robbins was my 4th grade teacher. He was wild and loud and super creative. I was shy, studious, and rigid. I don’t know why he liked me because I wasn’t any fun. But he loved me and spent a lot of time asking me questions and listening to what I had to say. He got to know my mom and even asked her to watch his daughter one day a week after school. He came to my house after I broke my arm to say hi. Since I was quick to learn, obedient and dull, he could have ignored me. But he took a massive interest in me and fully accepted who I was. I remember him asking me how I felt about some teaching method. I wish I could remember what it was, but what does stand out is his shock, but acceptance when I told him I hated the teaching method. The details are fuzzy, but I remember how empowering it was that his ego was less important than my self-concept as a learner.

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You don't have to learn anything to get an A

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You don't have to learn anything to get an A

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Michelle: I did fine in History classes in high school because I did my homework, but I didn’t learn anything. Looking back, I didn’t have enough context to make sense of the stories and lessons and the teachers never expected or developed that in me. I don’t remember my teachers ever doing anything besides lecturing. Even though I didn’t learn a thing, of my favorite high school teachers was my Western Civ teacher, Mr. Barnett. I checked out from his boring lectures, unless he was telling stories about his life or giving us controversial commentary on current events. I don’t know why he didn’t make Western Civ more relevant because he was captivating when talking about other things. Nearly 30 years later, I still have so many good memories of him. But I sure didn’t learn what he wanted me to learn.

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My teacher in 3rd grade called us scientists during science and the science fair. At the time, I remember us kids kind of thought it was funny but also thought the teacher was weird for calling us scientists. Reflecting back, that teacher calling us scientists really did make science fun and helped us think outside the box!
-Kendra

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My 6th grade math teacher always made us explain "why" when we gave our answers during class. It wasn't the fact that we had to explain the "why" that stuck with me. It was the enthusiasm and curiosity in her voice every time she asked "Why?!" after someone gave an answer. She asked as though she was intrigued and was just tickled to hear each of our explanations. Her excitement about the "why" made giving an explanation in front of the class very non-intimidating. Spending a whole year with her influenced my attitude towards every math class I had after that one.
-Kendra

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It seems like it would be quite challenging for educators to take an adult-learning approach to children's orientation to learning. I had many teachers, especially in K-6, who were focused on teaching us subject based content instead of development. It's my understanding that there's a greater focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) in elementary school now, especially kindergarten, where educators are looking to help children develop. I vaguely recall some SEL in my past.

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I had a great 6th grade teacher who let us pick what books to read as a class, which part of our homework to complete based on where we needed the most practice, and really encouraged us to write 5 paragraph essays about whatever we wanted. I felt the most in control of my learning during this grade. It enhanced and increased how much of a learner I viewed myself as and gave me the confidence I could contribute to my own learning process and outcomes.

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In 1st grade, the teacher (I still remember their name) was going through spelling practice.  The word on the chalkboard was S-A-L-M-O-N.  The teacher pronounced the word sAL-mun. I asked why? The teacher insisted that was how it is pronounced. I offered SAM-un "you know, like the fish or the color pink." The teacher wrote me a referral for classroom disruption and sent me to the principal's office. I still have yet to receive an answer to my question.

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sheet music titled "15 Easy Jazz Pieces, 5 for Intermediate"

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Sight-reading jazz sheet music -- Kevin Bransford

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Sight-reading jazz sheet music -- Kevin Bransford

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This stock image is funny because this was close to what was handed out in my story.

Sight-reading, that is seeing a piece of sheet music for the first time and playing as best as possible without practice or listening, is a requisite skill in advanced musical production.

In 8th grade, I was selected to join a Southern California regional jazz ensemble. I anticipated sight-reading and was prepared for it.  I was not prepared for the humiliatingly complex arrangement the conductor had selected.

After clunking our way through the chart, the conductor asked us to turn the sheet over.  On the back was a fully scaled version of the composition tailored to our collective ability.  We played through that and the effect was wild joy.

The conductor told us that there will always be super hard things to do in music. As long as we give it a shot initially, it will always sound better the next time.

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Nicole Gaines

Going into 4th grade, which was the start of junior high in my school district, I was placed in a talented and gifted class once a day. From 4th to 8th grade, the small group of us in the class went to “Odyssey” classes instead of our gym period. There were about 10 of us which allowed for individual attention from the teacher.

