The Question That Changed My Teaching

As an adult learner returning to college, I experienced something that many students experience every day.

I learned what it felt like to be uncertain.

To question my skills. My knowledge. Whether I was capable.

That was new for me.

Even though I didn't care much about school as a teenager (it was more of a rebellion thing in the '70s), academics always came easily. I never really had to struggle to learn.

College was different.

I found myself sitting in classes with students who were the same age as my own children. I questioned whether I belonged there. I wondered if I could still do it.

And I struggled.

But I also experienced professors who invited us to think, question, discuss, and construct our own understanding. They didn't simply deliver information.

They created opportunities for learning.

That experience stayed with me.

What I didn't realize at the time was that I wasn't just learning how to teach, I was learning about myself.

As I continued learning, something unexpected happened. The journey became less about my professional career and more about becoming self-aware. There were tears. There were moments when I wanted to quit. I faced fears, questioned old beliefs, and slowly peeled back the layers life had added over the years. My biggest lessons weren't coming from professional learning or books. They came from working through uncertainty, rebuilding my confidence, and rediscovering who I was beneath it all.

Somewhere along the way, I found something I wasn't expecting…I found myself again. And when I changed, so did my teaching. In rediscovering who I am, I also rediscovered the kind of teacher I wanted to be, one who helps students discover themselves as they learn.

As I began my teaching career, I carried one important question into my classroom:

How do we create environments where students feel safe enough to think, question, take risks, and grow?

Over the years, that question kept evolving.

I worked with children who struggled to read. Students carrying burdens from home that I had never experienced myself. I grew as a person, learned about metacognition and Cognitive Coaching, experienced COVID and everything it revealed about education, and watched technology and social media transform childhood almost overnight.

With every new experience, my question became a little deeper.

One of the biggest shifts in my thinking has been this:

I used to focus on what I wanted students to learn.

Now I spend just as much time thinking about who they are becoming while they learn.

As both a student and a teacher, I came to realize that growth rarely comes from simply being given the answers.

It comes through struggle. Reflection. Discovery.

Learning is about more than mastering content. It's about building confidence. Understanding yourself as a learner and as a person.

Finding your voice.

Learning to think for yourself instead of waiting for someone else to tell you what to think. Listening to different perspectives.

Supporting one another. Sharing your strengths. Taking risks. Stepping outside your comfort zone, even when it's scary.

Persevering through challenges. Discovering what you're capable of...and celebrating it.

Today, the question that guides my work sounds a little different:

How do we help students discover who they are while learning what we teach?

The content matters. Of course it does. But who students become while they're learning matters too.

That question continues to guide my work as an educator, coach, and learner.

Thirty years later, I'm still searching for better answers.

And honestly...

I hope I always am.