Reflection on growth

When I decided to join MAET at Georgetown, I had two main concerns. The first one was my native language, and the second was to understand a new school system. In perspective, I can observe evidence of my growth in aspects related to those concerns. 

First, I am more critical in observing and analyzing how educational systems can affect learners’ experiences. I have reflected on the importance of having transformative teachers who can advocate for their students from their practices in the classroom while understanding the inequities they might face. I started to consider the importance of cultural background when it comes to teaching, taking into account how intersectionalities and the uniqueness of our students should define our approaches and the way we connect with them. 

I also have learned about effective and simple practices that I should implement in a classroom, such as presenting the goals at the beginning of the class, differentiating the lesson, and using all the resources and linguistic repertoire that my students bring. Another practice that became more conscious was collecting data but also doing it with purpose and analyzing those results to create better lessons that address the students’ needs.

Finally, confidence in myself has been an area where I see growth. Since the beginning of my residency, I have asked to have broad experience as possible. That allowed me to work with different ages, and I also had the chance to explore other spaces like small groups in push-in and pull-out intervention. These experiences reflect the flexibility and confidence that I have grown to support the students in different environments. I am also grateful for my supervisor because her trust pushed me to have ownership over my interventions and let me make decisions and plan for the students.

This year has been challenging, but I can see how much I have learned in the residency program through experiences and observations. I realized that there are various misconceptions about development, teaching, and learning and how they are connected with background and cultural experiences. Finally, I had considered my home language a disadvantage initially but found that it became the most powerful tool to communicate with families and to demonstrate to my students the collective pride we share of our home language.