The Experience of Learning by Luizangel

The Experience of Learning by Luizangel - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

Hey, do you remember me? I am the student at the back of the class who does not like to talk, who does not raise his hand, and who does not participate in any way. I also happen to be a bit on the low end spectrum of the gradebook. You think that I just do not care right? If I was earnest in my future I would have done something by now right? And it’s the same thing for all the other students who act just like me. Well, let enlighten you on a way that will actually get us to pay attention.

School, for me at least, has become a chore. I wake up every weekday at the same time, spend most of my day inside a colorless building and then go home to repeat the process. It’s not a chore, it’s a job. During class repeat the same format but with new material and it makes no difference. Have you ever tried doing something new in the classroom in order to keep me and the students engaged? I am not talking about changing your notes up a bit. I am talking about giving me hands on action with the material I am learning. I want to know the how and the why of the material I am learning.

The properties of a right triangle are used to create the buildings I relax in, the building I shop in, and the buildings I work in but, that is not something that is taught normally in school. We are just expected to memorize some formulas that would be much easier to memorize if we could apply them immediately in the classroom. How far am I from the doorway in the opposite corner of the room? Well if the wall next to me is three meters and the wall with doorway at the end is four meters then I know I the doorway at the end of the corner is exactly five meters away because I applied the knowledge I learned to a real world situation. The only reason I calculated that was too figure out how far I am from freedom away from this monotonous classroom.

I want to learn everything you have to teach me but, learning is so much more then showing formulas and expecting a bored to student to memorize them. Learning is about getting engaged to knowledge that you are teaching and then seeing the light in my eyes, your student’s eyes, when I realize that I understand what is in front of me and know how it applies to my life. Learning should be thrilling experience not another lecture.