Teacher Interview




The teacher that I interviewed had about twelve years of experience mostly teaching at the third and fifth grade levels.  I was very much impressed with her confidence, competence and professionalism.  I do apologize for the quality of the video, I am not technologically gifted and I used all my newly acquired tech skills in order to accomplish this assignment. 

When one reads a book and then sees the movie they made from the book, it always seems to present very differently, usually rather disappointingly.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the teacher interview reinforced what the Woolfolk text has been teaching in Chapters 7 & 13.  Mrs. Peterson very much stressed that it is so very important to care about the students and gain their cooperation (pp.510-513).  She said it was vital to make relationships with the students themselves and to make sure to team with the parents through positive communication from the very beginning of the school year.   Mrs. Peterson believed that the expectations and routines of the classroom should be formed very early on in a clear, positive and firm approach ( pp.518-520). 

One of the questions that I asked her was how to regain the interest of students who are starting to loose attention.  She very quickly responded with effective planning, explaining that as a teacher you should be aware of your students attention spans, interests, strengths and weaknesses.  Therefore, during the planning of your lessons, attention should be taken into account in order to plan an effective lesson.  This aligned with the text on page 522 that explained that prevention is the best medicine in managing the classroom.

When asked for any "tricks of the trade" to nip behavioral problems in the bud before it becomes a major issue, Mrs. Peterson responding with a lot of good practical advice.  She said never publicly  confront students, always use indirect methods at first, as in a look, a tap on their desk, proximity to the student are some good and simple techniques.  She did mention the method of proximity quite a bit in the interview.  Being present, being close to the students, be there and assist them, or redirect them, whatever is needed.  This reminded me of the "Withitness" from page 523, being aware of everything that is happening in your classroom.  If these small ways are not working a reminder of a classroom expectations, with a positive approach and then a private conference.   She very much viewed the parents as part of the team view of education, making those positive communications very early in the school year, will be the difference when assistance is needed with a student who is having behavioral problems.  The parent will already know you, but more importantly, know that you care about their child, and will want to assist you if and when an opportunity presents itself.

What I personally learned from this interview was that the skills, techniques and approaches that I am learning from the text and the courses at Trinity seem to be what Mrs. Peterson is successfully using in the classroom to become such a confident and competent teacher.  So, I am excited to continue on my learning path so that I can also become a happy and effective teacher like Mrs. Peterson.

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