Real Learning by Katie

Real Learning by Katie - June 2019 Scholarship Essay

My 8th grade History teacher, Mr. Galaif, taught me a lot about what it means to learn something. Upon entering his class, I had only really known to memorize and regurgitate the information I learned in school. It was a transaction - the teacher gives the student information, the student receives the information and gives it right back, and the teacher hands them a grade. At least, that’s how many of my classes had operated. But Mr. Galaif ran his classes differently. Tall, gangly, with a head of disheveled hair and a seemingly nonchalant attitude, he rarely taught on schedule. He would often get lost in tangents about a topic we were learning, fling his arms around in emphasis, making his heap of hair flutter and his eyes glint. His passion and sense of urgency in everything that he taught us would in turn spark a passion in me. He often challenged us to think critically and most importantly, with caution. To think cautiously is to not make assumptions about things that you haven’t studied fully and to remember that there are multiple layers to every story.

From Mr. Galaif, I discovered that real learning occurs when you develop a connection between an idea and yourself. And if you cannot seem to find a connection, you can try to immerse and imagine yourself in the idea. For instance, in class, we read about the Holocaust and what the Jewish endured during the tyranny of the Nazis. In one assignment he asked a question about what we would do if we were Anne Frank, forced to stay in a house for an extended period of time with little food or water. Now, I never have and likely never will have an experience close to that of Anne Frank’s, so I turned in a simple and arbitrary answer that was along the lines of ‘I’ll try to get used to it and if not, try to find a way to escape’. Mr. Galaif’s feedback to me reminded me that it is extremely difficult to escape since there are Nazis everywhere, and it may not be so easy to get used to being trapped since it takes a toll on your mental and physical state. He marked points off of that assignment, and I was surprised, as I was not quite used to getting marked off for something that was my own opinion. However it made me rethink the whole subject. It helped me not only to sympathize with Anne Frank but also to understand the complexity of her situation. Mr. Galaif had a solid reason for marking points off of my answer, as I had failed to think critically about the subject and made assumptions about its complexity.

And that is why I am thankful for having Mr. Galaif as a teacher; he truly wanted us to learn and understand the complexities and social implications of history and he would always give us the truth. He would encourage us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of historical figures, and how we would have felt or reacted if we were in their situation. This was new to me - before I had been used to memorizing facts and taking in the material simply as it is stated and presented. But Mr. Galaif taught me to go beyond that - to really immerse myself into the material and imagine how it would feel like for me.

Since then, I have kept with me the idea of immersing myself in any subject that I want to learn. It has helped me study various subjects, from writing - really putting my purpose and heart into the things that I write- to biological processes - which I would compare to action stories that I used to read as a child. It is in a student’s best interest to find connections between new material, things they have already learned, and themselves. Making connections, immersing yourself in the subject, and acknowledging that there is complexity in everything, is when real learning occurs.