These reflections are snapshots during my studies. They represent how I interacted with the material that I learned at the time. I include them here because they are part of who I am and what I represent as an educator, coach, leader, and a person. My coursework has been designed to make me analyze difficult topics critically and form my own position on them. I am taking it a step further by processing them internally and sharing them with others. If these reflections resonate with you, please follow me on LinkedIn: Nadiya Mamalyga | LinkedIn
Encouraging Cultural Communication In My Classroom – September, 2025
Cultural communication is very important. It opens up the field, and learning and appreciating other cultures in addition to your own. It helps students feel accepted and also appreciate their cultural heritage.
I am also a former English Language Learner (ELL). I immigrated to the United States from Ukraine at age 13. I spent two years in an ESL classroom, and even now I sometimes find it hard to catch up to native English speakers, although I consider myself fluent. This experience makes me especially sensitive to students who come from other cultures and linguistic backgrounds. I know how it feels to arrive in a new country, navigate a language that is not your own, and adjust to unfamiliar customs and cultures.
I can share my experiences to build rapport with my students. By sharing aspects of my own culture as an act of vulnerability, I can encourage students to share elements of their cultures in ways that feel comfortable to them. The main goal is to provide a safe space where students can be themselves and where open minds listen as they share what matters to them.
Insensitive responses such as “We don’t do this here,” or “You are not there now,” or “You are wrong” can shut down a student’s identity by imposing another one on them. Historically, colonizers often imposed their own norms, making local people feel that their culture was inferior. We still have much to learn from these lessons. This dynamic of cultural oppression is unfortunately universal, regardless of who is the oppressor and who is oppressed.
The way forward is through extending an olive branch – a teacher’s act of openness, vulnerability, and reconciliation. This aligns with culturally empathetic teaching, which emphasizes relational trust. I need to show them they do not have to wear a mask of conformity. They are accepted as they are. Everyone can maintain their own customs, culture, views, and interests. Being sensitive to and appreciative of differences is part of growing into a well-rounded and curious young adult. Understanding that others may hold different views is part of becoming a more empathetic person, and this must be taught in the classroom. Therefore, I will begin by establishing classroom expectations for a safe space and facilitating a discussion of cultural appreciation that we will formalize into our classroom community norms.
Cultural Appreciation of Mathematics – September 2025
My content area is mathematics. As we explore culture and new ways of teaching mathematics, I will ask students to investigate how mathematics is practiced in their own cultures. Many problems can have more than one valid solution or method. Problems arise in different contexts and can be explained in other ways. What matters most is logical reasoning and critical thinking, alongside clarity and accuracy. Students commonly encounter Western mathematics traditions through rule-based problem sets. However, I can link grade-level standards to historical challenges, such as those faced by the Aztecs. This approach will keep students engaged, build cultural connections, and promote creativity. I will start by asking my students whether they know any mathematicians from their country or community, as well as any mathematical accomplishments of their ancestors. I can then prepare a standards-based lesson that incorporates these cultural contributions. The students might role-play as an engineering team building a Maya monument or solve a problem faced in another civilization. I would then ask them to reflect on how it connects to today’s world. I am not looking for a five-paragraph essay. Even a single sentence such as, “I did not realize that my ancestors contributed to mathematics,” would demonstrate appreciation of their culture and mathematical understanding. Another interesting activity would be to ask students what cultural impression they would want someone from another culture to take away from our classroom community. This would challenge students to pull everything together: their culture, the main lesson, and their role as part of a community, leaving an impact on someone else.
Reflection on the “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” article – September 2025
What stuck out to me when reading this article is the use of the banking system as a model for learning. Identifying teachers and students as bank accounts and describing learning as a transaction where information is transferred from the teacher’s account to the student’s account is unique but also illustrates its shortcomings. It is transactional and leaves little room for creativity. In this system, the transaction either succeeds, and students accomplish their academic goals, or it fails, and students disengage, often leaving with a dislike of mathematics. A teacher in the next class then has several jobs to do: rebuild the student’s confidence in mathematics, close learning gaps, and support mastery of new material.
