Patricia Arredondo

Domain: Skills
Reflection
Prior to beginning the Adolescent Math Education program at
Hunter College, my only experience with students included tutoring. I
had little to no training in planning for lessons. I also had no training in
classroom management and structure, and student assessment.
Several courses provided me with support and guidance in lesson
planning and assessment. However, it was my time spent observing
students and teachers during fieldwork, and my time teaching during
practicum, that I learned the most about refining my skills as a teacher.
The program at Hunter provided me with an invaluable support
in lesson planning. I feel like almost every course I took touched upon
lesson preparation, either directly or indirectly, and each with a slightly
different lens. For example, Professor Hodnett, teacher of SPED 708,
really instilled in me the importance to understanding each students
needs, whether a student with disabilities or not. She modeled how a
lesson could be modified or enhanced to meet all students needs.
Prior to the course, I never thought to create slides that were both
visual and audio, so as to help students with impairments.
Meanwhile, Professor Walsh of SEDC 710 taught me to
incorporate elements of enhancing student literacy throughout all
plans. Just because we are teaching mathematics doesnt mean we

shouldnt be concerned with the overall growth of a student, which

includes strengthening their literacy. Professor Eliason at times had us
working backwards when thinking about lesson planning. Throughout
the SEDF 706 Assessment course, I was taught to think about the
results of formative assessments to dictate future lesson plans. For
example, if a quiz assessment demonstrated students did not achieve
full understanding of a particular topic, the future lesson plans should
definitely reflect a new approach to the topic and should be reassessed
later. Finally, both Methods courses provided me with more direct
support in lesson preparation and assessment, as Professor Gardella
created lessons for us to experience, and we crafted many lessons and
units ourselves for the benefit of the whole class, under his direction.
All of the teacher skills covered in this domain were definitely
strengthened while in the classroom. The hands-on experience Hunter
provides is unmatched. We learned about classroom management
throughout our coursework, but it wasnt truly meaningful until I saw
some practices put into place by veteran teachers. I specifically
remember being very impressed by an AVID teacher during my first
fieldwork experience. He had control of a class of challenging students,
while still providing a sense of care, respect and admiration for them.
These students were often on task, and were invested in the course. It
was interesting during that semester to then walk into a trigonometry
class and witness a teacher struggle to keep her students attention. In

a way, it was reassuring to know that even veteran teachers have to

work hard at classroom management. However, the chance to spend
time in different classrooms was an opportunity for me, as I was able to
compare one teachers practices with anothers and gain an
appreciation for what was working.
The in-classroom experience helped round out my journey in
lesson planning and assessment. After giving students a quiz during
my fieldwork one semester, I realized they had remained confused
about the differences between mean, median and mode. I had already
planned a few of my future lessons, but realized the importance of
being flexible in planning. I rearranged some of my plans to
incorporate a mini-lesson on mean, median, and mode. I used a great
lesson Professor Gardella had shown us, and it benefitted my students.
Throughout my coursework at Hunter, many classes taught me
how to make modifications for struggling or impaired students.
However, I do not feel I had much preparation in modifying plans to
meet the needs of gifted students. During my practicum, I did not have
many struggling students, but I had several strong students seeking
more than I was giving them. I took the same ideals taught in meeting
a struggling students needs. I took time to search for more challenging
problems, and created more optional work for these students. Meeting
students needs is a key take-away from what Ive learned at Hunter in
building my skills as a teacher.