Your Stories

What do powerful learning environments, highly effective teachers, and a fair and equitable public school system actually look like? Read on. Hundreds have submitted their learning stories; sort them below by the characteristics or by state. Then submit your own.

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Learning Stories tagged with the topic Interest based (view all stories)

Randy Swikle

Randy Swikle

Johnsburg, IL

The press badges on two junior high reporters caught the president's eye at the steps of Air Force One. "Oh, I see you're starting early," Richard Nixon told the students as he stepped forward to shake their hands.

The two student reporters, wearing the same press credentials as the half dozen professional reporters also at the aircraft, were the only ones who got to talk with the president. He was in Rockford, Illinois to deliver a campaign speech. It was...

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Jill Vialet

Jill Vialet

Oakland, CA

My organization, Playworks, started going national about six years ago, and our first expansion city was Baltimore. On our first exploratory visit, we took one of our coaches, Lamarr. In his late twenties at the...

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Elizabeth Gallo

Elizabeth Gallo

Maplewood, NJ

My learning story is also about teaching. After spending some years teaching high school English, I took a break to raise my two babies. During my pregnancies, I rediscovered and rededicated myself to my yoga practice. Yoga was one of those things that didn't come naturally to me but that I loved somehow, and pre-natal classes allowed for a gentle, welcoming reintroduction. After giving birth to two babies in two years, I found myself back on the mat. One of my teachers, Anna...

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Conor Sands

Conor Sands

Amherst, NH

Remember when you were a kid and everything was new and interesting? When you opened your eyes each day to new wonders and curiosities? The funny thing is... the world didn't go anywhere. The sun still rises and sets. the wind still blows and the birds still chirp. What did go somewhere is the fascination. When we are children very often we have a drive to pick something up... feel it weigh it and apply it to our day. Without this motivation it's not likely we would ever get to walking...

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Betsy Caruso

Betsy Caruso

Dorchester, MA

My most significant educational experience came years after I'd left my formal schooling. It wasn't until my own children were school aged that I learned the most significant fact about my own career as a student: I was a "learning disabled" kid. As an early reader and an articulate child, my parents expected that school would be no trouble for me. And, for the first few years, things went smoothly. My grades were good and, except for math, I had no real difficulties. I made up for social...

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Amy Estersohn

Amy Estersohn

Chicago, IL

I attended a public school that taught me how to love learning and how to question my surroundings. My fifth grade art teacher would welcome us into her classroom during lunchtime for drawing and painting, in which we would often discuss master works by Jackson Pollock and Van Gogh. My ninth grade English teacher would sneak me books from the high school's supply, trusting that I'd eventually return them. My eleventh grade math teacher would get so excited in the middle of discussing a...

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Audrey Gnesa

Audrey Gnesa

Davis, CA

I think my most powerful learning experience occurred just this year, as a freshman at the University of California at Davis. For my fall quarter, I was in a class called Community and Regional Development 20. In here we focused on the food system, the issues within the system, and what we can do to make a difference in food sustainability. However, what made this such a special experience was that we were asked what we wanted to learn about. I don't think I've ever been so interested and...

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Robert McLaughlin

Robert McLaughlin

Center Barnstead, NH

In February some years ago, I was asked to teach a 7/8 grade combined classroom in a small rural K-8 school for the rest of the year. I didn't know the students. So, I realized, I needed to do all I could to get to know them as quickly as possible. Among the many things we did together, I asked some of the brawnier kids to take some computers (they were much heavier then) out of a storage closet and set them up. This one 7th grader -- I'd read the file on his test scores the night before...

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spencer scanlon

spencer scanlon

fairfield, CT

My most effective teacher was my Senior English teacher. What made him so great as a teacher was his unique personality. He was able to have fun with the students while at the same time teaching them throughout the class. Since this was an inner city school lots of kids were more interested in goofing around then learning. So he incorporated visual aspects of learning by showing films on current events and doing projects on family history. He was able to teach us history and current events...

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Jennifer Paine

Jennifer Paine

Tampa, FL

When I was in High School and Middle School, I was not in the public school system. Rather I was being home schooled using an online school called 'Florida Virtual School'. Because I was home schooled and learning online, I got to choose my own classes and learn what interested me. In addition, I didn't take the FCAT or anything like that so I was never being 'taught the test'. Now, I'm an elementary education honors freshman at the University of Tampa, a private college with both...

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Janice Hastings

Janice Hastings

Concord, NH

Over the years I have had the honor of working with professional artists and students of all ages to create works of art. When students were creating works of art to be shared publicly there was a sense of community learning, self-discovery and of accomplishment that carried into other aspects of their lives. This to me is Rethinking Learning. Consider the following quotes from two past students: "I have Asberger's Syndrome. This not only affects my life, but also my art." I...

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Michael Dunn

Michael Dunn

Philadelphia, PA

I have been part of a number of learning communities over the past few years, but none have been as powerful as the community in Estes Park called Eagle Rock. There are so many elements playing together to make Eagle Rock effective, but two I wish to highlight are the extremely dedicated staff and the empowerment of students through choice-based learning. The staff at Eagle Rock is dedicated to learning through many mediums which are not simply limited to classroom interaction. Much of...

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