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Marisela Robles

Professor Joni Flowers

EDU 214-1007

26 September 2022

Teacher Interview Report

Ms. Christine Henderson is currently teaching a fourth-grade class at O.K. Adcock

Elementary School in Las Vegas. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Ms.

Henderson because she was really inviting and sweet upon meeting her. Her classroom was also

very clean and welcoming for the young students. I knew by then that she would be able to share

plenty of great teaching tips that would benefit me in the future.

I commenced with the wonder of the educational technology being utilized by the

students and the teachers for the students learning and development. Given for her response I

realized that times have changed, and technology continues to become more advanced over the

years. Ms. Henderson explained that as far as administrative use, she maintains her student’s

grades, attendance, and behavior posted in Infinite Campus so that the students’ parents are

always informed. When it comes to her students, they are provided with multiple learning

programs like Khan Academy, Actively Learning, and Acheieve3000. These programs include

lessons, videos, and practice assignments in various subjects. This is a huge benefit for the

children as it was not available in the past years.

Ms. Henderson mentioned that she has two preferable software programs to present and

help the students throughout the learning process. For one, she uses Google Slides a ton when

giving presentations because it is quick and easy to make. It allows her to put the most important

information on the slides and elaborate from her main points. Secondly, she has the students do
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plenty of work on a program call MAP Accelerator because it links to the children’s inner room

testing and it follows their current level in each subject.

Another wonder of mine was if a teacher must enroll in professional classes to learn how

to use certain software programs. Ms. Henderson did clarify that the school board does offer

some district wide lessons for all teachers, other than that most of it is self-taught. She did state

that she would not be against them offering and taking more classes to learn new things so she

can incorporate them in her lessons.

We then went on with how much time is dedicated to the students so they can learn how

to use the different software’s. Ms. Henderson did point out that at the beginning of the school

year it takes some time to really get the students comfortable using the programs. Even though

they were taught beforehand she must spend five to ten minutes to refresh their minds when

starting a new assignment. Which I believe this is reasonable to do because we cannot expect

them to remember how to do everything on their own.

Moving forward, we touched basis about the digital divide at O.K. Adcock

in comparison to the rest of the school system. Ms. Henderson believes that within the school

district there is not much of a digital divide since most schools already provide their students

with in-class devices. At the school she teaches at, the administration bought new Chromebook

laptops for the children and the staff also received new laptops. It is important for all schools to

be on the same page and follow the curriculum that is provided by the district.

According to Ms. Henderson, she does not struggle with any interference by technology

in her classroom. Setting rules towards the use of the devices in class is important to her because

if there are none in place then there would be a problem with students not utilizing them properly
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and can cause plenty of interruptions. Technology is very beneficial to her for teaching because it

adds new ways to keep the students involved and intrigued when she is presenting a new lesson.

Ms. Henderson suggest that in order to improve the use of technology in a classroom a

teacher must really browse and learn the most about the software programs that their students

will using in the class. The reason is because there are so many features that can be used to

enhance the children’s learning experience. If one as a teacher does not learn the software

themselves, they are just giving the students an assignment with no direction or guidance of any

sort which will make it much more difficult for them to complete the task.

I wanted to learn a little more about her personal background and Ms. Henderson shared

with me that she had been teaching since 2005 making it a total of sixteen years. She also said

that she never had a real inspiration to become a teacher. Although she did mention that her

father and stepmom were both teachers, which influenced her with her career choice. Lastly, Ms.

Henderson says that the most enjoyable part of her job are the kids, as well as being able to be a

role model to the children and teaching them something new every day.