These are additional guiding questions that might be helpful to you as you construct this essay. You do NOT need to answer ALL of these questions; they are only here to help you IF you find any of them useful:

1. •What was your experience?  Explain the event, or what it is that you are remembering. 
   

2. •Where did your experience take place? Don’t just list a simple location, like “Philadelphia, Pa.” Explain the setting in as much detail as you can.
   

3. •How old were you? 
   

4. •Who was involved?  And how? How did you feel about these other people?  How were they involved in this experience?  What roles did they play?
   

5. •What image/images can you recall to describe your experience?  What action is taking place?
   

6. •Questions to ask yourself:
   

7. •How are/were you feeling about what is/was happening?  Both in the moment, and in retrospect.
   

8. •What lasting influence do you think that your experience has had on you as a learner today?  How might you imagine your experience influencing how you are as a teacher and/or educational ally?
   

9. •What did my experience mean to me in the context of learning?
   

10. •What about my socialization influenced how I interpreted my experience?
    

11. •How did my experience represent some aspect of education for me?
    

12. •What messages did I receive about education from my teachers, peers, parents and community that inform my current thinking about education?
    

13. •What does my socioeconomic, racial, gender, sexuality, religious background and/or ability have to do with who I am and who I am becoming?
    

14. •What readings or authors seem particularly helpful to me in terms of making theoretical sense of my experience?
    

15. •What authors and ideas that we are discussing seem to have some relevance or offer me insight into or questions about my past experiences? 
    

16. •Which parts of your culture influenced your schooling experience?  Why? How? What does it mean to and for you today?
    

17. •What might you take from your experience(s) as a learner to help you on your journey toward “becoming a teacher”?
    

18. •How do you anticipate being challenged regarding inequality and justice, for example, when you are a teacher?
    

19. •How might you begin to entertain other perspectives or counter-narratives about some of the things you are interested in or repelled by concerning education and your participation in it?  Note: this does not mean that you will take them on and necessarily agree with them all of the time.  Consider however how being able to identify and consider them might enhance or compliment your approach to teaching.
    

20. •How will you address issues around inequality and justice, for example in your classroom?  Politics and diversity?
    

21. •What consequences do you anticipate arising as a result of your dealing with some of these issues in your classroom for you?  For your students?  For the school?  For parents?  For the community?  Consider both the positive and negative consequences here.