A.

Domain: Knowledge
At Hunter College, I have learned and applied a broad range of strategies and techniques that
impact student knowledge as well as my own. Through course work, fieldwork observations, and
student teaching, I believe my understanding of mathematics education has been strengthened
tremendously. Students understand and comprehend mathematics in various ways. Having spent
the past three semesters in high schools either observing or student teaching, my insight into how
students learn has grown immensely. In order to understand the nature of the learning sequence
of students, there are many different factors that come into play.
Aside from academics; there are other components that affect student learning. This includes
demographics, socio-economic backgrounds, and in some cases home life. Many students hold
jobs after school, have children of their own, take care of their families, and have other barriers
in place that can affect student knowledge and learning. This affects the social and academic
language used in the classroom. Students come in to the classroom with certain knowledge of
previous topics and it is out job to teach mathematics in a way all students can understand. In
Social Foundations, we discussed few of the many social challenges faced in urban settings
including race, gender, and special needs students and the social barriers the educational system
places on them. What students already know affects their learning. For example, I student taught
at an alternative high school where most students have taken and failed math courses multiple
times. Students had a negative association with mathematics, and it was an obstacle for me as a
teacher to push the students past their unenthusiastic views. Learning is based on context, so
generalizing learning to new contexts needs to be facilitated. Relating back to my own math
educational experience, everything was always extremely procedural. My teachers never asked
personal questions and had any interest in getting to know me. I do not believe that made them

bad teachers, I just had a different experience then what Hunters program stresses. I went to a
high school with little diversity and where students drove more expensive cars then the teachers.
As discussed in Methods, there is a sequence of obtaining knowledge. Mathematics should
be taught first at the kinesthetic level, then connect to language, and symbols, and finally the
symbolic version. Language should start at social vocabulary and make its way up to the
formalized, technical vocabulary. According to Davis Sausa, knowledge is best comprehended
when there is a kinesthetic activity with it to trigger episodic memory. On our first day of
Methods two years ago, I still to this day remember the kinesthetic activity. When my classmates
and I first walked into the classroom, we were each handed an index card. I assumed we were
going to be writing our names, emails, addresses, etc. on the cards, but we were instructed to
write a number instead. With very little directions given (including no talking to each other), our
class found the middle number amongst ourselves. It seems that I will always remember the first
day of Methods proving the presence of episodic memory. After the kinesthetic portion of
learning comes the connection to language and symbolism. First the students need to make the
connection to their social vocabulary. If students can associate the actions of the activity to their
own language, students will form a base knowledge of the material. Then they can work towards
connecting the language symbolically to form a concrete understanding. The symbolic
representation of leaning should come last when students understand where they come from.
Whether it was observing, teaching, or my own math class experiences, I have been able to
acquire a working knowledge of algebraic and geometric concepts, all the way through calculus.
Through the course work at Hunter, I have broadened my math skills from algebra, statistics,
calculus, and geometry. In Secondary School Mathematics from an Advanced Perspective 1, I

was challenged to recall concepts and skills that I had learned prior to attending Hunter. A
specific instance where I needed to recall my understanding was deriving the quadratic formula.
The education courses also fostered a strong understanding of the learner and how he or she
learns. In Methods I and II, we focused on how to introduce and teach new skills, mainly through
kinesthetic activities. While mathematics courses focused on good teaching strategies, the
education courses gave more on an insight on adolescent behavior and brain development. In
Educational Psychology, we studied the impact of student learning based off of certain teaching
techniques, i.e. authoritarian, authoritative, etc. We also discussed how demographics affect the
classroom. In Adolescent Development, I learned how the brain developed and what that means
in the classroom. Based off of brain development students learns in all different forms. I was able
to apply my learning from Educational Psychology and Adolescent Development in the
fieldwork attached to the courses completed at Gramercy Arts High School. I used questions to
facilitate learning and thinking and created positive relationships with my students in my
A.V.I.D. groups.
In the course attached with student teaching, Professor Hoosak taught us the major dos and
donts in the classroom. We readied ourselves for the edTPA while practicing promoting
questions that encourage a higher order of thinking, active engagement and involvement, and
positive learning environments. After taking these courses and completing my student teaching
experience, I have found that presenting mathematical concepts in ways that relate to real world
topics or areas of student interest help students feel what they are learning is useful. Having
experienced a wide range of mathematics prior and throughout my Hunter College experienced
coupled with the education courses has helped me truly acquire a working knowledge of
concepts, skills, and techniques that can be applied to affect student knowledge.