Narrative Timeline

Understanding Learner
2014
This was my first year at Doulos, and I was learning a lot. Considering that these
were the years that learning was easy and when math didn’t have letters. I enjoyed
learning the things that were taught to me when I first got to this school, and I knew
for a fact that I was doing way better than what I have been doing in my previous
school. I still did not know my learning style, so I was managing anyway I could.

During my middle school years, it was a hard time for me to take time to

2017
understand lessons. I would often feel inferior to my classmates because I
learned things slower than everyone else. A lot of my grades were bad, and I
would always compare myself to other students in my class. I would always tell
myself “I wish I was as smart as them” or things like “Why am I so slow”. I would
always put myself down and beat myself up for these types of things, and it
continued on for a long time.

This was the year when we transitioned from being middle schoolers to high
schoolers. It was very difficult at first to adapt to the new changes. I was always

2018
lost due to our schedules, I never knew what was going on around me. I
struggled a lot with learning algebra during math class, and also had a hard
time writing my first essay in English class. Not only that, but I would constantly
ask my classmates what we were supposed to do because of me being a “slow
minded learner”. Like I mentioned before, I would always beat myself up for
being slower than the rest and slowly driving me to be a little depressed and
compare myself to others.

I remember during this year was when I started to take things more seriously. I
always seeked out help, whether that being with teachers and classmates. I used

2019
any resource I could to find the answers I was looking for. During that time, I
learned that I am a visual and kinesthetic learner. I learn best when I watch
other people explain through actions or visual representations what they are
trying to demonstrate, and then I try it out myself (hence the hands on learning
part from being a kinesthetic learner). After learning that, I started learning
quicker and effectively; that’s when I figured out that knowing what type of
learner I am really does help improve your learning capabilities.

This was 10th grade year and that’s when things started to get slightly better. My
grades were getting better, and I was improving considerably a lot. But then

2020
Covid hit, and I had to adapt to the situation. I had no idea how to go from in
person learning to online learning. It took a lot of perseverance and asking
questions to get accustomed to online learning. After some time, I got used to
things and noticed that online learning might not be as hard as I thought. The
hard thing was not being able to see people daily like we used to, and that was
affecting me mentally and emotionally.

During this time I was going through a lot of hard moments. Emotionally, physically and
mentally I was not okay. I did well in school, but because of the lack of being able to be with

2020
people, I spent most of my time sleeping, and my eating schedule was all messed up. I became
very weak physically because I was not maintaining a healthy diet. I am a physical contact
person and not being to hug people or be next to other people aside from my family made me
really depressed, so emotionally I was not doing good. Then during that same year I went
through a hard time that caused me trauma and that was the last blow where I was not doing
good mentally. I needed to go see a therapist often; I would always cry myself to sleep and
having the responsibility of keeping on doing school work at the same time, it was a very hard
time for me.

It was around the beginning of the year, I had a conversation with my dad which
made me want to change. I remember he told me that if I did not change the

2021
way I was living, then there could be a high possibility that I would eventually die
sooner than what I thought. That advice coming from a health professional, I
knew I had to take it seriously. I knew that I needed to do something about the
condition that I was in. I could not keep on having an unhealthy lifestyle. I took all
the knowledge I had about past events and tried to look for ways that I knew
would be healthy for me to keep living my life. I understood that my life was at
risk and even though it was a very hard time for me, I looked for ways to get my
life back on track.

I asked my dad what I should do, and I listened to the advice he suggested. Not
only that, but I started drinking supplements so that my body gains back the

2021
energy it lost because of my unhealthy diet. I started eating healthier and eating
3 meals a day like I am supposed to. I looked for exercises online that would
accommodate my body and help me gain my strength back like my dad
suggested. After some time I started attending the gym, but I soon had to leave it
since my body could not take all the things being given to me, so I stuck with
small steps first. Eventually, I gained my strength back and started looking
healthier again. I stopped needing to drink supplements and could do stuff on my
own again without the help of others.
 It was September 2021, and we were able to go back
to in person classes. It made me so happy being able
to see people again. After we got back to class, It felt

2021
so unusual to use paper and pencil again. It was as if I
forgot how to write, but it was only a matter of days
to get used to being in person again. This time I had
to adapt from online classes to in person, and it
wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. I was simply
happy with the fact that I can be surrounded by
people, despite not being to hug or be close yet.

During this time, I needed to adapt my learning style

2021
can remember the information. During online classes I
felt like learning was easier in some parts and had no
problem taking quizzes or tests, but now it was
different I had to look at paper and re-learn how I
am supposed to remember all the information and
write it in paper. It sounds silly, but it took me at least
2 weeks to be able to get used to the change.

At the beginning of this year, we stopped

2022
normal yet too weird to transition to
being normal human beings again. I
needed to once again adapt and get
used to a change from wearing masks on
the daily to not wearing masks
completely.

Now, I am almost graduating and have come

2022
throughout my years at Doulos and learned
many things. I experienced, adapted and
overcame different challenges. Furthermore, I
know for a fact that I will continue to do these
things and learn much more than what I know
in the present.

Amy Gonzalez