Name:Kenny Puk
Breakthrough Program:Greater Philadelphia Drexel
Subject Teaching:Algebra
School Attending/Year:University of Pennsylvania/2013

I'm in the heart of the 2nd week of training and preparing the first few days of lessons. Never...never...have I imagined so much going into ensuring that the all students can learn to the best of their ability. No one is overqualified to teach. Good teachers build skill with no assumptions of their students, by following a cycle that ensures the transfer of knowledge to long term memory, and above all, mindful of the differences in students' learning styles. While I learned all this in the past week and a half, I know I'm no expert yet! I can tell you that after preparing for the lesson plan for the first day of content, my mentor teacher immediately offered a seemingly unending stream of advice--some minor, some invaluable--for what I had imagined as a polished plan. The amount of foresight that she exhibited in 3 minutes rivaled that of any professional at any level. This may be said of teachers often, but I have a different understanding of what it means when people laud teachers for the little things they do. Classes begin next week, and in 5 weeks, I hope to have made little, small, imperceptible improvements.