ReflectiononDispositions

Tobecomeasuccessfulteacher,ateachershouldpossessanddevelopcertain
characteristicsnaturallyorfromlearning.Ofthese,themostimportantonesaretoknowhowto
respectothersincludingtheirstudentsandcolleaguesregardlesstheirabilityandtobededicated
totheteachingprofession.Teachinginadiverseclassroomnowadays,ateachershouldknow
howtodifferentiatethelessontomeetstudentsneedsbutnottodifferentiatestudentsand
shouldbelievethatallstudentscanlearnmathematics.Ateacheralsoshouldknowhowto
cooperatewithcolleaguesinordertocreateapositivelearningandworkingenvironment.
My very first time learning, being a student, and seeing math from studentsperspective
was when I taking Dr. Gardellas Methods class. While my colleagues were presenting their
work and facilitating the class, I was learning the math from them like a high/middle school
student who never learned the specific math topic before. Not all of colleagues were expert.
However, I liked and learned from my colleagues lesson plan a lot especially when his/her
instructions were very clear and made us do the most of the work. Sharing each others lesson
plans at class and providing feedbacks were one of the fulfilling experience I had at Hunter
College. During these lessons, I learned the effective teaching. For example, the only time my
colleague, facilitator, worked with us was in the beginning of the lesson to go over the
instruction that he/she wrote on the worksheet thoroughly.Sothelessoncanbestudentcentered
learning rather than teachercentered. Also, I liked when my colleagues madeusthinkaboutthe
harder problem (challenging questions) and come up with the solution instead of telling us
directly what to do with an example. I thought it was always good to show to students at least
one example of an easy topic and a complicated one. However, I have learned that it is not

always necessary toshowexamplesofeach.Thismightpreventstudentscognitivedevelopment

and block them from thinking beyond our expectations. Out of all, one of the most important
factsisthatifIhaveabelievethatallstudentscanlearnmathematicsthentheyallcan.
ThereisalowchanceofworkinginhighachievementschoolssuchasStuyvesantHigh
Schoolafterwegraduate.Thismeansthatthereisahighchanceofworkinginpoor
neighborhoods.WhenIobservedLongIslandCityHighSchoollastyear,Isawastudentwho
haddrugabuseproblems.HebarelycametoschoolandeverytimeIsawthestudent,hiseyes
werered,andhecouldnotfocusontheclasswork.Themathteachertoldmethattherewasa
socialworker,butitdidnotreallyhelpwithsolutions.Itwasbecausetheprogramisnot
continuous.Forexample,thestudentdoesnotdoillegaldrugswhilereceivingthecounseling.
However,whenthesemesterends,theboyforgetsabouttheprogramandstartsdoingillegal
drugsagain.Thiscyclecontinues,sotheteachertoldmethatthedrugabuseprogramdoesnot
seemtobeworkingwellatall.Ifeithertheteacherortheschoolprovidedapositivelearning
environment,Ithinkthismighthavebeenresolvedthroughsupportsincludingcounseling.
Throughthisnegativeobservation,Ilearnedhowimportantteachingjobisbecauseteacherneed
toknowothercircumstancesthanteaching,includingcreatingapositivelearningforstudents.
IobservedbullyingintheAcademyofAmericanStudiesonOctober,2015.TheAlgebra
teacherofaboywhowasgettingbulliedtoldmethattheentireclasswasbullyingtheboy.She
believesthatthemainreasonisbecausetheboyasksthousandsofquestionseverydaysuchas
wheretowritedownthehomeworkquestionsandhowheshouldwritetheminorder.WhenI
askedthemathteacherwhethershecanreporttothedeanabouttheboygettingbulliedbyhis
classmates,sheclaimedno.Itisbecauseeveryoneisbullying,andshecannotreporttheentire

class.Ifthishappensinmyfutureclass,Iwouldintegratebullyingissuetomathlessonandlet
mystudentslearnthatmakingfunofotherpeersissamethingashomicide.Ibelievethatinstead
oftellingtostudentsnottodothisorthatdirectly,lettingthemlearnnaturallywithteachers
supportguidethembettertounderstandtheirwrongbehaviors.
Ihadmanyopportunitiestoattendprofessionaldevelopmentsessionsofferedatboth
insideandoutsideofHunterCollege.Althoughtheseprofessionaldevelopmentswerenot
mandatory,Ialwaysparticipatedformyowngoodbecausetheyofferedalotofhelpsand
supportsinlightofteaching.Italsohelpedmedevelopprofessionalismformyself.Beinginthe
educationprogramforafewyears,IhadopportunitiestoattendtheATMNYCeveryyear.Igot
chancestolearnmoreaboutclassroommanagement,teachingmethods,studentmotivation,and
usingtechnologyintheclassroom.Inateacherconferenceorameetingofmathematics
organization,teachersorotherexpertswillsharetheirexperiencesaboutlearningandteaching
math.Asanewteacher,Icanlearnfromtheirexperiencesandadoptsomeeffectiveteaching
techniques.Insuchways,Icankeepimprovingmyself.AlthoughIgraduatethissemester,Iam
planningtoattendtheATMNYCannuallytolearnmore/betterstrategiesformyteachingcareer
inordertoprovidethebestlearningenvironmenttomyfuturestudents.