Teacher Interview

Mrs. Brown has been teaching for 12 years. She is currently a 5th grade Social Studies/Math teacher at Whittaker Elementary where she has worked for 11 years. She previously taught 1 year at Brookdale Middle School as a Math/Science teacher. Mrs. Brown graduated from Columbia College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education and she also has a Master's Degree in Technology in Education from Lesley University. 1. How long have you worked at this school, and has this been your only teaching assignment? If not, tell me about your other teaching experiences. What schools? How many years? What grade level and what subjects? I have worked at Whittaker Elementary for 11 years and this is not my only teaching assignment Ive taught one year as a math/science teacher at Brookdale Middle school. 2. Why did you choose the teaching profession? I love kids. 3. How do you teach to meet the diverse needs of your students? I use various strategies to accommodate all my students. I make sure I follow their IEP, I make sure the ESOL teacher is provided with material to prepare my foreign students and my lower performing students. I do a lot of peer tutoring (high-low) I also allow my higher students to complete higher level of activities to keep their minds from wandering. 4. Do you find that planning for your classes is a chore? If yes, why? No, teaching is not a chore because to me a chore often something you dont want to do; planning for my students is an adventure because I am able to find work to let them explore the world through various strategies.

5. What would you recommend for a beginning teacher that might help me not to see lesson planning as a chore? I recommend for a beginning teacher to take home the standards indicator and lesson plan format then it will be a smooth transition of designing lessons. 6. Describe your strategies that comprise your classroom management system? Are your strategies effective, in your opinion? Please explain. My strategy is to have high expectations for all my students. For the students who are low achieving I try to recognize the positives that they exhibit to make them want to behave and be successful. 7. Explain how you use technology to enhance your teaching. How is technology used to enhance your students learning? I use my whiteboard a lot to make notes, play games, (CPS system) interactive programs, and the students really like to use technology because most of them use computers after school. 8. What advice would you give me, as a beginning teacher, that would help me to adjust to having my own classroom and students that would help me to be an effective teacher? Have great classroom management skills and communicate with parents whether its positive or negative at all times. 9. Which do you find to be more successful with assessing your students? Teacher made or commercially made assessments. Please explain. Both, some commercial made assessments relate to the standard and some dont so you must know/understand the standard to make sure the information benefits the students. Teacher made assessments are easy because I know what my students need to know for 5th grade standards. 10. Explain how you use your students assessment results to inform your instruction. I use my assessment results to see if I need to change the way Im teaching. For example, if I teach a lesson give them a quiz and most of the class fails then I know that I will have to

reteach the lesson and try to figure out what I can do to better help my students. If the majority of my students make 80% or better then I know I taught the lesson to the best of my ability and my students learned the information I taught.

Teacher Interview Reflection

The teacher interview was a good experience because Mrs. Brown had a lot of great responses that I will take into consideration as I get closer to the day I will start student teaching. She has only taught in Orangeburg district 5 and she spent the majority of her time teaching at Whittaker Elementary school. Ive had field experience assignments at other elementary schools in Orangeburg and I can honestly see why a teacher would continue to work at Whittaker. The atmosphere seems to be positive and welcoming. For example, I see a lot of the teachers conversing with each other and they seem genuinely happy to be at work. I constantly see parents visiting the school and last week there were a Thanksgiving day dinner and the parking lot in the front and behind the school were full of parents. There were more people there then they were parking spaces! Mrs. Brown always wanted to be a teacher because she loves kids. I think that you have to genuinely love kids because teaching is not an easy job. Teachers have to constantly repeat directions, observe, and be able to convey your knowledge of a subject in a way that a child could understand. I really liked how Mrs. Brown described her students as an adventure and that planning for her classes are not a chore. I liked her recommendation of making sure a new teacher had the standards indicator and lesson plan format so it would be a smooth transition of designing lessons. Her classroom management plan is very simple just have high expectations and always look for the positive attributes a child may have. Even, if that child may have discipline problems or just a lower achieving student. I believe all teachers should

have high expectations because your students will rise to meet your expectations and if you have low expectations your students will meet those low expectations as well. I also, really liked the advice she would give me, as a beginning teacher, that would help me to adjust to having my own classroom and students that would help me to be an effective teacher. She emphasized having good classroom management skills were key. If your students are running around out of control then you cant be an effective teacher because you cant keep stopping a lesson to discipline a student. Communication with parents whether its positive or negative is key. She emphasized that you have to keep parents informed and make yourself available to parents because they want to know what their child is learning and why he/she receive the grades that they receive. I can honestly say that Ive had an enjoyable field experience and teacher interview experience. Mrs. Brown has been teaching for over 10 years so shes full of a wealth of information. Before, I observed her classroom I dreaded going to field experience because my field experience assignments has usually been boring. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed going to observe her classroom. Mrs. Brown is not a brick wall teacher she allows her students to ask questions, move around the room, work together in groups etc. Mrs. Brown found a way to make Social Studies fun! Her students are actually excited to learn Social studies. Shes always in control of her classroom. She rarely has any discipline problems and sometimes, she allows her students to dance if they get an answer correct! Her students clap and say cheers when they get good grades. She makes her classroom lively and active. I can honestly say, that the teacher interview and the field experience gave me more insight into what type of teacher I want to become. I dont want to be a brick wall teacher and have my students scared to ask me a question but, I dont want to be so soft that my students run over me.

Mrs. Brown manages to find a happy medium in-between and I hope that when I become a teacher I can do the same.