LookingForward,LookingBack:MyExperienceasaStudentTeacher

I had the pleasure of completing my internship at West Madison Elementary School in

Madison, AL and Harvest Elementary School in Harvest, AL. Whilemostinternsstudentteach
in just one school, I was fortunate enough to get to experience two great schoolsbecauseofmy
participation in the Early Start Program. This program allowed me to complete my last field
experience in the same classroom as my firststudentteachingplacement. Ibeganmyinternship
in January in the third grade classroom ofJennyCreasyatWestMadison. WestMadisonispart
of the Madison CitySchoolSystemandiscomposedofapproximately382studentsenrolledand
35 staff members. I felt very at ease beginning my internship at West Madison due to the fact
that I was able to complete my previous field experience in Mrs. Creasys room and even once
attended West Madison as a student. While in Mrs. Creasys class, I had a diverse group of
eleven girls and eleven boys. While at West Madison, I was in a departmentalized unit which
allowed me to collaborate and work with Allyson Word in reading and Kristie Elliott in math.
After eight weeks at West Madison, I moved on to Harvest Elementary and joined Courtney
Hamiltons first grade classroom. In this class I taughttwentyonestudents,tengirlsandeleven
boys. Harvest Elementary is part of the Madison County School Systemandcurrentlyhas695
students and 65 staff members. I could not have asked for a better student teaching experience
and feel so fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to teach at two phenomenal schools. Over
the course of my internship, I had many meaningful experiences that helped me learn andgrow
both as a person and educator. Through much reflection, I was able to identify my strengths,
areasofneed,andhowtocontinuetoimprove.

During my time in third grade, ItaughtaninterdisciplinaryunitonEarlyUSHistorythat

included lessonsontheAmericanRevolution,ArticlesofConfederation,Constitution,Preamble,
Bill of Rights, Branches of Government,the AmericanFlag,Americansymbols,andmuchmore
along the way. I chose to teach on the founding of our nation after collaborating with my
cooperating teacher and becauseIgenuinelyfoundthesubjectmattertobeinterestingandhoped
my third graders would think so too. I beganmyunitbyadministeringapretesttomystudents
in order to determine how much they already knew. Theresultsofmypreassessmentinformed
my instruction to help me focus on theareas mystudentsneededthemost. Duringthecourseof
my unit, I aimed to create engaging and interesting activities and plans for my students. From
music, art, reading, math, science, drama,technology,towriting,wecovereditall! Mystudents
particularly loved singing along to Flocabularys Separation of Powers and Bill of Rights
raps. They quickly learned every lyricandrequestedtolistentoiteverysingleday. WhileIam
glad they liked the song, I was even more pleased to see them learning from the videos and
making connections. As a class, we wrote and signed a Kidstitution, promising toabidebyit
in ordertocreateamoreperfectclassroom. Mystudentscreatedhandmotionstohelpremember
the three branches of government. I loved watching them practice and perform a Readers
Theatre piece that was inspired by the Continental Congress, each acting as delegates and
Founding Fathers. My students certainly enjoyed this unit and
I would often catch them using
thevocabularyfromclass(I'mgoingtovetoyou,dude!ThatisSOunconstitutional.)
One of the most significant insights I gained from this was the power of learning when
you help your students make meaningful and memorable connections. One of my favorite
activities we did during our social studies unit were roleplays. One day in Dr. OBriens

Teaching Social Studies methods course, he had our class participate in a Gold Rush roleplay.
Though this was several semesters ago, I still remember this class and the impact it left on me.
From this, Iwasinspiredtoincorporateroleplays intomyownsocialstudiesinstructionbecause
I experienced firsthand how it forced me to think critically and change my point of view to
empathize instead of only seeing history as dead guys from the past who donthaveanyeffect
on me today. As one of the role plays, I divided my students into unequal groups and gave
them the same task and the equal amounts of time. It did not take long for my students tostart
objecting, screaming of the injustice and unfairness of it all. When I asked why it wasnotfair,
they immediately insisted that the groups who had more members had a greater advantage and
that the groups with less members deserved more time. I was then able tomaketheconnection
between their feelings and how the delegates from the smaller states must have felt during the
Continental Congress. As the students began to comparetheirfeelingstothoseofourFounding
Fathers,theywereabletoseewhytheGreatCompromisewassoimportantandnecessary. I will
always continue to try to create these moments for my students, wheretheystepoutsideoftheir
own perspectivetoseethingsthroughanotherpersonseyes,thattheywillrememberforyears to
come.
Though very different from my third grade experiences, my time in first grade was
equally as insightful. One of the highlights of my first grade placement was implementing
Number Talks. After noticing a lack of number sense in my first graders when working on
addition and subtraction, I decided to try Number Talks, which I had learned about in my
Teaching Elementary School Math methods course with Dr. SlateYoung. A number talk is a
short tentofifteenminutetalkdesignedto helpstudents developtheirmathematicalthinkingand

reasoning. The talks lead students to think critically and analyze the relationship between
numbers. I introduced Number Talks by having my student sit at the carpet in a circle and
explaining that it was a safe environment, where all answers are accepted. I then modeled the
way I expected them to answer a question and agree with a classmate by showing them how to
placetheirthumbsupontheirchestandthesignformetoo.
Our Number Talks focused on subitizing, the ability to identify a quantity quickly
without counting. Using ten frames and a whiteboard, I would show students a combination of
dots. After allowing students to think, I would ask them what number they saw. After hearing
from the class, I would show the board briefly again, allowing students to either confirm or
revise their answer. Next, I would ask my students how they saw the answer (I knew it was
eight because I saw two groups of four one group on the top row and another on the bottom).
As my students articulated their reasoningaloudandheardfromtheirclassmates,theywereable
to deepentheirunderstandingandthinkcritically. Overtime,Ibegantowatchmystudentsgrow
the longer we participated in number talks. By the end of my time, I did not see little fingers
counting in the air, but confident students thinking hard. One of my goals as an educator is to
facilitate a safe learning environment and I believe that Number Talks helped achieve this by
allowing students the freedom to share their answers without feeling wrong or penalizedifitis
incorrectatfirst.
Over the course of my internship, I spent much of mytimereflectingonmyexperiences
and my growth as a teacher. I believe that two of my strengths can be found in content
knowledge and professionalism. The content knowledge competency is described as taking
students prior knowledge and making new connections, using multiple representations to

