Domain: Skills

Dimensions 3, 4, 5, 6: Skill in Planning, Teaching, Assessing & Developing Caring Learning

Environment

My first ever class in the graduate program at Hunter College was Literacy which I took

during the summer. Since that class conflicted with other classes in the Fall, I had no option but

to take it in the summer. Hence, I got a jumpstart into the program. I do not regret at all taking

only Literacy that summer and meeting with the class every day except Friday. I feel that class

gave me all the foundations that I need to know and implement in my journey as a teacher.

I got introduced to lesson planning in my Literacy class and we actually had to write

several lesson plans in that class. My first ever lesson plan took me about half a day I would say

that it was daunting. Then the next day when we had to share our lesson plan with a small

group of our class fellows who all were from different disciplines, I got concerned whether my

lesson plan meet the standards. However, beyond my expectation, I found it very useful to get

useful feedback on my lesson by my fellow classmates who all were from different disciplines.

Similarly, I found it very inspirational to have the opportunity to offer my feedback on different

lesson plans from various disciplines. This made me realize the importance of having cross-

discipline sharing of ideas because at the end of the day, if you are an expert in a particular

subject, there is a lot of assumption that you will make about how the students will grasp the

material.

One such example would be, lets say if I am given a word problem, (which is exactly

what my lesson plan was on) asking me to find the sale price of a fencing that would go around

a house, there is a lot of steps I need to take to get there. Hence, I cannot assume that the

students know how to find areas of composite figures.

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 Therefore, there is a lot of thorough planning that needs to take place while writing a

lesson plan. Dr. Gardella also stressed the importance to exchange our lesson plans with non-

Mathematics majors as their approach or struggle while tackling a problem will help us

determine the areas we need to work on. That is, presenting the material in an effective

language, which is easily understood by almost anyone. As a result of all these interactions with

fellow classmates and all various kind of group work, I felt more confident with proceeding

writing lesson plans. This is also the class where I got introduced to backward design which is

really how to devise effective lesson plans with the end goal in mind. Needless to say but my

final project was on this.

In my assessment class, which I took a couple of semester later into the program, I got

hands on experience on various type of assessments. This made me recognize how

assessments are used to measure a students understanding which encompass content and

construct of the lesson. The core idea is to outline the student learning objectives and work

backwards to create the assessment. In this class, we had the opportunity to measure the

progress of two students of our choice from our fieldwork experience.

The assessment class project was a great way to learn about the different techniques

that one need to consider while assessing their students. It also allowed me to consider how to

revisit certain topics that students struggle with. We had several lectures in the class that

pinpointed how some standardized tests do not always given an accurate measure of a

students ability level. After all, every student learns and responds differently to various

instructions.

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 My courses at Hunter have also taught me to look at the students as individuals. During

my fieldwork experiences, I had the opportunity to observe an ICT classroom where you actually

had two teachers on site. One was delivering the lesson while the other was on patrol. In other

words, the other teacher was making sure that the students stay active and engage in the

classroom.

During my observations, I also had the opportunity to work with a couple of students

which made me realize how important it is to connect with the students one on one as it

provides for a more nurturing environment where the student really feels that he is an

important asset in the classroom. Research shows that when people are addressed with their

names, they are more responsive to be engaged and open. Similarly, teachers need to create an

environment of care where no student feels left behind. I was able to apply this method in my

first semester teaching and I felt that the students got motivated to ask engaging questions

when they are prompted to do so.

Additionally, I also realized that while delivering a lesson, it is perfectly efficient to make

adjustments accordingly. I have had a couple of instances where I had to postpone an exam

based on the students readiness. As a result of which, I had to use the class time to focus on

more drilling exercises in order to hone in on the topic at a deeper level. I saw one the teachers

do that seamlessly while I was observing a Statistics class at a High School in Queens. Finally, no

size fit all is the mantra that every teacher needs to constantly reflect on.