How would this affect my teaching? I am a mathematics teacher. In the traditional sense, the easiest way for me to teach would be to stand at the whiteboard and have students copy notes and solve problems. In this situation, I would risk acting as an oppressor, forcing information onto students who would have little choice in the matter.
The question is whether the goal of this process is to use the most straightforward method or the most engaging method. Is the point to transfer information, or to inspire students to learn? Should students be made to sit and absorb information without any choice in the matter, or become co-creators of this process through guided exploration?
Are students required to memorize solutions and regurgitate them on homework and tests, or encouraged to find their own creative solutions and support them with critical reasoning? Students can interpret problems in various ways and apply different models to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. Whether through a data set, algebraic equations, a number line, or a graph visualization, the problem can come to life, resisting the banking model, rather than remaining just numbers and formulas on a page.
Making more textured mathematics lessons – September, 2025
I can make the lesson more engaging by using mathematics to bring students’ everyday experiences to life. For example, if they live in an area that experienced a weather disaster, I might use this context to solve problems. I might discuss how we calculate the total damage, how housing prices might have been affected, how interest rates changed, how much more debt the average person might carry, and how much effort it would take to recover from such an event.
I suggest having students work in groups and write a letter from the perspective of a local community leader to Washington, reporting on a particular problem they are analyzing and proposing a solution. This would encourage critical thinking, mathematical reasoning, and citizenship.
By taking ownership of a problem and proposing a solution, students can prepare to take these reins when the time comes. It is excellent practice for them, since our subconscious minds respond similarly to imagined experiences as to real ones.
In addition to these scenarios, I encourage students to approach the problem through modeling in various ways. They may look at the problem as a set of data points and analyze it statistically. Students may generate diagrams and graphs. They may draw a picture or write an equation. Asking students to show all work will promote logical reasoning, even if there is no time to go in depth on proofs.
My thoughts about strategically pushing the status quo – September, 2025
I personally define pushing the status quo as noticing if the current standards and practices do not work and then thinking creatively about solutions and alternatives. My subject is math. Specifically, if teaching in the prescribed way does not produce results on tests, I cannot wait for the system to catch up. I need to make changes in my classroom today. What is more important is that my students truly understand math, which means I need to take action rather than sit on the sidelines.
I am constantly curious and a lifelong learner – this is what I expect from my students, too. I value giving it your all and going all in. Giving up is not an option, even when it gets hard. I would rather investigate solutions that might take longer but still lead to success than give up upfront. I analyze my choices at every step; if a choice I made yesterday is not optimal, I change it. That’s exactly how solving math problems works – many problems have multiple ways to solve them, but some of them are better than others.
I do not have a “my way or the highway” mindset, and I want to encourage my students to have an open mind. I don’t yet have enough experience to question the curriculum, but as I get it, I will. I intend to choose materials that are more inclusive of my students, such as learning about math contributions from their cultures. When addressing outdated lessons, I would brainstorm an alternate method of teaching that learning objective. I plan to try out different methods and then let students co-create with me for future classes by sharing their feedback on their experiences.
Students can question assumptions by learning logical and mathematical arguments – these are called proofs in math and can be used even in a non-standard way. Once I build up my own problem library, we won’t have to rely only on the standard textbook. A teacher I am observing in early fieldwork is doing exactly this.
I will offer extra help to everyone. For students who are doing well and want to help others, I will encourage this. Even though I only have two hands, if high-performing students help, we can make a bigger difference.
I am learning about high-level cognitive tasks and would like to use them as much as possible. I plan to have smaller, more frequent assignments and multiple paths for success. Of course, it will take me some time to build up to that, so I may need to start with more traditional methods. I am going to be fair by using rubrics – these will become more detailed as I gain experience.
