Personal Narrative: A Career As A Learning Assistant

Words: 1176
Pages: 5
Open Document
As a learning assistant for applied mathematics and statistics, I am extremely thankful for the experience and opportunity I was given. I have always wanted to explore a career as a teacher and I think MSI has definitely gave me exposure of not only teaching, but learning many practical skills such as learning to time manage. Initially, I was unsure of how I would balance the position and thought I would just show up to sessions and have that teacher to student relationship, which lacks a personalized experience. However, I fell in love with my students and their success become a part of my success. I gained happiness and a sense of pride after hearing the results of how well students did on exams and observing the relationships we built since …show more content…
Initially, I learned that everyone comes from different environments including races, religions, cultures, and genders etc. Upon learning about stereotype threat, I was reinforced that everyone regardless of who and what they look like are vulnerable to stereotype threat. With this, I learned that a huge effect of stereotype threat is that is creates poorer performance. An example would be that if society says that “Asians are good at math”, if all of a sudden the struggle, they can experience self-threat and anxiety because they feel a sense of responsibility that they should be good at math. By understanding this, I learned to accommodate all different types of people to support their success in the course. Some of these techniques were creating safe spaces where everyone feels comfortable to speak and no one person dominates the conversation. This could be achieved by not being a teacher, but rather a student. As students, we understand the challenges within a course and we are often similar in age and should be approachable. In other words, in Stev 96, we learned to create a environment that is not solely focused on the subject and learn to stimulate conversation before and after sessions. I think this was …show more content…
In Stev 96, we learned scaffolding techniques and I particularly found fascinating the “Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). I learned that there must be a balance between learning from peers that are less capable, of equal ability, more capable peers, and developing inner resources through knowledge, experience, memory and strength. Initially, in my sessions, I tried splitting the students up by ability and performance based on a formative assessment given. However, after understanding the ZPD, I realized that learning can actually be the most beneficial if you have an even distribution of students in groups. By having a student who struggles, a student who is semi-confident in their understanding can explain problems and the one who is the most capable can oversee as an additional helper to the learning assistant. Many suggests this can hold back students who are already ahead, but I recall during Stev 96 that ambitious students attend MSI and if students already fully understand course material why are they at MSI? Based on this assumption that students who attend are not fluent in the material lack some knowledge and other peers may introduce new perspectives or insights on how to solve problems. Students with more understanding can test their knowledge
Show More

Related Documents: Personal Narrative: A Career As A Learning Assistant

How to Create a Resume Essay

LETTERS Undergraduate Resource Series Office of Career Services | 54 Dunster Street Harvard University | Faculty of Arts and Sciences | 617.495.2595 www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu © 2012 President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without the express written permission of the Harvard University Faculty of Arts & Sciences Office of Career Services. 08/12 Office of Career Services Harvard University Faculty of Arts & Sciences…

Words 3199 - Pages 13

Clarence Thomas Research Paper

Thomas' personal journey and his bond to originalism have produced both admiration and criticism, making him a figure of significant interest and controversy. By shedding light on the complexities of Justice Thomas' judicial philosophy and the controversies that surround him, it provides a comprehensive understanding of his role in shaping the course…

Words 2756 - Pages 12

Reflection of Care Management Essay

This assignment will reflect on and critically analyse my personal and professional development in the domain of care management over the last three years. It will additionally outline how I plan to continue to develop in this domain once I have qualified as a registered nurse. My development so far will be analysed from the perspective of the skills, knowledge and values required of a registered nurse. Through this reflection I hope to confirm that my practice meets the standards for entry onto…

Words 3900 - Pages 16

E-Mail In Academi Expectations, Use, And Instructional Impact

Pascarella, for example, has spent much of his career exploring faculty and student communication and its impact on academic achievement and the college experience. Although not set within the context of the digital environment, his studies reveal a strong association between student outcomes and the degree and quality of one-on-one communication between teacher and student.3 These outcomes reflect positive trends in academic achievement, personal growth (both intellectual and developmental)…

Words 5603 - Pages 23

Monitoring And Motivating Organisations

Working with and Leading People Submitted by: Naginder Kaur Student ID-E2026 Executive Summary Good Leader is a necessity of successful organisation. He thinks out of box. The process of leading begins with recruiting people and ends with the end of their job. Improving the skills and motivating them for doing their job efficiently throughout the period of their job is an essential part of leader’s job. He should be able to monitor the performance…

Words 3674 - Pages 15

Essay on Unit Two Assignment Final

E1 Age Social and Emotional development 3 years At the age of three children likes to do things without assistants, “enjoy family mealtimes “(Meggitt, 2006, pg.75). And ask when family members are absent, are able to think from someone else’s point of view. They are affectionate to younger siblings. The child is now able to use the toilet by themselves and is mostly dry thought out the night, they “enjoy helping adults “(Meggitt, 2006, pg.75). like to assist adults with tidying, they are willing…

Words 4984 - Pages 20

Museum Of Human Disease

打破青少年对于“学习”的固有观念，提供一种充满乐趣的和自由平等的学习氛围； 以青少年感兴趣的议题为导向； 鼓励分享。 目前Museum of Human Disease最主要是通过Workshop和导赏的方式引导学生在博物馆中进行探索和学习。这种传统的导赏方式已经难以满足当前的青少年的心理需求了。随着社交媒体和智能移动设备的发展，青少年接触信息和学习的途径更加多元。相比起被动的接收信息，他们能够通过互联网更主动的搜索自己所需要的信息，从而解决生活中的问题。而与此同时，透过社交网络与同辈分享自己的成就也是他们重要的心理动机。 Learning style The visual learning 这种类型的学习者，更依赖于视觉图像来进行学习。相比起用大段文字来解释，简单的diagrams、timelines and flow charts 更能够让他们接受信息。尤其是对于青少年，由于他们相对被动的学习态度，透过简明移动的图像让他们能够在不知不觉中阅读信息，显然是更有效的传播知识的途径。 The auditory learner 传统的静态展示并不适合于the auditory learner。他们更倾向于透过语言交流和讨论进行学习。他们对于展览的意义有更深的需求和兴趣。因此除了透过讲座和workshop这类途径，声音的导览…

Words 1465 - Pages 6

The Permanence Of Racism

According to Aguirre (2000), the popular image of the academia is of an “Ivory Tower.” However, the domain of the academia has also been referred to as a “chilly and alienating” environment for faculty of color (p. 19). This is compounded by the enormous amount of challenges and commitments that faculty of color have to endure. These include serving as an advisor or mentor to minority or international students, participating in diversity related committees, and other unequal service expectations…

Words 4651 - Pages 19

Essay about Celta Key

appointed assessor. You will not be assessed by this person (s/he will inspect the centre) but by your tutors. The staff working on this course are: Ramy Sakr Aaron Abrook Jennifer McCready Brigid Nugent Main Course Tutor Assistant Course Tutor Assistant Course Tutor Assistant Course Tutor…

Words 15566 - Pages 63

ECON 7200 Economic Principles M Semester 2 2013 Course Profile DUFE Essay

point of contact should be with your local lecturer, Dr Gu. However, Dr Barrett is always more than happy to respond to student concerns, via email. Dr Barrett will be respond to email within two working days, wherever possible. 2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 2.1 COURSE Learning Objectives Economics is often divided into two microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics focuses on the behaviour of the economic units, such as firms, households and individuals. Macroeconomics looks at the economy as a whole…

Words 6839 - Pages 28