Domain D

By the end of my student teaching I have learned that the component of the most
powerful principle of learning is the transfer. It examines the factors that affect transfer
and how I as a teacher can use past learnings effectively to enhance present and future
learning. Thus through my Methods courses, I am told over and over that I have to teach
students visually, numerically and geometrically about math concepts in a sequence
aligned order.
For Dimension 10, I provided a sequence of pictures from the last day of my student
teaching experience. I was surprised and touched from my students words, greeting
cards with dedication that they prepared about my teaching days with two different
classes. In their cards, students expressed their feeling and my dedication which was
worth it as a great impact on their learning. It was a great day, because I felt appreciative
and also, their engagement toward earning math knowledge in order to be accepted in
high schools. 8th graders motivation to learn math from me and the gratitude they showed
in the end of my teaching experience is the most worthy impact of student learning.
Another moment of positive learning that I applied specifically for lessons in general is
the Think/Pair/Share method, which means: Think about what you have previously
learned and share your thoughts in a very short time period.
They did share their thoughts and their appreciation about how did they feel about my
student teaching experience. I considered that as the first award toward my teaching
career in the future.
What I learned from the everyday teaching is that the students in this class are mostly
visual learners and hopefully demonstrations improvised by me help them visualize better

the math concepts and shape their understanding about the use of the fractions, and the
numbers with the exponents by applying hands-on activities.
Also, it is very helpful promoting peer groups and group activities in the class in different
topics. Most of the time I promoted group activities in the class; because students
cognitive abilities were still in development so opportunities for them improve critical
thinking by working in groups which is essential. I find it fascinating how the students in
the class very often tried to help each other learn by working together , sharing their
thoughts and launch their learning just by using prior knowledge, leading them to
problem solving solutions and critical thinking ideas. I always demanded them to use
what they have learned before using this method as scaffolding technique and also
leading them to the concept of the new lessons coming.

There is a vast of definitions about teaching. The most classical way that we know
is the level of educating, conveying knowledge from the teacher to the student. Between
these two formulas it exist some tools to accomplish that through inspiration, motivation
and hard work. This great combination leads to the fountain of knowledge.
A great saying highlights: If the child cant learn the way we teach, maybe we should
teach the way they learn.
I relate to that. When I first started my teaching experience I was all about teaching
integrated stuff in one day, so to speak. But dealing with different level of students and
limited in the time frame I had, I learned more about every student in detail, and I started
to adjust based on the way they learned. These two classes that I taught were of the level
1 coming jumping from the 7th grade to the 8th grade and the result from the previous New

York State exam were disturbing. But, by the end of the semester, the New York state
exam results of the two classes graduating from the 8th grade into the high school was its
best of spring 2015, from level 2 going to 3.
I had techniques and theories that I had learned from my courses and frankly, I believed
that I knew it all. Yet, now that I am more experienced I see that this is a very challenging
profession. My priority in assessing my students was to make sure that they were
reaching the level of understanding that I leaded them onto.
The majority of my students had Hispanic background. They also came from low-income
families, where they were raised from a single parent and/or have constant problems at
home. All the students had the responsibility of taking care of their younger siblings
and/or making sure they went to school on time, thus some students were constantly late.
From what I observed carefully, some students were not fed well and sometimes they felt
sleepy or tired in class. But, without a doubt, students behavior was exceptional; they
were very friendly and shared common interests with one another about trending, sport
and music. They enjoyed debating amongst each other and playing basketball after
school. The school team is a champion among school district and sport was a big part of
their hobby and interest. With this knowledge, I tried to relate math problems to their
interest in order to motivate student learning, and it was very rewarding from their point
of view and from mine as well.
What I learned in student teaching was very helpful even in the communication level with
my mentor teacher and the other colleagues as well. In addition, because my classes were
ICT ones, my mentor teacher implemented grouping based on the differentiation
criteria: Process, Product, Content and Environment. Therefore, since students were

grouped due to their academic and special abilities I had to increase the amount of
strategic planning, hands on manipulatives, physical model instructions. This dynamic
affected the way I organized activities and assessments (whether formal or informal) in
my classes to measure students achievement, support activities, such as practice and
helped me determine if the students were meeting learning objectives required to pass the
math NY State exam.
Furthermore, preparing for assessments, I learned a lot about the differentiation and
also the way of adjusting the objectives. It is sometimes necessary and a regular part of
the teaching process. In coming to this conclusion, I researched some of the ways that it
may be possible to adjust goals and objectives for my math learning segments.