Primary

1. Primary • Huge involvement of repetition of informatione.g. alphabet. Repetition/rehearsal is a learning strategy that makes it easier to remember the information (Schunk, 2012) • Was very social constructive based e.g. seating plan with people that the teacher knows you work well with, buddies • External cues to motivate e.g. pen license, certificate, praise, points etc. • Lessons relating to experiences that I have had • Strong relationship with teachers, principals, peers, school. Therefore sense of belonging to environment • Visual displays in the classroom • Heaps of ‘hands on’ learning • Guided by teacher, scaffold

2. Intermediate • Time spent in beginning of the year to build relationship with class e.g. team games • Motivation to learn e.g. moving up to a higher level in spelling • Broad in subject with specialty teachers e.g. food technology, dance and drama, arts, textiles etc. however had the form teacher teach the core subjects (reading, writing, mathematics, and physical education • Assessments in an enjoyable way, don’t realise its an assessment as it is fun to do e.g. making a poster, book, family tree, food design • No pressure to achieve at a high standard • Visual displays

3. High School • In high school, I was unmotivated to learn. There was limited relationship with the teacher and students, as there were different teachers to teach the different subjects • Delivery of school values made unclear therefore taking responsibility of own learning deteriorated • Teachers made little effort to build relationship • Teacher stands in front of class and teaches, no social construction, seating individual or in peers • Activities on paper, textbook, whiteboard • The purpose of the learning were unclear • Distractions in the class e.g. noise level, discussions unrelated to learning, texting, lighting • Punishment for lateness, absence, misbehaviour and very hard to get praise as expectations were very high, however no punishment for not handing in homework

4. Tertiary • Involvement of social construction unlike other tertiaries • Learning objectives made clear • Clear scaffold • Different learning approaches Strategies learnt during the primary years were very important to build how I learn now, my metacognitive awareness (Duchesne, McMaugh, Bochner, & Krause, 2013). For example, I would use repetition of reading the textbook or listening to lectures so that I am able to remember the information. These skills that I have learnt and the motivation that I had in the primary years has helped me to carry out my learning further to tertiary study. The experiences that I have had has contributed to how I process information now, as I was able to explore the different strategies to find the ones that I felt comfortable with. Without experiencing the different strategies and approaches that I had in the classroom, it would have been difficult to carry out my study.