The Prompt:

Tell me the story of your educational history — the journey you’ve been on, the good, the bad, the way you felt about yourself as a learner in your past schooling, they way your feel about yourself as a learner now.
Please make your writing detailed so that I can start to get to know you and learn about your experiences. As you talk about your past educational experiences, paint me word pictures that let me be in your classes with you, see the people you talk about, and clearly understand what was happening in each situation you describe. Follow the same process as you talk about your goals for this class. The black bullets indicate things I’d like you to do. The open bullets indicate ways to help you do these things.
Some things I’d like you to do:
• Describe one particularly good experience you had in your past education and tell me about why it was good.
o (This might be in an English class or in a class for different subject.) Who was your teacher? What class was it? What does “good” mean to you? What made this experience “good”?
• Describe one particularly bad experience you had in your previous education and tell me about why it was bad.
o (This might be in an English class or in a class for different subject.) Who was your teacher? What class was it? What does “bad” mean to you? What made this experience “bad”?
• Describe and discuss your past experiences with academic reading, thinking, and writing.
o Did you have a particularly good English teacher? What was it like to be a student in that teacher’s class? Did being in that class change you and your feelings about academic reading, thinking, and writing? If “yes,” how and why? What’s the most memorable experience you had in this class? Why?
o Did you have a particularly bad English teacher? What was it like to be a student in that teacher’s class? Did being in that class change you and your feelings about academic reading, thinking, and writing? If “yes,” how and why? What’s the most memorable experience you had in this class? Why?
o Did your parents influence your past experiences in academic reading, thinking, and writing? If “yes,” how and why?
• Please close by bringing me up to the present.
o What do you want to get out of this particular English class at Irvine Valley College?
o Is there anything you’d like me to know so that I can support your learning? Anything you’re concerned about? Anything you feel excited about?
o What kind of student do you plan to be in this class? Why? How do you plan to achieve your goal?