Beth Hendrix

Student Teaching Final Reflection

December 2014
I completed my student teaching at Challenger Elementary School in south Huntsville,
Alabama. Having grown up in south Huntsville and attended middle school at Challenger Middle
School, I was very familiar with the community and excited to begin my experience. The school serves
over five hundred students and employs approximately fifty administrative and teaching staff. There
are also many instructional assistants in the school, due to the large special needs population.
Challenger Elementary houses all seven of the self-contained classrooms and students in the south
Huntsville area. Self-contained, special education students who are not zoned for Challenger are
brought to school by parents or ride on buses to and from school each day. My two student teaching
placements were with Miss Walton's first grade class and Mrs. O'Hear's fourth and fifth grade, selfcontained class. During my student teaching I had many meaningful experiences that helped me to
learn and grow as a teacher. I also saw areas of strength and need in myself related to the University of
Alabama in Huntsville's intern competencies.
Some highlights of my first grade placement included implementing Number Talks, teaching
Social Studies, and teaching Tier 2 reading intervention. I was so excited to implement Number Talks in
my first grade placement. A number talk is a ten to fifteen minute math talk that helps students develop
computational fluency using mathematical thinking and reasoning. Though the tasks are created to lead
students to specific conclusions and help them analyze relationships between numbers and operations,
during a number talk, the teacher is a facilitator. For example, at the beginning of first grade, a number
talk consists of three cards showing a configuration of dots. I showed students the first card and, after
giving them think time, asked them to tell me how many dots they saw on the card. After taking
several answers, I then asked them to tell me how they saw their answers. How did they know the total?
Students then described their reasoning as I illustrated it on the board. There are three huge benefits to
Number Talks. First, they give students another daily opportunity to learn number sense by analyzing

the relationships between numbers and problems. ("I see four dots plus four dots in the top and bottom
rows. That makes eight. If I add the one in the middle, then it makes nine.") Secondly, each student gets
the chance to hear a wide variety of strategies from their classmates, increasing the chances that he or
she will hear one that "turns on the light bulb" of their understanding. ("Yesterday, Theo showed us the
dot picture that makes five. I moved the bottom dot on the left into the center of the four dots above it.
Then I saw five plus five which makes ten.") Finally, as students verbalize their thinking, the strategies
and reasoning they are using become clearer and more solidified in their brains for later use. It was
great to watch my students grow in confidence and grow as mathematicians during the weeks I lead
number talks. I could tell by their answers that they were thinking critically and reasoning
mathematically. It was especially encouraging to see students who were shy at the beginning become
more eager participants as they learned more and more from listening to others.
Continuing with the topic of critical thinking, I really loved teaching my social studies unit on
how to be good citizens in our communities. To make the concept of good citizenship relevant to my
students, I tried to begin each lesson by activating students' background knowledge and applying the
concept to their own experiences. For example, when talking about the five themes of citizenship, we
discussed the ways that we need to act in our classroom and school. To facilitate discussions about why
laws are important, we played a game outside that did not have any rules. To learn that voting means to
make a choice, we voted on what snack Miss Hendrix would bring to share at school the next day. To
understand that an American symbol is something that represents America, I showed pictures of
symbols that they were already enthusiastic about (Avengers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). All of
these lessons began within students' own experiences, and then was broadened to explain why these
things are important in a larger community. The lesson on why laws are important was my favorite one
to teach. I began by introducing the focus question, Why are laws important? We then went outside
to play a game I had found called No-Rules Pass the Ball. The game had three rounds. During round
one I divided the students into two teams, gave them a ball, and said, Ok, play! Students were, of

course, confused. When I asked them why they said, We do not know what the rules of this game are.
After asking them for suggestions of rules, I instructed them to use all of the suggestions for round two
of the game. Again they became confused because there were too many rules. Not everyone was
playing the same game, there was no way to know who was winning, and there was some potential for
students to get hurt. Round three started with simple rules: form a line, pass the ball from each player to
the next, the team whose ball gets to the end fastest wins the game. The catch was that during this
round, I stopped them every few seconds to add an extra rule like, the person with the ball has to jump
up and down, and people without a ball have to spin in a circle. Students understood that this time
there were not consistent rules, making the game unfair and always changing. When we came back
inside, students were easily able to generate a list of reasons why rules were important for the game and
then why laws would be important for a community. This was such a great learning experience for me
to see how effective interactive experiences can be to help students and teachers truly construct
knowledge together.
The third highlight of my first grade placement, was teaching the Tier 2 Reading Intervention
group made up of four students. I really loved this time for a few reasons. First, based on my work
experience as a math tutor, I was very comfortable in this small-group setting. Secondly, the students
benefited from the intensive instruction provided with a low student-teacher ratio. I really enjoyed
having this focused time to help them improve and learn new skills each week. Thirdly, since the
intervention time was schedule before the whole group reading lesson, the students were able to
participate more equitably during that lesson as they had already practiced the new phonics skill.
Enjoying this experience so much and the experience with five of my students in my collaborative
placement has solidified my love of working with students who struggle with grade-level work.
Whether because of learning disabilities or other factors, I love problem-solving with these students to
figure out the way that they learn best so that they can succeed.
Similarly, in my collaborative placement, the most meaningful experiences to me were when