I loved these classes because there always seemed to be something fun going on. The class was loosely structured with some group work time each session followed by individual choice learning time. The group sessions spanned a variety of subjects, including building robots, eating alligator tail, and writing letters to elected officials. It was often new and non-ordinary, so it always motivated me to join in. The individual learning time was also motivating, because as along as we did something that was semi-educational, it counted for class credit. I loved, for instance, doing computer-based typing games and also building models of all sorts of things with friends.

I also rarely remember being in trouble in the class. I was often in trouble in other classes, unable to be still or quiet for long lectures in large classes and typically quite bored. In the odyssey class, my teachers were great at redirecting my energy into energy to learn.

I did have one other teacher, 7th grade math I think, that would give me the option to do worksheets at a table near her desk once I’d finished my assignment for the day. I was so motivated to get out of my desk, that I got my assignments done quickly in every class, knowing there was something else waiting for me when I finished. Otherwise, I can’t recall anyone really harnessing my motivation and energy, but instead fighting against it.

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I (Nicole Gaines) went to camp most summers as a kid and loved it. Part of what I enjoyed it so much was that the activity instructors and counselors gave options and tried to incorporate choice into activities. I could choose to paint or make some other craft for instance. Or I could choose to canoe or fish.  In school I can recall very few classes where any choice was awarded, with everything being teacher-driven. Even moving from one class to another was directed by the school and the staff. At camp, we had options and also had free time, alone without instructors (or seemingly so) to explore, talk with other campers, and direct our own decisions.

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In one of my sociology instructors started our very first class by passing around an odd chunk of concrete for all of us to look at.  While she was explaining the purpose of sociology, she shared that sociology can impact the way we place value on objects.  She then let us know that the piece of concrete that we all had held was more than just that - it a piece of the Berlin Wall, which fell when she was living in Germany.
-Aimee

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In the 4th grade, we were to memorize all of the states and state capitals.  Our teacher made this a fun lesson series and we spent a decent amount of time on memorizing the information.  I believe we spent a month or so memorizing the info using games, filling out worksheets, coloring, singing, etc.

For me, I loved the pride and praise I received for being able to recite the information to friends and family.  It's of course important to know the different states in the U.S., but I don't recall the teacher explaining to us why it was important; just that we needed to learn it.
-Aimee

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In 5th grade, I had one of the only male teachers in the school for Science. He had a way of making you want to learn. He made science fun and engaging.
Many of us were baseball fans and in early Spring when the first game of the season was due to be played, many of us had transistor radios with and ear phone so we could listen to the game (and hopefully not get caught).
The teacher new this, as he could see the ear phone wire behind our hair and going inside of our clothes.
He decided that rather than trying to fight against us listening to the baseball game, he taught us how to build a radio receiver.
Everyone had a hand in doing something, from painting the box that went around it to simple soldering.
Best class ever.
---Lyn

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In 6th grade, I was having a terrible time wrapping my head around fractions. Part of my brain just wasn't ready to learn them while a larger part wanted to know why I need them. The teacher didn't provide convincing arguments to their necessity to my young brain nor would they be relevant to my non-academic life for a very long time.
-Tony

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My 3rd grade teacher was in her last year before retirement. If anyone was naughty (i.e. being a normal 3rd grader), we were punished in a humiliating way. I was so worried about the possibility of doing something wrong that I didn't learn much that year. So much pressure, and so many tears. The environment was set up to be dependent on her authority and instruction rather than explore and discover.
-Julia

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employee updating a dashboard on a laptop 

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I once had an employee invest a scary amount of money to force the team through a dreary 3-day excel training. It wasn't very helpful long-term.

I'm a big fan of microlearning and just in time learning. When someone is ready to apply the skill on a specific problem the learning is easier and more impactful.

I think there can be extreme cognitive overload when one is getting a firehose of examples back-to-back. That's why, so often, people would rather YouTube or Google for help than  take a long course on productivity software.

---Christen

just adding name since I didn't update my log in info to have profile shown

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My 6th grade teacher used bread left out in class as a way to introduce fungus. Each of us had a slice grouped into slightly different conditions (e.g. covered/uncovered, dark/sunlight) and we observed the pace of the mold grow. Much more exciting than reading about it!
-Julia

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I've touch on this before, but the most impactful assignment I ever had was (in my first year of college) a persuasion paper on my political ideology.

At the time, I was enrolled in an American History course and the idea was to source where my party platform came from and why. I was on fire to prove the integrity of my ideals only to be shocked to discover how flimsy so many of my arguments were.

This created an intrinsic motivation to defend my ideas, and it was amazing fuel for learning far more than I did from the lectures.

--Christen