Karli Helland

TED 289 Introduction to Teaching

Michael Martin
October 26, 2015

Teacher Interview
I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeanne Styczinski for this assignment. Jeanne
has been teaching Kindergarten for over thirty years. Not only is she an educator, but
also the author of two childrens books which she illustrated herself. Jeanne currently
teaches Kindergarten at Wakanda Elementary School in Menomonie, Wisconsin. She is
well known throughout the community of Menomonie; a peer of mine currently has an
internship with Jeanne and her class and mentioned to me that Jeanne would be more
than a suitable candidate to interview. I requested her email from my peer and asked if
she would be interested in being interviewed; she was more than willing to sit down and
answer a few questions. I met with Jeanne this afternoon (October 26, 2015) at a local
coffee shop in Menomonie.
Jeanne chose to teach out of all of the careers she could have pursued because
she has always really enjoyed working with children. Her passion for kids started when
she first began babysitting in her youth. She loves the energy children have, and how
optimistic they are for what the future has in store for them. Prior to Jeanne choosing
teaching she was originally planning to major in graphic design at the University of
Wisconsin-Stout, but changed her major numerous times before finally deciding on
elementary education. Although she decided graphic design wasnt the career for her,

she wanted a job that would still allow her to be creative. Jeanne found just that
teaching at the Kindergarten level.
After the first few weeks of school, when her students are finally getting used to
their new routine; is one of the aspects that makes Jeanne love what she does. She
loves to see her students take on the learner role; when they have been working at a
skill and it finally clicks in their mind. Seeing them so proud of themselves is also a
proud moment for a teacher. Knowing that you, in a way are helping them develop not
only as a student but as a person as well. Every occupation has certain parts that we as
an individual may not care for; although Jeanne loves every part of her job, if she had to
pick a part that she didnt care for it would be lunch duty. She described it as noisy and
chaotic, and from what we all can recall from lunch time during grade school, is that its
exactly that.
With every job, there also comes a time when we must overcome obstacles. I
was curious out of all the obstacles Ill be faced with, which will be the most challenging
for me. In Jeannes opinion, the most difficult part of her job is keeping up with
assessment and recording assessment results. You have to organize all of the
paperwork that goes along with testing; you have to keep each student in the same
binder in order to keep track of all of their results because you must report out at parent
teacher conferences along with their report cards. There are in fact, difficult aspects in
every career but how you address these situations ultimately determines how
successful you are at your job. Personally, Im afraid that once I begin teaching in my
own classroom, I will fail myself and more importantly my students. I asked Jeanne that
if throughout her career she ever felt like she was failing, and if so how she addressed

it. She told me about a year, early in her career that made her feel this way. She went
from having a class of sixteen to a class of twenty-four students. She couldnt teach the
way she had before, there were far too many students and it was taking too long to
hand out things and get activities started the way she had been doing it the years
before. She had to change her procedures; she changed the way she handed things out
and how things were stored in order to be more efficient in between lessons. She
reminded herself constantly that she was doing the best she could do, and that she
would only have this class for a year. During times like these its crucial that you remain
positive and that your students dont see you struggling. This aspect of teaching has
always worried me; how would I act happy around my students if in fact I was not
actually happy? Jeanne describes the way she slows her students down, getting their
mind and bodies back in control during the chaotic times. She informed me about a new
movement called the MindUP program that was introduced to their building. The
programs focus is to teach students and teachers how to be mindful thinkers, to be
present as Jeanne referred to it. A team came in and trained the Wakanda staff in
breathing techniques and much more. Jeanne implements the breathing techniques
along with chimes, and visualizations in her classroom every morning during their
morning meeting. She wants her students to be able to recognize on their own that what
theyre doing affects others in the classroom; their actions have reactions. Jeanne went
into further detail to explain this on the teaching end of it; what an educator says to their
students affects them. Every word you speak your students absorb. At the end of her
response to this question she said: fake it. Even if youre not doing well yourself, your
students need and feed off the positive energy you radiate.

