School for me has always been a love/hate relationship. When I first started thinking about five key moments or experience that made me the learner I am today, I thought it would take me forever to come up with them. However, I was wrong. There are very distinctive moments in my years of learning and education that stick out to me. The first experience I can think of took me back to my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Claussen. I had just moved from a new state to her class and I was scared, uncomfortable, and shy. Mrs. Claussen did everything she could to make me feel comfortable, safe, and cared for, which ultimately opened me up to learning. I realized that when I do not feel comfortable or confident, I can tend to shut down. The older I got I would put myself in situations or places where I knew I could do my best learning.
Another experience that came to mind was in sixth grade when my English teacher made us do a quiz and activity to show us what type of learner we are. Even to this day I remember the different activities and at the end where the quiz said I was a kinesthetic learner. As soon as I got the results, I knew it was one hundred percent correct. I do my best learning in a hands-on way, which I began to use to my advantage. Next, I went through a phase where I felt that school and learning did not matter. I felt that sports and myself were cooler, therefore I did not put extra effort into things like academics or clubs. I realized I had to get over myself and realize that learning is essential, and school is important. Once I came to that realization, I began to care more about my work and my extracurricular activities.
The fourth experience that helped mold me as a learner was that I came to terms with the fact that you can learn something from everyone. Not one person knows everything and often, any single person can teach you something you did not know before. To me, this was eye opening because I realized that you do not even have to have higher education to teach someone something. Depending on how people were or acted towards me, I would immediately disregard anything they would say to me or try to teach me. In some shape or form, everyone is a student and a teacher. This last experience really taught me something important. In high school there was a boy three grades below me that had a hard home life and moved from school to school due to family issues. I made it a priority to reach out to him and simply show him that I cared. A lot of times you learn a lot more in school than just what you are there to learn. I realized quick that I could learn a lot from him, which caught me off guard. I learned that when I am passionate about something, in life or in school, I give everything I can to that. If I am passionate about a subject and put my mind to it, I can do it.
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