Running Head: SCHOOL-BASED INTERVIEW Page 1

School-based Interview
Melissa Mayer
University of Colorado Denver
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List of Interview Questions

(Running time 30 minutes)

1. In what ways do you provide support for students? How does collaboration facilitate the
support you provide your students?

2. In what ways do you collaborate with educators in the building? Do you have any
apprehensions regarding collaboration? If you do how do you go about problem-solving
them?

3. What are some effective skills you utilize when collaborating with your colleagues?

4. What examples of successful professional collaboration can you share with me? Do you
have an example of collaboration gone wrong?

5. What types of difficulties can you problem-solve through the practice of professional
collaboration?

6. To what degree does a student’s home life/family impact their education?

7. In what ways can your relationship and/or collaboration with students’ families help you
in effective problem-solving?
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Rationale of Questions
Generally, four to five well thought-out core questions result in a 30-minute interview,
however; I listed seven just to make sure that I had enough dialogue and information to work
with. Although I listed multiple questions, I verbally asked them as single questions. I also
utilized open questions to avoid being too narrow in the scope of my interview.

I interviewed Hayley Hall, a 5th grade general education teacher at Centennial

Expeditionary Learning Elementary School. I was originally going to attempt to interview the
school’s Social Worker, however; there were some schedule conflicts and I was unable to do so.
I volunteer in Hayley’s 5th grade class weekly and work with a student that is currently receiving
intervention services. I have been volunteering in her class because I think it is incredibly
valuable to observe, interact, and learn about students in special education at the elementary
level. I chose to interview Hayley because I am anticipating on working as a special education
teacher at the secondary level, so interviewing a general education elementary teacher is a
completely opposite role. Hayley is a second-year teacher and has had a variety of experiences
relating to collaboration with her colleagues.

I wanted to make sure that my interview questions featured and emphasized the topics of,
collaboration, problem-solving, and interactions with students’ families. I thought it was
important to ask about the skills Hayley utilizes during collaboration with her colleagues and
why she finds them helpful. I also wanted to know about both the positive and negative
experiences and feelings she may have regarding collaboration. Unfortunately, teachers often
have had negative experiences with collaboration if the proper foundations and supports are
absent. I wanted to get a better understanding of how the collaborative process can assist
teachers in problem-solving school related issues. The problems that educators must problem-
solve daily is extensive. They can range from increasing parent involvement to creating cohesive
lesson plans. My overall rationale behind the formation of my interview questions was to attain
information that would assist me in my future collaboration and problem-solving endeavors.
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Results/Data
In summary, Hayley Hall has a positive view of collaboration with her colleagues.
Her team works incredibly well together and she attributes this to their strong working
relationships, the safe space they have created through trust, their shared goal of increasing
student learning, as well as the variety of expertise and perspectives they all contribute
collectively. Hayley has found that collaboration is vital to their success as teachers because they
can bounce ideas off each other, brainstorm new ideas, pool their expertise to assist each other,
and ensure that their students are receiving the same support and accommodations throughout the
school day.

Hayley mentioned a variety of skills, tools, and assets that she finds helpful in
collaboration. She finds that humor is one of the most important tools that her team utilizes. Her
colleagues truly understand the ups and downs of the teaching profession and that sometimes
they just need a laugh. They communicate professionally, but because they have such close
personal and professional relationships that both giving and providing feedback is always
welcomed and taken in the helpful spirit in which it was intended. They also communicate
frequently through email and share documents where they collaboratively build, modify, and edit
them through google docs. These include modified graphic organizers for specific students,
lesson plans, and in-class experiments. Hayley added that the school’s utilization of an
Instructional Dean is a wonderful asset in terms of collaboration. The Instructional Dean
helps bridge the gap between the principal and the teachers. The school administration helps
train and facilitate effective collaboration by allowing grade level teams to meet fact-to-face for
two hours each week in order to lesson plan together and problem-solve student issues. Also,
the Vice Principal is scheduled to be present during each team meeting.

The quote that stood out the most to me is, “In terms of collaboration with parents and
families the first word that comes to mind is boundaries.” This quote stood out to me because
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Hayley seems like she has had some difficult parent and/or family situations that she has had to
work through and problem-solve. Through collaboration and problem-solving she has concluded
that there are some parents and families that you can be closer and more candid with, however;
an educator needs to make sure that they are not becoming an emotional “punching bag.”
Therefore, having the proper boundaries in place helps better facilitate parent-teacher
collaboration and communication.

