LEARNER: DAN TRESS

Dan is a builder with a pragmatic mind; he is the Estimator in Northeastern University’s Facilities department, and in his spare time, he builds furniture and other useful items. He is 36 years old, a father of two young children, and a husband (to me). Like many people, he juggles a career and a family, leaving little free time to explore new areas of interest. Cooking and baking, therefore, have not been a priority in his life, particularly because he did not grow up in a family that cooked often; and, cooking and baking is a main hobby of mine, so he never saw the need to learn since I often occupy the kitchen. 

It was no surprise that Dan enjoyed what he called “the step-by-step process” of baking bread. He said, “it felt good while doing it--I felt useful” (D. Tress, personal communication, Nov. 14, 2021), paralleling the way he operates in his everyday life--he likes to complete tasks that have a purpose, an end result. Furthermore, when reflecting on what he learned, he said “I learned something practical, and with that, I gained confidence; I learned that I could do it” (D. Tress, personal communication, Nov. 14, 2021). He saw the value in the practical, but he also saw the value in gaining self confidence in an area that he used to somewhat fear. 

It was clear that another layer of interest acted as a catalyst for this project: challah has deep cultural roots in his life, and he has positive memories associated with eating challah on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. In fact, when asked what was most interesting, fun, and exciting about his learning experience, he said, “The end! Everyone enjoyed it--it was gratifying” (D. Tress, personal communication, Nov. 14, 2021). The positive experiences he had with challah from his childhood mirrored the positive experience of this exercise. As Merriam and Bierema state (2014), “A learning event that connects with a memory of a positive learning experience will be embraced and seen as positive” (p. 170). So, even if he had never made challah before, he certainly has had experiences with the outcome. 

The most difficult part of making challah, Dan noted, was the complex braiding of a round challah (D. Tress, personal communication, Nov. 14, 2021). In my observation, I noticed that Dan changed his learning approach when his first approach wasn’t working--he paused, found a new source, and tried again. He marked this a big takeaway, stating, “I had an open approach to a new thing; when I realize I don’t get something, I need to be comfortable just trying it a new way” (D. Tress, personal communication, Nov. 14, 2021). This speaks to his learning approach, and as see in my analysis, Dan is a strong self-regulator; he followed all of the steps that Beishuizen and Steffens (2011) outline when they say, “Self-regulation is depicted as a cyclic process involving three stages: 1) goal setting, 2) monitoring processes and strategies, 3) self-evaluation” (p. 4).