Brooke Ervin

Classroom Management

Dr. Elsass

Interview Assignment

Narrative Reflection

Teacher Interview:

For this assignment, I had the opportunity to interview a 2nd grade teacher from

my old school district in St. Louis, Missouri. Going into the interview, I had three main

topics in mind that I really wanted to learn more about. The first thing that I was eager to

discuss in greater detail was developing a sense of partnership with students in the

classroom. I asked this teacher how she works to establish this type of relationship with

each new group of students. She gave me some great examples of ways that she does this

in her classroom because she is a big proponent of student-directed learning. One of my

favorite ways that she does this is by allowing the students to choose their activity time at

the end of each week. I think that this gives students the opportunity to learn some self-

management skills while also serving as a great motivator. I then asked her what she

thought the line was, in regards to students seeing their teacher as a friend as opposed to

an authority figure. This is something that I have always wondering about because I feel

as though it can be tricky to find the right balance. She told me that ultimately, this all

goes back to routines that are set in the classroom. She explained that once certain things

that foster mutual respect in the classroom are set in place, she has much more room to

establish that deeper type of relationship with students knowing that they still respect her

as their teacher. I liked the fact that she brought up the importance of mutual respect in
the classroom because I too believe that many classroom issues that occur come back to

this. In my future classroom, I plan to make sure that my students know I am learning

from them just as much, if not more, than they are learning from me.

This brought us into our next topic of discussion, establishing expectations and

procedures in the classroom. I wanted to know how much time she typically devotes to

teaching procedures at the beginning of the school year. She told me that in her

classroom, the first week of school is usually set-aside for this. Her biggest piece of

advice for me was to start out strong in setting these expectations from the very

beginning because they are hard get back once they have been compromised. She

explained that she has experienced this first-hand during the first few years of her

teaching career. Without clear expectations and procedures, there was a lack of respect

and order that quickly led to a chaotic and unproductive classroom. I then asked her how

often she rehearses these expectations and procedures throughout the school year. She

stated that she really just does this anytime students are off task or behaving

inappropriately in the classroom. She will ask them lovingly what the expectations are for

what they may be doing in the moment and then have the student refer back to the

classroom expectations that are posted next to the whiteboard. I strongly agree with her

advice on starting out strong in regards to establishing procedures and expectations in the

classroom. It aligns perfectly with what we have discussed in class. I plan to involve my

students in the process of creating these expectations and procedures during the first

week of class in order to make them meaningful for the students and to start establishing

our classroom community.

 The final topic that I wanted to tackle in the interview was about effective parent-

teacher communication. I asked this teacher for examples of some ways that she works to

initially establish positive parent communication. She explained that once she receives

her student list for the fall, she sends out a letter to parents telling them about herself,

including contact information and expressing her excitement to work with their students

this upcoming school year. She stated that she has had many parents express their

appreciation for this and tell her that it put them more at ease entering into a new school

year. I then asked how she keeps this positive communication going throughout the year.

We discussed a variety of strategies, but some of my favorites that she shared included

sending home encouraging notes with students that list different things they did well that

day or week. She also gave me tips about conducting parent-teacher conferences,

specifically emphasizing the importance of being a listener. She encouraged me to take

the time to ask parents about their goals for their student and to discuss ways that each of

you can work together to help the student achieve these goals. I think that all of these

strategies were great ways to establish positive parent-teacher relationships that I plan to

make use of in the future. I strongly believe that strong parent-teacher communication has

implications for students overall engagement and academic achievement. In my future

classroom, I plan to reach out to parents from the start to form these strong relationships

and uphold them throughout the school year, as it will allow for the most student success.

Overall, I left this interview with a lot of new insight into how to juggle the many

different facets of running an effective classroom.

 Counselor Interview:

For my additional interview, I chose to interview the elementary school counselor

at the same school district, Lindbergh, in St. Louis. This was a huge learning experience

for me because going into the interview, I did not have a great understanding of what the

role of a counselor truly looked like in an elementary school. Due to this, I started off by

simply asking what a typical day might look like for her. She answered that her day is

never set in stone. She usually has a few small group-counseling sessions and maybe five

or so individual counseling sessions or mini-meetings as she likes to call them. She

said that there will be certain weeks where she spends more time in a whole classroom

setting teaching counseling lessons and some days that she needs to take care of more

administrative tasks. I then asked how she prepares for her day not knowing exactly what

itll be like with different curveballs that could be thrown at any moment. She told me

that although each day looks a little different, her job is just to love on students. She

explained that if she comes in ready to do that each morning, then she is ready to do her

job. I really loved this answer because I believe that ultimately, my job as a teacher is the

same to make students feel loved and cared for so that they are able to reach their full

potential.

I was also curious about the settings in which she typically meets with students. I

asked about whether she is often teaching whole-class counseling lessons, working with

small groups, or mainly with individuals. Her answer was that each week includes all

three of these, although some days may be more centered around individual mini-

meetings while certain weeks she may spend a lot of time in whole-classroom settings.

For example, she told me that for Random Act of Kindness Week in February, she was
more focused on whole-class instruction to promote student participation in displaying

random acts of kindness. I asked to hear more about what each of these different settings

looks like and the varying strategies that she may use in each. She spent most of the time

outlining what an individual session typically looks like. She stated that although they

differ tremendously based on the needs of the student, these mini-meetings with

students could be anything from helping a student with organization skills or goal-setting

to discussing big family changes that they may be dealing with. One strategy she shared

with me was creating visuals to help set goals for students. She said that in every

counseling session, regardless of the topic, they are always working towards an end goal

whether it is minimizing off-task behavior in class or coping with parent separation. One

way she does this in her office is through use of post-it notes because they are simple yet

powerful ways for students to identify specific goals. I think that this idea of creating

visuals for student goals could also be a great tool for me to use in a future classroom. I

believe it would help to hold students accountable and encourage them throughout the

day as they are reminded of what they are working towards.

This interview really opened my eyes to how versatile the job of a counselor can

be. After talking with this school counselor, I have a renewed appreciation for all that

they do and I feel encouraged to use my future schools counselor as a resource for both

myself and my students. A lot of the strategies that she described using are ones that I

believe could be slightly tweaked to work very effectively in a typical classroom setting

as well. The opportunity to meet with this counselor served as a great reminder of how

many resources there are out there for educators and how important it is to seek these out.
This is something that I know will stay with me as I continue on in my journey towards

becoming a classroom teacher.