Boundaries seem to be a big theme for Hayley in terms of successful

collaboration. She feels that as soon as boundaries are crossed and/or there is a lack of mutual
respect that it is a red flag and will in turn hinder any type of future collaboration. She explained
a time where she was a part of a failed collaborative situation with a colleague last year. She
emphasized the importance of having well defined roles and healthy professional boundaries.
When she failed to problem-solve on her own she had to self-advocate and seek out an
administrator in order to create a working agreement with her colleague. She also added that
collaboration has the potential to become toxic if your colleague is burnt out or in a toxic state of
mind regarding the teaching profession and/or the school policies.
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Reflection
I learned that almost everyone agrees on the basic requirements that need to be present
for true collaboration to take place. In our discussion for Week 6, Lisa noticed that the other
groups identified the reoccurring themes of trust and a common goal (November, 2017). I did not
find this surprising because in order to have true collaboration there must be a shared goal in
addition to a strong working relationship where trust is a key feature (Friend & Cook,
2013). Some additional key components of collaboration are, parity, well-defined roles, and
mutual respect (Friend Cook, 2013). Without any one of these primary requisites collaboration
with fellow colleagues will be strained and more likely to fail. I learned from my interview that
establishing and maintaining boundaries is also an important factor in effective collaboration.

I learned that problem-solving through collaboration is helpful because colleagues can

brainstorm ideas, pool their expertise, and analyze their differing perspectives in a safe place.
Therefore, problems and concerns can best be resolved when teachers collaborate together
effectively (Snell & Janney, 2000). Collaboration amongst teachers helps ensure that students are
receiving cohesive and consistent support throughout their school day. When teachers effectively
problem-solve they are more likely to design and apply effective interventions and implement
effective accommodations for students that are struggling in their general education classrooms
(Snell & Janney, 2000). The more individualized instruction can take place in the classroom as a
result of collaboration, the more inclusive general education classrooms can be. Collaboration
also allows for more attention to be focused on proactive problem-solving versus reactive
problem-solving because educators can pool their observations, resources, and expertise.
Overtime, the more proactive problem-solving that takes place, the less time will eventually be
required for resolving reactive problems (Friend & Cook, 2013). Essentially, problem-solving
through collaboration is more efficient.

I also learned that because teams are just one of the various applications of collaboration,
the benefits that can result from collaboration are also possible through teamwork (Friend & Cook,
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2013). Educational teams and in this case grade level teams, provide individual educators with the
support and help they need to be more effective teachers. They allow for lessons plans and student
objectives to be more cohesive and well thought out, often resulting in increased student learning.
It is not surprising that the formation and utilization of educational teams serves as a vehicle that
strengthens teachers’ problem-solving, organization, planning, resources, and overall morale
(Snell & Janney, 2000). My interview also informed me that humor is a vital tool that teams can
employ to enhance teacher job satisfaction. This humor can greatly reduce teachers’ stress, help
increase their morale, foster their close working relationships, and give them a sense of comradery
in the workplace.

This interview will greatly impact me as a future educator because it allowed me to see a
very personal and divergent perspective from my own. My interview with Hayley showed me that
when I am not having a positive collaborative experience with a colleague that I should self-
advocate and seek help from the school administration. Using my resources and allowing for the
school administration to facilitate and/or mediate can be a helpful option when all else fails. Also,
Hayley’s positive outlook on collaboration despite her trying experience will impact me as a future
educator. I will never allow having a negative experience with collaboration deter me from
attempting to collaborate with other colleagues in the future. It would be incredibly unhealthy and
limiting to close myself off to future collaboration just because I had some difficulty and/or
mishaps the first time around. This would be unfair to myself, my students, and my colleagues.

This interview will also impact me as a future educator by reminding me how important it
is for the students, myself, my colleagues, and the school culture to build and maintain close
personal and professional working relationships with my colleges. Collaboration is only possible
when there is mutual respect and trust present in a professional relationship (Friend & Cook, 2013).
The importance of taking the time to foster these working relationships cannot be overstated.
Having the courage as a new teacher to ask questions and be a team player allows you to begin to
form professional relationships that are crucial to your success as an educator (McDonald, 2017).
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References

Friend, M., & Cook, L. (2013). Interactions: Collaboration skills for school

professionals. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

McDonald, E. (2017, January 27). Being a Team Player: Collaboration With Colleagues.

Retrieved from:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/mcdonald/mcdonald014.shtml

November, L. (2017, September 29). WK 6-Conversation Circle #2 [Msg 12]. Message posted to

https://ucdenver.instructure.com/courses/365505/discussion_topics/560693?module_item
_id=1184235

Snell, M. E., & Janney, R. E. (2000). Teachers’ Problem-Solving About Children with Moderate

and Severe Disabilities in Elementary Classrooms. Exceptional Children. Vol. 66, No. 4,

pp.472-490. Doi: 10.1177/001440290006600403