Domain Skills Reflection

Domain: Skills
Reflection
During my undergraduate career, I had been a teaching assistant to middle schools and
high schools. However, I acted more as a tutor to these students and merely assisted them in
their class-work. While my knowledge of mathematics was strong, I had no education on how to
instruct materials to others in various manners. Moreover, I had little to no experience in
planning lessons and assessing students. I realized these were all challenges for me as I entered
Hunter College. Joining the Adolescent Education program as a Graduate student, I hoped I
would overcome these challenges by learning the skills through the coursework and fieldwork
experience I would undertake.
As I had no experience planning, I knew I would have to accept and implement the
critiques of my lessons from my professors and peers. I remember being intimidated and feeling
daunted by the thought of writing my first lesson. Luckily enough, my very first lesson plan that
I had to create was for my Inclusive Classrooms course. I was exposed to various ways of
differentiating and accommodating based on the needs of the learners. Working closely with my
peers and professor, I learned about appropriate strategies and implementation for students who
had learning disabilities, impairments, or ELLs. Submitting my first lesson plan, I received
actionable feedback from my professor.
Many professors emphasized certain elements in the lesson plan, such as being
descriptive and clear in how to differentiate material, while others emphasized the instructional
implementation portion of the lesson plan. Though these various preferences might have been
difficult at the time, it helped improve the quality of my lesson plans. My lessons became more
clear and detailed as I began to consider students, their learning, and their possible
misconceptions of the concepts. I have found that as my skills in lesson planning continued to
grow, I have also been able to better teach students the mathematical concepts. As my lessons
became more detailed, pacing was no longer an issue. I could also plan for areas students may
have various levels of confusion. As a result, my lesson could also include teaching
opportunities that would address these issues. I also found myself finding rooms for
improvement in my lessons after every time I presented it.
I have found that students experience deepened understanding through activities and class
discussions. The more active students are in their learning, the better the chances of cementing
their understanding. As a result, I limit my time at the front of the room to ten to fifteen minutes,
with the remaining time being dedicated to pair work and class discussion.
As students work in pairs on the class-work assignment or activity, I am able to take the
opportunity to walk around and assess for student understanding. Most of my time is spent
facilitating discussion amongst the students in order to clarify any misconceptions. I have the
students explain why they chose a certain strategy to each other. In this way, I can assess the
level of conceptual understanding and address it through guided questioning.
I have further developed my skills in assessment through my student teaching. Creating
formative and summative assessments, I have learned how to appropriately assess conceptual
understanding versus computational skill. I have seen that while students may demonstrate
conceptual understanding, a computational error would lead them to an incorrect solution. As a
teacher, I believe that conceptual understanding being attained by the student should be the goal.
I have also learned the importance of creating and grading tests carefully, as the wording of
questions may not make sense to the adolescent brain as it would to my own.
I have also developed my skills in creating a positive learning environment. Taught to

always consider the cultural, socioeconomic, and family backgrounds of students at Hunter
College, I have found myself observing teachers and their interactions with students. As I had
completed my fieldwork experience in schools with varying demographics, I have found that all
students thrive in a caring and supportive learning environment. A learning environment I want
to attain in my own classroom, this environment makes the students comfortable with each other
and more motivated to learn. In my student teaching experience, I have developed an attitude
that is supportive and caring. All of my students understand that no matter what issues or
problems arise outside of the classroom, everyone must be respectful of each other. They also
know that I am not there to judge them or antagonize them, as I make it clear that we are all
people who want to succeed and reach our goals. With a positive and supportive attitude, I
have made clear to students I am there to help them achieve their goals to the best of my ability;
they simply have to put in the same effort.
My skills in all these areas are still developing. Over time, my skills will continue to
grow as I gain insight from those around me. As all these skills are intertwined, the
improvement of one skill will lend into the development of the other skills. While I am much
more ready to begin teaching in an official capacity, I am also ready to continue developing the
skills I have learned at Hunter College.

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Domain: Skills

I have also developed my skills in creating a positive learning environment. Taught to

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