Solving real-world problems is central in math, whether it is calculating how long it will take a local community to recover from a weather disaster or evaluating business opportunities. Mathematics is a delicate balance of independent mastery, building, and collaboration. I will work on both. I want to help students look at any situation critically and not just accept what society gives them.
One way I do this is by giving my students real-world problems. For example, I can give my students a real-world problem, such as the sandals purchase with sales tax and a gift card, and have them form groups to explore as many different solution methods as they can before adapting the problem to their own situations. The added bonus is having a set of problems that the class is encouraged to solve independently or together for more practice. This way, students are not just following a textbook procedure but creating and solving problems that connect to their lives, which is how I push against the status quo in my classroom.
Reflection on “Teaching being rachetdemic” – October, 2025
I found that at the beginning of the TED Talk, Emdin highlights the misconception that students from lower-performing schools or from not-so-good neighborhoods may have lower abilities (Emdin, 2021). When he mentioned that he was discouraged from hanging out with kids from those schools, it suggests that, by not being from those schools, the system implied he was better. I picked up that this is not a “fault” of the students, but because they have much more to deal with; what else can you expect? Thus, having different expectations and metrics for students of different backgrounds suggests that students come from either bright or boxed-in environments. Emdin challenges this by arguing that adults need to ensure that students in more challenging environments also have the same opportunities. When I came to the United States, I was in an ESL class for two years. I did not really feel out of place, but the teacher used me as an example to encourage other students to speak English. I did not have another student to speak Ukrainian with, so the teacher said, “Look at Nadiya; she does not have anyone to speak her language with. She must speak English. Can you try to do the same?” The expectation was that, since I did not have the guardrails of speaking my language, others in the class should not have used them either. My adaptation was simple: I had to speak English, and over time I felt more comfortable. This aligns with Emdin’s message: students will come from different backgrounds, and just as my ESL teacher helped me get more comfortable, I should do the same. The rainbow part implies that we should bring hope even in the most challenging spaces. We should be the rainbows in our students’ lives. We should prioritize safety and let them be themselves in a world that forces them to conform. In this way, the students will develop their own rainbows as well.
References (APA 7th edition):
1. Emdin, C. (2021, July). Teaching & being ratchetdemic[Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_emdin_teaching_being_rachetdemic
Resilience to challenges reflection – October, 2025
“Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another.” Yuri Kochiyama
When I think about this quote, I am amazed at both the people whom I have worked with and the challenges that have arisen on my path. Overcoming the challenges in some way has propelled me more than working with and learning from people who have helped me. I say this because overcoming what has seemed a roadblock and a dead end at the time challenged me to think creatively and dig deeper in myself than I have before. I think of a story about a tortoise and the hare frequently. And I frequently align myself more with the tortoise. This is because while it sometimes seems that my achievements and rewards are not coming to the surface, I persevere and not give up. I constantly revise and optimize my course and am not afraid to try something new. And as I say that I realize the ironic theme…tortoise really? Right now, I am taking 5 classes? I am planning to apply for an internship track. These two concepts seem contradictory. I think the truth in this is that we all have both elements of the tortoise and the hare in us. We need to persevere when things get tough and be grateful when we are “cruising”. We need to recognize everyone that challenges us and molds us into a diamond under high pressure just as much as those who are our cheerleader and coaches. As a future teacher this shows me that I can be both caring and there for my students and at the same time challenge them to be their best.
What safe space looks like in my classroom. – October, 2025
For me safe space means that everyone is respected and everyone’s point of view is considered. A student can make mistakes and learn from them. A student does not have to “get it” from the first try. A student can come to class with a learning debt, and I will do my best to catch that student up. That person does not need to feel embarrassed for not knowing or not understanding something or getting it wrong. The same goes for needing material to be presented in a different way or adjusted for ELL. What a student cannot do is anything that will make the learning environment not safe for other students. It is ok to disagree if it is respectful.
