Domain: Impact on Student Learning

Reflection
As teachers, we all strive towards attaining one goal: to reach our students. We strive to
ensure that student learning is taking place in our classrooms. It is a defining feature of the
career. In my own experience, I have experienced the greatest happiness when my students say
the finally understand the concept I am teaching and the greatest disappointment in myself when
students leave the classroom not understanding the concept at all. There is a sense a failure when
I realize that student learning did not take place in the classroom and I strive to find other ways
of presenting the concept to my students in order to overcome it.
Prior to attending Hunter College, I worked as a teaching assistant for the mathematics
departments in various middle schools and high schools. Assigned to different mathematics
teachers, I provided assistance to students with their classwork in group and one-on-one settings.
I also worked with my assigned teachers to check student homework, where I was able to see if
students understood concepts or if there were misconceptions. I have also tutored students at the
collegiate level, mostly working with my peers who struggled with Calculus. Many times, my
students often told me that I would be a great teacher as I was easy to understand and found
ways to make the topic interesting.
After entering Hunter College, I have had more experiences where I played a part in the
impact on student learning. Student teaching at John V Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter
School, I work with over-aged and under-credited students. Class sizes are small and teachers
and administration work very closely with each other on how to best support these students and
ensure they learn. In the class that I have had the opportunity to teach, I have twelve students on
my roster. However, only eight students show up regularly. With the eight students I teach

regularly, I have developed a rapport with the students that has positively affected the learning
environment. I have been told multiple times by my students that the way the concepts are
taught in our class is something they haven't experienced in their previous classes. The students,
whether they struggled or excelled in mathematics in their previous courses, have all spoken out
at how they finally understand what is being taught. They have become more motivated and
focused compared to how they were in the beginning of the semester. Through various forms of
assessment, I see that my students mathematical skills and understanding have vastly improved.
Hearing and seeing such positive results from my students is extremely rewarding for me,
as the goal of student learning was accomplished amongst these students. However, I still find
myself thinking what I could have done for the four students who stopped showing up to class. I
believe that I would have impacted their learning in a positive manner; however, I lost my
opportunity. That in itself has caused me much disappointment and I am working with my
cooperating teacher and the appropriate channels to see if we can convince those students to
return to school.
I have also found that I have impacted student learning. Required to assess two students
in my Assessment and Learning in Adolescent Education course, I recruited two Undergraduate
students from Hunter College as I was not teaching at the time. The two students were taking an
introductory course in Statistics. One student was confident in his mathematics skills while the
other lacked confidence. Very willing to work with me as I was offering to teach them the
material they were learning in class, both students were motivated and focused. Teaching them
the content they were learning in their Statistics class, I noticed that they were struggling with
the material. However, with time, both students were improving. Completing two forms of
assessments, a quiz and a discussion, I noticed that both students gained confidence in their

knowledge. Speaking to the students individually, they shared with me that they felt they
understood the material better when I taught them as opposed to their own professors. It was a
rewarding experience as I felt that I attained the goal of impacted their learning. Moreover, I
helped both students feel more confident in their mathematical skills and knowledge, something
they have both shared with me during our conversations.
While both experiences were positive in that I saw that I reached students and that they
did learn something from me as their teacher, I did experience disappointment. Seeing the
regularly attendance drop slowly, I felt terrible that I could not reach the students who
unofficially dropped out of school. Speaking with my cooperating teacher and counsellors, I
have realized that in many cases it may not fall upon the teacher as to why the students drop out.
In many cases, there are extenuating circumstances. Working with overaged and under credited
students, I have realized that the stress of having this last opportunity to attain a diploma can be
so stressful to the student that they can not see themselves attaining it. I have also realized that
the studentss past experience in mathematics may have already created a judgement about the
course prior to the start of the semester. Another factor would also limit my opportunity to
impact student learning. Though students travel from different parts of New York City, lateness
is not tolerated at the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter School; if a student does not
make it to school by 10:00 am, they are immediately sent home. Because of these extenuating
circumstances, I have not been able to reach all of my students and impact their learning.
As I have limitations as a teacher, I hope that my first teaching position will help me be
able to grow as I continue my goal of addressing the needs of all students. I hope that all my
students will one day learn and appreciate learning in my class and that I can handle extenuating
circumstances in a more efficient manner.