I loved learning as a kid, as a musician, as a builder and as a teacher.  Of course, there are times during my career in education that I've been frustrated because my students weren't retaining what I was trying to teach.  

That frustration drove me learn more.  I wanted to know how to help my students learn, and I became convinced that TEACHING and LEARNING are not the same thing.  I also began to understand that if my students weren't learning, I wasn't doing my job--even if I was teaching--and "covering the material."

   That's important because the realization that I was responsible for my students' learning changed the equation for me.  I used to think it was my job to put the information before my students and it was their job to learn it.  I've heard other teachers say much the same thing.

   When I understood that I needed to figure out how to create a learning environment where kids could learn in ways that not only appeal to them, but ways that actually "stick."  It's kind of silly for us as educators to be continually complaining that students don't retain what we teach, especially if we are unwilling to make the changes that really can create retained learning and rich understanding.