Teacher Interview

1. How long have you been teaching?

a) 13 years
2. How long have you been at Huntersville Elementary School?
a) 12 years
3. Where are you from?
a) South Carolina
4. Where did you go to college?
a) University of South Carolina
5. Why were you drawn to teaching?
a) Ability to be creative (planning) and do something that has intrinsic
meaning/value
6. Was teaching your first profession?
a) No. I have a Retail Management (bachelor) degree. I worked in banking for 2
years before getting my MAT in Elementary Education.
7. Have you taught other grades besides 4th?
a) 1st through 3rd. I taught 6 years in 3rd
8. Have you taught at other schools besides Huntersville Elementary School?
a) Okatie Elementary in Beaufort County, South Carolina
9. How do you differentiate instruction for students in your classroom?
a) I design leveled curriculum based on pre-assessments. My small group
instruction is always the same skills but differentiated through leveled
assignments or reading material.
10. How much experience do you have with working with students with diverse needs?
a) I typically have at least 1 class each year that is either ELA inclusion or EC
inclusion
11. Where do you get the data for differentiating students?
a) EOG, MAP, Quarter Pre and Post assessments
12. Do you have any students with IEPs, 504 plans etc.?
a) 1 EC, 4ESL, 1 Behavior IEP
13. What differentiation needs are provided for you in the curriculum that the school has?
a) Most differentiation to curriculum is designed as a team during planning
14. Do you use the information provided for you in the curriculum?
a) It has great question stems, graphic organizers, and general talking points. I
typically use the curriculum for note taking and whole group instruction.
15. Diverse learners also cover students from multiple cultural and racial differences, how
do you differentiate for these students?
a) Using a wide range of literature. We are currently working on a multicultural
biography project.
16. What other resources do you use to help you differentiate for students?
a) Edgenuity (MAP based computer program)
17. What information could you give me to help support diverse students in my own
classroom?
a) All skills can be taught despite leveled abilities. Text can easily be differentiated
18. How do you use assessments to drive your instruction?
 a) Assessments are used to determine each specific skill need. I look at results
based on standard performance instead of general. I will group all kids on RI.4.1
based upon how they perform on their pre-assessments. Groups will look
completely different for RI.4.2 because a student may perform differently on
different skills.
19. How do you group diverse learners into instruction? Do you have homogeneous or
heterogeneous groups?
a) Skill based small group is based on kids with similar needs. Whole group
interactive assignments are more heterogeneous groups. It depends on the
purpose or outcome of the lesson.
20. What classroom procedures help create a classroom environment where students can
learn?
a) We have a daily Morning Meeting to build teamwork and character. This allows
students to begin their day with a positive successful start.
21. How have you planned ahead to prevent inappropriate behavior?
a) Always when creating groups for work, book clubs and small group instruction
22. How do you respond to minor problems (i.e. off-task behavior, talking out of turn)?
a) Quick 1, 2, one, two, three, eyes on me
23. How do you respond to serious or persistent problems?
a) Individual conference with student, parent contact, may include School
Counselor
24. How does individual personality and style influence a teacher's approach to classroom
management?
a) I need to feel comfortable and confident in the structure of how my class is run.
25. What are your beliefs about how students' developmental level plays a role in selecting
classroom management strategies?
a) I generally would say each class and class dynamics are completely
different. Always the goal is to produce more self-directed learners. A lot of
factors including academic independence and confidence play a role in
classroom management, as well as, expectations.
26. How do you collaborate with parents in creating a positive classroom climate and
managing behavior?
a) Weekly communication, email or phone conversations about specific student
behaviors
27. What resources are available in this school to help with classroom management
challenges?
a) Grade level team, School Counselor, CMS District intervention support

Reflection

Describe: What did I learn about the teacher from this interview?

From this teacher interview, I learned about my teacher as a person and how her
personality fits into her teaching style. Ms. Miller has been teaching for 13 years, 12 of
which have been at Huntersville Elementary School. Teacher was not her first career, she
worked in banking for two years with a degree in Retail Management before deciding to go
back to school to become a teacher. In the classroom, when planning for small group
instruction, she creates homogeneous groups for kids with similar needs. Students will be
grouped by specific skill needs based on their pre-assessment scores for particular
standards. These groups will change based on the standard because students can score
differently on RI.4.1 than RI.4.2 for example. The small group instruction is always on the
same skill but differentiated through leveled assignments or reading materials. The data
my teacher uses for differentiating students comes from the students’ EOG scores, MAP
scores, quarter assessments, as well as pre- and post-assessments. Group differentiation
for the grade level is designed as a grade level team during the planning days. To create a
positive classroom culture, there is a daily morning meeting that helps to build teamwork
and character. This allows students to start the day in a positive environment. To
collaborate with parents on creating a positive climate in the classroom, there is weekly
communication as well as the Class Dojo notifications. My teacher also communications via
email or phone calls to parents when there are specific students who have disruptive
behavior in the classroom. There are a couple ways that my teacher uses to recapture the
student’s attention when they are off task, but the one that she uses most often is one, two,
three, eyes on me.

Analyze: What do I think (opinions, thoughts, comments, questions) about what I’ve
observed?

The interview of my Cooperating Teacher is consistent with what I have observed

during my time in the classroom. One of the ways that I feel I have learned from my teacher
about classroom management is that there are many ways to recapture the students’
attention, and it is very important to make sure that I have all of the students’ attention
before moving on in the lesson so that I can make sure that all students are on the same
page. I feel that sometimes my Cooperating Teacher held the students’ attention very well
and the students were engaged, however, sometimes the students were off task during the
lesson, and the teacher would move forward without saying anything to the students. My
cooperating teacher would use “one, two, three, eyes on me” when a majority of the class
was talking out of turn which is one of the devices that I have heard of most frequently. I
have also been with my Cooperating Teacher when she was creating leveled small groups
for book clubs. The teacher took the information from the students MAP scores as well as
reading levels to choose appropriate books for each group. Some of the books that the
students are reading are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lion the Witch and the
Wardrobe, and The Indian in the Cupboard. The students then battle with each other over
which group’s book was “better.” I believe this is a great idea, and I will definitely use book
clubs in my own classroom. Overall, the students in my class are well behaved and eager to
learn. My cooperating teacher works great with the students and gets them excited about
what they are going to learn.

Appraise: How did this interview influence me as a future teacher?

From this interview, I learned about how to group students based on ability for
small group instruction and leave whole group instruction in heterogenous groups so that
students can learn from each other and everyone is accessing the same material. I will also
implement morning meetings in my own classroom so that I can be sure that I am creating
a positive classroom environment where my students can be confident and successful. I
also learned about how important assessment-based instruction is because it will help
drive the homogenous small groups that I will create for units. From this interview, I can
see that there are multiple resources for me as a beginning teacher to use when I am
creating my lesson plans, finding ideas for classroom management, as well as creating
differentiated instruction for my students. I will be able to use my grade level team as a
resource, my curriculum instructor at the school, as well as Common Core resources that
are found online. From my observation of the classroom as well as the interview, I learned
that there is about 45 minutes a day set aside for social studies instruction and this is
integrated into the language arts curriculum. There is also 45 minutes a day set aside for
science instruction which is integrated in math instruction. The students genuinely enjoy
social studies and science instruction, I wish there was more time dedicated to these
subjects during the day. Interviewing experienced teachers is a great way for me to reflect
on ways that I can better my own teaching.