HELP!!!

So we've attempted twice to make bread in our bread maker and we can't seem to get it right. It seems to not raise enough and so it's very heavy and just tastes weird so we need any helpful advice anyone wants to give us!!! We want to perfect it soon because we love bread! (One really good thing to do on toast--this is a grandma secret so don't tell anyone that I told you--you make toast and butter it and then get a package of jello and pour some of the dry mixture onto the toast and enjoy. Any flavor works and it's delicious. We would go to my grandparents and eat that all the time and it's like a yummy treat! I know it sounds gross but it's really actually good and I think my family still does it all the time.