Reflection on Skills

I came to Hunter College with the purpose to learn the skills necessary to
become a teacher. Much to my surprise, my biggest challenge was to design a lesson
plan for the first time. Equally challenging was to deliver a lesson in front of my
Professor and my colleagues for the course, Building Foundations of Literacy in
Adolescent Education. As I reflected on this experience, I realized that knowing the
mathematics and having some experience tutoring did not guarantee I would be able to
accommodate my students learning needs.
The first time I wrote a lesson plan, it seemed the most daunting because when it
became time to write it, is when I felt clueless the most. I had never formally written one
and I was not sure what its main components were. Being face with the fact that
planning depended on various factors: content, vocabulary, language, culture, special
needs, and more, made me feel overwhelm. Writing my first lesson plan took me a
couple of days thinking how I was going to make sure that students met the objective. I
wrote my first lesson plan a numerous times and every time I though I was done, I
would think of something I was still missing. When I got the lesson plan returned back
from my professor, I was reassured to see that I was on the road to writing effective
lesson plans.
Throughout my trajectory as an aspiring teacher, I have written numerous other
lessons plans; each meeting a different format, depending on the importance
associated with the course. Trying to meet the expectations of each professor has been
challenging and confusing at times. However, with each professor, Ive learned that by
taking into consideration a student-centered lesson planning approach, I will be able not

only to meet their needs but also to encourage students to become independent
learners and to take responsibility of their own learning.
The patience and the guidance along with the constructive feedback of my
professors, has also had a positive impact in my knowledge and skill of planning. A well
though out lesson plan increases the occasions to incorporate more learning
opportunities during lesson delivery, while leaving valuable time for independent or
group activities. Ensuring that students have the opportunity to practice during each
session is essential so that they can reinforce, extend and solidify their understanding,
in addition, to allowing for the students to be active participants in their learning.
I have found that formal assessment of student performance throughout the
development of the lesson, will impact the flow of delivery depending on whether or not
the goals of education are being met. That is why practice time became for me the
perfect opportunity I would get to gain an insight into how the students are assimilating
the new learning. Also, by walking around the classroom, I get the opportunity to listen
to their conversations and assess how well they are using academic language.
Moreover, it gives me the opportunity to sense if they are applying their new acquired
knowledge or using background knowledge to solve the problems they have at hand. In
addition, I get to evaluate how well students are helping each other because I believe
that this is an essential step towards students taking responsibility for their own
learning.
Student Teaching provided me the opportunity to apply summative assessment
on a group of students for the first time. I learned that writing fair and effective
assessment takes time to learn. It is a bit of trial and error. As I created tests and I
graded them, I became aware of the immensity of considerations that I must take both
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while writing them and later grading them. Formative assessment on students also gave
me an insight into the common mistakes and misunderstanding that they usually make.
It gave me a clearer picture about their achievement or where gaps may occur.
Another skill that I gradually developed trough my graduate studies in education
and Students Teaching was how to create a healthy learning environment that is safe,
open, and an inviting place to learn. At Hunter College, I learned in theory that the first
days or weeks of the semester are crucial in establishing the learning environment you
want for your students. I also learned that is it important to be mindful of the students
cultural differences, to value, and use them as an asset that students bring into the
classroom. However, it was not until I was doing my Student Teaching that I fully
understood the difficulties that new teachers face when they are in front of a classroom.
Fortunately for me my fieldwork supervisors feedback and suggestions helped me
sustained better control of my classroom. Under his mentoring I was learning to create
an inviting place for learning that allowed for students to take risks and to ask questions.
My goal became to create a caring learning environment that promoted constructive
sharing of ideas, where conversations became natural among students and dialogue
took place between teacher and student, and vice versa.
In my short experience in front of a classroom I have learned that a good lesson
development involves the skills discussed above. They are all mutually dependent on
each other and if is not implemented adequately, it affects student learning. As a new
teacher I understand that I am still developing these skills and that I must be committed
to spending the necessary time in this endeavor.