illustrate a concept, and seeking out supplementary resources beyond the text. In both of my
placements, I strived to present a concept in multiple forms, allowing students to make
connections using their background knowledge. Throughout my placements, I would find
videos, pictures, trade books, websites, games, or anything else I could find to teach something
in a new way. I made it my goal to always relate the concept back to my students lives and
understand why it is relevant. In history, I wanted my students to realize and understand that
history matters because it affects the future. During my history lessons in third grade, I loved
when they made the connection that we still operateunderthesamegovernmenttodaythanksto
the Constitution. Ialsohelpedmythirdgradersmakeconnectionsbetweenfractionsandreallife
situations such as sharing food.

In first grade, we had a lot of Why does this matter?

moments, where we discussed the reasonbehindwhywewerelearningwhatwewere. Iknowit

helps me when I can understand the rationale behind why something is important to know.
When we studied maps and read Me on a Map, my students decided that it was important to
know how to read amapincaseyouareeverlostordonotknowwhereyouaregoing. Itriedto
further their thinking and understanding by showing them that we are not only part of this our
community as a city, but a state, country,continent,andworld! Whenwestudiedmeasurement,
my class came up with whole board full of situations where we use measurement, such as
baking, building, or when we measure ourselves. While this is an area I feel strongly in, I am
stillexcitedtocontinuetogrowandbecomeevenstrongerasIbecomemoreexperienced.
The second area I feel is a strong point of mine is in professionalism. This competency
includes collaborating with others, establishing productive relationships with students and
parents, acting as an advocate for students, setting goals and reflecting for professional growth,

and responding positively to criticism. Because I believe in a growth mindset and being a
lifelong learner, I find this area to be easier for me. My heart is to always strive to achieve
excellence in everything I do. Ineverwanttostopgrowingandlearningasbotha personandan
educator. There is always something I can improve on or something new to learn. Ibelieveif
you ever begin to think that you know it all, your heart is probably in the wrong place and you
should not be teaching. I tend to respond well to criticism because I genuinely want to be the
best meIpossiblycanand trulyvalueothersconsiderationtolovemeenoughtotell mehowI
can improve. Throughout both of my placements, I made an effort represent myself and
UAHuntsville well.

I made an effort to get to know and build relationships with my

administration, fellow teachers, support staff, custodians, cafeteria ladies, and parents. I
advocated for my students by refusing to give nothing but my best for them. To achieve this,I
collaborated with my cooperating teachers, instructional partners, fellow preservice teachers,
and even UAH professors while lesson planning. Again, I still hope to continue to grow even
moreinthisareaasIbecomeamoreexperiencedteacher.
Reflecting onwhereIwaswhenIbeganmyinternshipfifteenweeksago,Iwouldsaymy
biggest weaknesses were diversity and assessment. While these competencies are still what I
would consider areas of need, I feel that I have made an effort to improve in these areas
throughout my student teaching. Diversity is comprised of being able to identify, design, and
differentiate instruction appropriate to students development, learning style, strength, and need.
At the beginning of my internship, I am not even sure I truly understood what the term
differentiate means. I thought I did, but I did notknowhowtoputitintopractice. Afterhelp
from my cooperating teachers and supervisor, I began to take steps towards differentiation by

beginning to implement leveled small group instruction. Here I was able to begin to start
meeting the individual needs of my students as I met with them in smaller numbers in
homogenous groups. As I met more with my supervisor, I learned about the different ways to
differentiate: content, process, and product. I began to realize that while I was sometimes
differentiating the content and process, I was often neglecting the product. I found my
experiences in third grade and first grade to be similar in this area. While I foundIcouldmore
easily differentiate the content and process, I struggled with how to differentiate the product.
This is an area that I am continually going to work on and be intentional in improving. I hope
thisskillcontinuestodevelopwithexperienceandtimeinmyownclassroom.
The other area I found some difficulty in was in assessment. While I was able to
successfully use summative assessments, I found myself using the same formative assessments
over and over. I was unsure at when to assess, what to assess, and how to assess it. With the
help of my supervisor and teachers, I was able to implement more strategies to formatively
assess my students understanding. Ibegan havingmy studentsselfassess usingtheirthumbsto
communicate their understanding to me. Turn and talks were another way I would formatively
assess, allowing students to talk to a partner, while I would walk around and check for
understanding. I also loved using the whisper and release where students would throw their
answer to me. It was great to check their learning and to let them all get their answer out.
While I am not where I want to be in this area (though I hopeIneverstopraisingthe bar),Iam
proudofthegainsImadeandstepsItooktowardsimprovingmyassessments.
When I look back on my student teaching experience, I am so overwhelmed with
thankfulness. I truly had such a wonderful experience that have shapedmeintoateacherwhois

ready to take on the world (but first, a classroom). It was so exciting to take what I learned in
my studies at UAH and finally get to apply them with my students. I can truly say that UAH
prepared me for teaching. Not every moment of my internship may have gone perfectly, but it
was a learning experience that allowed me to grow in confidence and experience. I am excited
forwhatisaheadandIcannotwaittocontinuetogrowandlearnwithaclassroomofmyown!