It was late in the year. We had a new textbook series, and I was opening our Civil War unit with what the book called a “geography challenge.”
Blank map. Labeling instructions. A few basic questions.
I passed it out like I had all year—going through the motions, hoping something would click.
Then a student stood up and asked the question I hadn’t said out loud, but had been carrying with me for months:
“Why are we doing this? I don’t learn anything from these maps.”
She wasn’t being rude. She was just being real.
And honestly? She was right.
In that moment, I did something I’d never done before. I told the class to stand up. Walk to the trash can. And throw the maps away.
Some might say I let the students take over.
I see it differently.
That day, I made a promise—to myself and to them:
I’m going to be better than this textbook.
From that point forward, I became obsessed with making social studies an experience.
Not a worksheet. Not a compliance task.
An experience.
I started reading everything I could find. I tried new strategies. I messed up. I adjusted. I reflected. I failed forward.
Some lessons landed. Some bombed.
But I kept going.
That one comment flipped a switch. It made me stop settling. It pushed me to search for better ways—and eventually, it led me to EduProtocols.
(But that’s another Things That Shaped Me post.)
For now, I’ll say this:
That student didn’t just question a lesson.
She lit a fire.
She gave me permission to stop pretending the default was good enough.
And I’ve been building something better ever since.
Moler's Musings 