The Most Important Thing You Learned in School
Tell Me About . . .
It’s All About People
My most valuable school experiences weren’t
academic. They were all about people—social
skills, respect, self-worth, empathy, and realizing your own potential. On the sports field,
I learned about winning and losing graciously.
In the classroom, I learned that doing your best
counted far more than academic ability.
Because of teachers who believed in me, I
also learned that I was capable of more than I
thought. In our final year of school, our teachers
identified a few of us to join Toastmasters, which
I hadn’t even heard of. I found my niche—
talking to others. I won our provincial round
of prepared speeches and went on to come
in third in South Africa. Never in my wildest
dreams would I have expected that. I’ve been out
of school for 21 years, but I still look back at the
lessons I learned and try to pass them on to the
children I teach now.
—Debbie Preston,
geography specialist and educational consultant,
Howick Prep School, South Africa
Working Toward Your Goals
My 6th grade teacher at Maple Ridge Elementary
in Calgary, Mr. Johnson, issued a class challenge—we would climb a mountain together. He
gave us weekly training goals and monitored our
progress. He paired us up with buddies to train,
and talked to us about how climbing a mountain
is really a metaphor for living our lives. This
taught me that I can do anything I set my mind
to if I set a goal and worked toward it. I model
this to my students every day by being a master
learner first instead of a master teacher. We
struggle, fail, and persevere as we work together
in a community of learners. We encourage
failure because learning really sticks with us
when we fail.
—Lisa Domeier de Suarez, teacher-librarian,
Surrey School District #36,
British Columbia, Canada
The Importance of Feeling Valued
Long before differentiation was an education
term, I was fortunate enough to have two
teachers who gave me meaningful assignments
that were different from the rest of the class. I
was still responsible for the core material, but I
could explore as well, at my own pace and on
topics that interested me. Sure, I learned some
neat ideas, but what I really learned was that I
was valued as an individual. When I became a
teacher, I remembered their example. I differentiate regularly so my students can learn that they,
too, are valued as individuals.
—Lorraine Jacques,
department chairperson, mathematics,
Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield, Connecticut
Seeing a Bright Future
In the 8th grade, my language arts teacher, Mrs.
Griffin, presented a new trajectory for me by
uttering the following words: “I do not want you
to invite me to your high school graduation; I
want you to invite me to your college graduation.” This statement marked the first time
anyone presented a college degree to me as an
attainable pathway. Eight years later, I became
the first person in my family to graduate from
college. When I sent out announcements for my
college graduation ceremony, Mrs. Griffin was
the first person on my guest list.
—Angela Estrella, teacher,
Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, California
Don’t Take No for an Answer
In school, I learned not to take no for an answer.
A middle school teacher told me I could not take
shop, only home economics (it was the ’70s). I
took shop. In high school, a favorite teacher told
me that I would never win a public-speaking
contest. It made me so mad that I entered a
national contest and won first in the state and
third in the nation. A guidance counselor told