In every occupation, we must learn to collaborate with all kinds of individuals, in

the field of education this includes administration, other staff members, and especially
parents. In class weve talked briefly about the different types of parents, but we havent
covered how to handle them. I was curious as to how teachers get uninvolved parents
involved; Jeanne informed me that from her experience, if a parent is uninvolved its
almost impossible to get them involved. She suggests that encouraging them to come in
may help, or offering an incentive to the students works sometimes. One year she gave
out an extra prize at the end of the year to students who had their daily sheet signed by
a parent almost every night. That way the student encourages the parent to participate
as well. With a variety of parents, there also comes a variety of students. Every child
learns at their own pace, and incorporating help for students that are struggling with a
lesson while also pushing students that are more advanced in the subject area is
something that I was concerned about prior to meeting with Jeanne. She tries to
differentiate most of her lesson to hit the broad range of students in her classroom. For
example, her class worked on the lifecycle of a seed today. For the kids that can spell,
they were to label or write a sentence about each step. For the kids that dont quite
know yet, they were instructed to work on first letter sounds. That way the lesson hits
both ends of the spectrum. Jeanne also suggests grouping students based on ability;
from there meet with each group for ten to fifteen minutes and work on exactly what
they need in order to get them to the next level. She said the key is to design lessons
that hit both ends of the spectrum.
The advice Jeanne would give to students pursuing a career in teaching is: to
learn as much as you can about the age group you are going to teach; get lots of

experiences in before you begin. Take any opportunity you can to help out in different
classrooms, observe multiple teacher classroom management styles and how they
organize their class. Try to pick a style that works for you and stick to it. Try to find a
mentor that uses the same style as you and almost mimic what they do. A good plan of
action makes a huge difference. After hearing all the advice she had to give, I was
wondering if there was anything she wished she would have known prior to starting a
career in education, so I asked Jeanne what is one thing she wishes someone would
have told her before she started teaching? Her response was: how much it would
change. She explained to me that what you dont realize until you begin teaching is
how much you have to change everything each school year. How much energy it takes
to re-create lessons every year; different groups of kids result in different focuses within
lessons. My favorite thing Jeanne said throughout our whole interview was at the very
ending of her response to the question stated above: to be a good teacher you can
never work eight to four. A good teacher puts in the extra time for their students.
Jeannes answers to my questions matched what I had expected her to say,
aside from the one regarding the most difficult part of her job and her response on how
to remain positive even on the bad days. I was surprised that keeping up with and
recording assessments is the most difficult part of Jeannes job; I thought her response
would definitely be when a great class moves on. I expected Jeanne to say all of the
things she mentioned during the first part of her response to my question about advice
on remaining positive even when you the instructor are not doing well yourself; at the
very end of her answer she said: fake it. I found this very surprising, most teachers
arent that upfront with you. That part of our interview along with the time Jeanne

mentioned that being a good teacher means working more than the eight to four shift,
are a few of the reasons Jeanne Styczinski is now one of my role models. Not only does
she teach the grade I aspire to, but she also tells it like it is, something that is a rare trait
in individuals today. I learned more than I could have imagined from my interview with
Jeanne. I plan to not only take the advice she has given but also learn from the things
that have worked for her throughout her career.

Appendix A

1.

Out of all the occupations you could have pursued, why did you choose to

become an educator?
2.

What aspects of a typical day in your classroom make you love your job?

3.

What is your least favorite part about your job?

4.

What advice would you give to students pursuing a career in teaching?

5.

In your opinion, what is the most difficult part of your job?

6.

What advice can you give on remaining positive every day on the job, even if

at times youre not doing well yourself?

7.

Have you ever felt as though you were failing as a teacher? If so, how did

you address this?

8.

How do you deal with parents that are very uninvolved?

9.

How do you incorporate help for students that are struggling with a lesson

while also pushing students that are more advanced in the subject area?
10.

What is one thing you wish someone would have told you before you

started teaching?