my small group of five verbal students were able to show me that they had learned and understood a
concept. Their successes were the highlights of that placement. For example, after we had spent a week
learning about halves, thirds, and fourths of a whole, one of my students picked up two pencils before
English class. He was playing with the pencils, but when he crossed them in the air he suddenly said,
Look Miss Hendrix, fourths! The student next to him saw what he had done, picked up one pencil,
and said, Halves! The transfer of knowledge that it took for them to see fractions not only in my
lesson presentation, but also in their classroom was a huge indicator to me that they were understanding
what I was teaching. Another student who had been struggling was so excited when she was able to
complete a fraction naming worksheet quickly and with no errors. I loved being able to differentiate
instruction and teach students based on their needs, goals, and learning styles.
In regards to the teacher intern competencies, I believe my two strongest areas of teaching were
shown in Content Knowledge and Diversity. The Content Knowledge competency describes creating
learning opportunities that connect students' prior learning to new concepts. As stated previously, I
worked to connect each new social studies concept in first grade to something they had already
experienced. In my collaborative placement I introduced the concepts of fractions by discussing sharing
food with siblings or friends. This made the learning experience more relevant to students, therefore
increasing engagement and understanding. The competency also describes seeking supplementary
materials that go beyond the text and utilizing personal research and other resources to develop
expertise. For the social studies unit I taught in first grade, the textbook chapter was simply the
foundation on which my lesson were based. I added an introduction lesson using the book Me on the
Map to help students see that they are part of larger community and world. I also added a lesson
introducing the five themes of citizenship that we continued to discuss throughout the social studies
lessons and beyond. I used the book Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek to talk about why doing the right
thing is important even if no one recognizes you for it. I read the book The Great Trash Bash to teach
students the importance of citizens working together and taking responsibility for their communities. In

Grace for President, students learned about how leaders are elected and why Grace was chosen for her
service and kindness to the students in her school. The interactive No-Rules Game and the voting
activity were also engaging additions to the concepts in the textbook meant to increase student
understanding. Similarly, in my collaborative placement, I connected student experiences to teach
fractions. I also researched and gathered or created all of the interdisciplinary components that went
along with my bat unit: I created activity pages to supplement the student reading comprehension
activity book; I created math activities; I gathered games and resources for science lessons; and I
utilized a reading fluency passage about bats with corresponding language arts activities.
My second area of strength based on the intern competencies was Diversity. As stated
previously, I enjoy differentiating instruction based on students' needs and creating learning
experiences that help them succeed. For example, I taught several weeks of Tier 2 Reading Intervention
to struggling readers. I also taught, or helped teach, a wide range of ability levels within my
collaborative placement. In that classroom students were working in two different grade levels, fourth
and fifth, and on one of four different complexity levels within each standard. While some students
were reading and writing, others were practicing matching and pointing. Another big component of
diversity is teaching with students' preferred learning styles. After giving my first grade students a
learning style inventory, I found that the majority of students were visual learners. To support visual
learning I created graphic organizers to go along with each vocabulary word and main idea in our social
studies unit. Students filled in the graphic organizers at the end of each lesson and put them in their
social studies journals. Pairing a picture with what we had learned that day helped students remember
and understand each concept.
Two areas of need that I was apprehensive about at the beginning of student teaching were
classroom management and organization. I am very thankful though that I was able to learn a lot from
my cooperating teachers in these areas. For classroom management in first grade, I appreciated seeing
the effectiveness of my teacher using positive praise for students who were following directions and

behaving appropriately. I quickly observed how much more effective it is to praise good choices rather
than constantly reprimanding poor choices. Almost without fail, any time she recognized good
behaviors, the students who were not following directions quickly got on-task. I had seen this strategy
used several times in college classes, thanks to a favorite education professor, but it was great to see it
applied throughout the day with elementary school students. The habit she had of praising good
behaviors created a very positive and encouraging learning environment for the students. That
emphasis is definitely something I plan to implement in my future classroom. In my collaborative
placement I was able to implement a token economy using positive reinforcement in the form of tokens
paired with a back-up reinforcing activity that students could complete after each academic lesson.
Again, I like the emphasis on reinforcing positive behaviors and I liked that students were able to earn
specific activities for their hard work. In my future classroom I would like to use a digital system of
reinforcement like Class Dojo, paired with activities that students can earn in the classroom.
My collaborative cooperating teacher did a wonderful job of organizing her lesson materials,
student work, and student grades. Students' language and social goals were displayed near the Morning
Group area so that she could easily access them. As she found appropriate work sheets and activities to
meet students' grade-level or independent goals, work was put into trays on her desk designated for
each student. Work to be completed each week was kept either in individual binders at the front of the
room near the small group table, or in individual bins near the students' seat. The bins were used for the
three nonverbal students and had the math and English goals and standards displayed on the side.
Completed work was put into separate cubbies near the teacher's desk. At the end of the week, the work
was taken out of the cubbies by one of the instructional assistants, stapled and sent home for parents to
see the work completed that week by the student. The work was then returned to the teacher and filed.
On a daily basis she was collecting data on students' behavior and academic goals. Behavioral goal data
sheets were kept at hand wherever the target behavior might occur. Academic goal sheets were kept in a
binder behind her desk and used to take note when concepts had been taught and evidence collected for

the Alabama Alternate Assessment. I took a lot of pictures of her systems and plan to use them in my
future classroom.
I had so many meaningful learning experiences during my student teaching placements at
Challenger Elementary School. From fractions to social studies, number talks to differentiation, I
learned a lot about how to be an effective teacher. I was also able to gain confidence and experience in
areas of need that had before caused me some apprehension. I loved being in both placements and
working with wonderful teachers and students who helped me complete the last part of my
undergraduate journey. I am so excited to share what I have learned with my future students.