Teacher Interview

Planning questions:
1. How do you write a typical lesson plan?
a. I look at my binders and what I have, and I look at the objectives. I also look at
questions from school net/ class scapes to see what my end results should look,
like my goal.
2. What types of material do you need available when you plan lessons?
a. She needs manipulatives if needed, materials for hands on activities, internet
access, my co-teacher, and my resources- curriculum pacing guides.
3. In what ways do you plan to accommodate individual differences in the classroom?
a. I pull small group or individual conferences, preferred seating, in the past Ive
copied teacher notes for the students.
Instructional questions:
1. What are some of your instructional challenges as a teacher?
a. Time management, instructional time, collaboration time, management of the
class and the scheduling, meeting the needs of all studentsextending the high
but supporting the low.
2. What have been some of your instructional successes as a teacher?
a. Andrew didnt like school or math, but her biggest success would be having kids
like school and comfortable with themselves and others to build community. My
students most of the time, when you look at their growth its always significant
positive growth and she feels like she sends them prepared. Shes very good at
build with parents and helping other teachers in the building with technology. I
help them learn new things about their devices. She has a method to always
winning stuff in raffles.
3. What do you consider essential characteristics for successful teaching?
a. Patience, organization, time management, passion, compassion, flexibility and
effective communicator.
4. How often do your students receive social studies/science instruction?

a. Approximately 3 times a week- 30 minute block

5. Are you satisfied with the amount of time that you currently allot for social studies/
science instruction? Explain.
a. Yes, because we integrate literacy with those instruction areas easily. Students
also can read text on specific topics on their own. I wouldnt want to sacrifice my
instructional math time or reading times because they are so important.
6. What social studies and science topics/units will be studied during the second week of my
clinical experience? What are possible goals/objectives I could address for my lessons?
Do you have any instructional resources that would support these goals/objectives?
a. During the second week in social studies they are studying slavery, abolitionists,
civil war and early statehood of North Carolina (unit 3 in text book). In science,
they began with animal adaptations. Then we studied recycling process and how
humans use recycling to make a clearer and healthier environment. I am
addressing Transportation during the mid -900s.
7. What does reading instruction look like in your classroom (e.g. readers workshop, basals,
etc.)? What reading topics will be studied during the second week of my clinical
experience? What are possible goals/objectives I could address for my reading lesson?
Do you have any instructional resources that would support these goals/ojectives?
a. Students break into groups and have a reading workshop, we do guided reading
rooms, small groups, and small intervention groups. During the second week
studies will be focused on their historical figure biographies and their historical
fiction reading group. They will read and discuss these readings with what they
are learning from social studies and even possibly from some of their own
historical figures. They should make connections with their different texts and
activities that are being taught.
Classroom management questions:

1. Tell me about the classroom community. What are the class rules? How is student
behavior monitored? In what ways is positive behavior reinforced? In what ways are
negative behaviors prevented? Tell me about the consequences for negative behavior?
a. My class has a very strong community bond. We have a welcoming community
for new visitors and students to help them around and get used to things because
being new can be hard. They have to use their hand signals for pencil, water, and
bathroom. They have expectations they are expected to follow. Some students
have behavior charts. They get 0-2 from their teachers, and so many points gives
you a certain option. So the students can add their points up and get something out
of the treasure chest, get a fancy chair, or etc. The class also plays class bingo, 1100. They has a class decided what they could do to get numbers, and they draw
the numbers and have to get 5 in a row to get a prize. Some example prices were
lunch bunch and watch magic school bus, getting to write with markers all day, or
getting no homework for a day but the teacher gets to pick what day and the
homework assignment. They also have class jobs, and the classroom
representatives have to keep up with the numbers.

I observed some very positive and interesting ways to keep students well behaved and
engaged. Sometimes it isnt always easy, and sometimes it isnt always a dozen roses. Sometimes
it is hard. Sometimes you just want to hit your head on the desk and pull your hair out. But there
are so many positive things that I watched come out of their rewards and techniques my teacher
used. She let them be included in their thinking and their consequences. She often let the students
pick something they felt fit for the punishment and she gets to approve or deny it. If it is denied
she picks the punishment for the crime. I observed the students win a class bingo game. They get
to have marker day, which they get to write with markers all day. I observed a teacher that
handles all of the problems out loud, and corrects them out oud. For example, if a student is
reading their book instead of listening she correct it out loud, etc.
I like the way that my classroom teacher runs her class it makes me feel happy. I like the
way that she allows for the students to be involved in their rewards and consequences. It lets the
students be heard and have a voice. For example, one of my students got in trouble and his
choice was silent lunch. Well at lunch he decided he would talk, and his response was he needed
to just talk that day. My classroom teacher said, Okay, well now you have silent lunch for the
week because you needed to talk and that was your choice of consequence. She let them have a
voice all the way until the end, and agree that it was fair. I liked how in the hall they had a game
to play that would help them stay quiet when they needed to be quiet. They just played the quiet
game, and someone stands on the outside and looks for the student being the quietest and
standing and following the rules, by standing forward on the colored tiles.
As a future teacher, I would like to use the quiet game method with my students, because
standing in the line is boring. As a teacher, we dont always stand and not be quiet in the hall we
often talk to other teachers and discuss any problems but then expect our students to be quiet. I

understand that it is hard, so at least that will give them a little motivation to be quiet in the hall.
Overall, I hope that I can be as loose as my students as my classroom teacher is able to be with
her students, they really respect her.