Mary Kate and I began our coaching experience with inital pleasantries and introductions. We recalled what we had read about each others' experiences in the first posting and created a positive environment for open and honest communication.
As I began to reflect on my past educational experience, I responded with personal opinions on the positive and negative aspects of both my formal and informal learning. I realized that I had many strong feelings but mostly voiced the negative aspects of my experience. These stood out most in my mind and elicited the strongest reaction. There were many positive experiences that I hold dear from high school but all of these took place out of the classroom. Why did I choose to focus on the negative? I realize now that I view my overall secondary education in a neutral standpoint. I have been taught within the educational department of UMASS Boston that the way I was primarily taught is a concept from the past. Has this "enlightenment" sullied my memory? I believe it has. Trying to focus objectively on the past, I realize that the classroom adequately prepared me for college. However, it played a deciding factor in my learning personality. I have always excelled in the analytical portion of standarized testing. I am excellent at fact patterns. I was the ideal student who was able to download teacher learning and regurigate information. I did not excel at creative thinking and was never comfortable "outside the box." Mary Kate was wonderful as she propelled me to think about my experiences. Now, I believe I understand with a bit more certainty how I was wired to learn and how that effects me today.
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