I would build trust by modeling how to be vulnerable to my students. I would model making mistakes and sincerely apologize to my students and thank them for helping me get better. On the first day, I would co-create a set of norms with the whole class. We would also define how we expect to treat each other in class and during group work. If a student crosses a boundary, I will work this out in restorative circles. I would state that everyone is valued in the classroom, and if a student cannot communicate because of a language barrier, everyone needs to try harder to make that student welcome. I would encourage students to feel safe emotionally. I would also use reflection exercises and gratitude practices. In the math context, something like “I am grateful that I understand percentages now” or “I am grateful that I am working on understanding percentages now. I am not there yet, but I am getting closer.” In doing this, I would also promote the growth mindset and being a lifelong scholar.
I would have posters that encourage logical reasoning and problem-solving. As a math class, I would need it quiet but not dead quiet. Of course, I would welcome collaboration. I would greet students by saying that I am happy that they are here in class. If someone is disengaged, I would not draw attention to it. At the end of the class, I would ask that student to stay and just say that I am here for that student…Or perhaps say to everyone that I am here for anyone who needs to talk in hopes that that person will take this on. Instead of asking directly, “Are you safe?” I would ask them what they would need to see in a classroom that is safe. I would implement a restorative and mindfulness circle. I would have team and community-building activities there so that the class can work through their issues and become more comfortable working together. I would say that mistakes are a part of learning and that by trying hard to solve problems, we challenge ourselves to be better. I would ask the class what kinds of problems they would like to solve in the context of the class material. I would address all issues in a restorative circle rather than punishment. I would provide an anonymous feedback mechanism. For parents I would try to put everything in perspective, if it is another child getting in trouble, I would ask them how they would feel if this would be their child and then I would explain the method of restorative circles to them.
Using senses to plan lessons – November, 2025
I have a lesson in mind that I have seen on several platforms. I would ask students for their favorite entrée, dessert, or drink. Then I would ask them to describe it, providing us with all the details. For my ELL students, I would give sentence frames to guide them. After we know what it is, what it tastes like, what it smells like, what it looks like, and if it makes any sound, as in the example of a drink, we can then incorporate math. We can make a recipe. Is it fruit punch, or pizza, or a turnover, or pie, or banana bread? How much of each ingredient is required? What if we double or halve the amount needed? What if the price for each ingredient is different? Now, let’s introduce sales tax. Would it impact the end price? In what way? In Chapter 4, German encourages us to allow students to experience the material with multiple senses. This works well when learning and analyzing math concepts. Students are encouraged to examine data points, graph the data set, experiment with the manipulatives, and explain in plain language why specific observations are accurate. This works well, as we would teach students visualization and mindfulness skills simultaneously. This would also enable students to be exposed to different cultures, as the example from a student from an Indian family would be different from that of a student from a Mexican family. It would enable students to learn math while at the same time appreciating their own cultures and the cultures of their classmates.
Reflections on Mindfulness – November, 2025
The interview of Mel Robins and Dr. James Doty was very inspiring. Actually I found two more interviews with Dr. Doty and listened to the summary of Mind Magic as well. This was partly because I believe in and was inspired by his message and partly because I am still sick and while I am coughing out of my lungs it helped me be more mindful. I can certainly say that I wish every 12 year old has someone who can teach them mindfulness and visualization. I would even say that this has to start even earlier. Yesterday I noticed my daughter start building these blocks. I heard her say “I am stupid”, she is 6. While I already started working on mindfulness techniques with my 8 year old son, I did not realize that I need to work on this with my daughter as well. I am saying this because In my case I am interested in the subject and I can look for mindful intervention strategies. Many kids do not have this. In fact many families think that mindfulness and manifestation are a form of excuse seeking and wu wu. This makes it increasingly necessary for teachers to be equipped to provide such support. Children as early as kindergarten need to be gently pattern interrupted. They need to be told that they are seen. They need help reframing their little bricks once they come up with them. It is easy to say “Toughen up and just do what you need to do!” It is like throwing them off the deep end and say “Just swim”. It is all good but you need to first teach them how to swim. I would like to provide a safe space for my students to open up to me if they want to and I want to be that woman in their lives.
