Two studies explored the use of students' remembrances of school during preservice elementary education pedagogy courses. The studies assumed that cognitive schemas activated by writing remembrances would mediate the influence of experience on the interpretation of course content. The studies examined what kind of school experiences preservice educators reported in their remembrances and what influences the remembrances had on their interpretation of classroom events. Students wrote about a pleasant and an unpleasant elementary school remembrance. In study one, the focus was on the extent to which students thought about their school experiences in interpreting a hypothetical elementary classroom event (cheating). In study two, some students were asked to write extended remembrances. In both studies, students had to choose either supportive or restrictive actions to deal with classroom episodes. They shared their reactions to the application of reward and punishment concepts to classroom management problems. Results indicated that students whose written remembrances were related to the hypothetical classroom event and those whose remembrances were unrelated to the same event interpreted the event differently. Students in study two had positive perceptions of the value of writing and sharing remembrances, particularly extended remembrances, suggesting that the activity is instructionally useful. (SM)