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Teacher Interview Task II- Copy
Education Foundations (D097)
Western Governors University
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Rachel Park DO97: Educational Foundations Task 2: Teacher Interview
A. The content standards for Missouri are in the following location:dese.mo/college-career-readiness/curriculum/missouri-learning- standards#:~:text=The%20Missouri%20Learning%20Standards%20define%20the %20knowledge%20and,graduates%20should%20know%20and%20be%20able%20to %20do. B1. ..
C1. Description
I had the opportunity to meet with Mrs. Saddler, a special education Recourse teacher with the Raytown School District in Missouri. She has been teaching for nine years, two in regular education classrooms and the past seven in special education. We discussed content standards,
teacher identity, internal and external influences that impact special education, and professional development.
C1a. Content Standards:
Mrs. Saddler uses the Missouri State Learning Standards when planning instruction. As a resource teacher, grade-level standards help drive her goals. Often she will look at the student expectations for their particular grade level and then look at the prerequisite skills to help close the achievement gap. From Mrs. Saddler's experience, the impact of state and national standards standards-based curriculum on students, teachers, and school goals has been positive. They have made smart goals in her district and built pacing guides based on the Missouri state standards. Teachers often meet in vertical teams to discuss what the grades ahead of and behind are working on. The standards also help ensure all students have access to the same curriculum standard. She incorporates the content standards used in her state into her lessons by supporting the regular education teacher in implementing and differentiating the standards for their shared students. She wants to ensure that her students have access to the same standards as their non-disabled peers. Sometimes they require a different approach or may be working at a different level. Mrs. Saddler has the standards posted where students can see them as part of an "I can" type of statement, which often looks like individualized student goals.
C1b. Internal Influences
Next, we discussed internal influences impacting education, the first being her student population. Most of Mrs. Saddler's student population lives in poverty and does not get their
expectations as she has progressed. Building relationships is her number one priority. She likes to use humor, have fun in her teaching, and believe it is essential to break down barriers. She knows all students can grow and feel successful but feels it is so much easier when there is a connection.
Mrs. Saddler feels it is essential to participate in professional learning, which may look like doing a book study, doing online research, advancing her degree, or district-provided professional
development opportunities. She stressed keeping education well rounded, making sure to try and gain knowledge in different areas each year from math and reading to skills on dealing with behaviors.
C1c. Professional Development
Mrs. Saddler feels professional development is crucial to her job as a teacher, always to gain as much knowledge as possible. Through professional development, she can continue growing her knowledge base, keep up with any changes in eduacation, learn new skills, learn teqniques and tools to build upon any skills she already has, and gain confidence in her teaching ability. Mrs. Saddler continues to grow in her practice by participating in her district's professional growth plan. She mainly focuses on areas she wants to improve and makes a plan to achieve her goals. Right now, she has a particular interest in implementing quality instruction in the social-emotional area. The tools and resources she most often uses are her district resources. For example, Raytown offers quality professional development during the summer break. She also just earned her master's degree. Other tools and recourses include collaborating with other local colleges and research-based recourses.
C2: Feelings I felt a little nervous right before the interview. After looking over the interview questions, I practiced saying them aloud to help me get more comfortable with the questions I plan to ask. During the interview, I still felt some anxiety in the beginning. However, about 5 minutes into it, I was okay. I think the interview went well. I was able to get through all of my questions on time. Mrs. Saddler was relaxed and seemed eager to answer any questions I had. She was smiling and making good eye contact with me and never made me feel like she did not want to interview.
C. Evaluation
The interview did not align with my expectations. It went smoother than I had expected. I assumed the teacher I was interviewing was only doing the interview to be kind and would want to get it done as quickly as possible. However, this was not at all the case. Instead, the teacher seemed excited to do the interview and took her time answering my questions.
I feel like the whole interview went well. If there were one specific thing I had to choose that I thought went exceptionally well, it would be Mrs. Saddlers' answers. She gave thoughtful, clear, and concise answers to all of my questions. During the interview, I took notes, but I listened and engaged in our conversation for the most part. However, the way she answered them made it very easy to remember what she had said. Something that did not go well would be my anxiety over my assumptions about the teacher not wanting to do the interview had me nervous at first and limited the number of questions I could have asked. Had I not let myself fear something that was not even true, I could have gotten more out of the interview.
C. Conclusion
From this interview, I learned to take the time to evaluate myself regularly. Mrs. Saddler only found her way into her position as a recourse teacher because she took the time to look at herself and know what parts of teaching she enjoyed the most and even knew what translated to her role as a teacher. If she had not done this, I believe there would be countless kids who missed out on having a superb teacher, and I also do not think Mrs. Saddler would be the same joyous person she is today. Therefore, I plan to take the time to evaluate myself regularly so I can hopefully be where I need to be. For starters, after assessing this interview experience and asking myself what I would do differently to improve it if I were to do it again. Then, I would take the time to develop more questions and go into things more in-depth.
C5ai:
I also have a new understanding of the role of the teacher. Throughout the interview, I began to realize teachers have a lot more freedom than I realized. With standards, it seems so rigid, but I do not think it will be as black and white as I thought it was before. Knowing there is a lot more freedom to be creative and understanding the role of a teacher is not so cut and dry has made me very excited to get into the classroom.
C6. Action
Success Criteria is Critical, supports teacher success as it gives the students a clear idea of what success should look like for any given assignment. With the knowledge of the result or expectations for a given task or directions, the students can monitor their progress and become more self-aware of what they need to get from point a to point b.
C6b:
One of my strengths is that I love to research things to ensure I am making the right decision, whether buying a car, going on a vacation, or getting groceries. I have most likely made sure there is no doubt I have either found the best deals or routes, or Dr., or whatever the case may be. Most likely, I have done my research on it, and I will have made sure it is the most optimal decision possible for me. I feel like strength will also come in useful when deciding the best way to show my students what they will need to get from point a to point b. One of my weaknesses relating to Success Criteria is Critical is I am not always really clear about things when I try to describe them. I can see what I am saying; however, putting it into words for someone else to understand is not always easy for me to do.
C6c: Smart Goal
By July 1st, 2021, I will arrange my schedule to build in at least 20 hours of study time a week for schoolwork, so the next term, I will achieve the goals I set up with my mentor on time.
The following website, mindtools/pages/article/newHTE_07.htm, is a good resource for learning time management skills. I can also reach out to my mentor for additional help.
References
Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods, Oxford, UK: Oxford Brooks University.
Teacher Interview Task II- Copy
Course: Education Foundations (D097)
University: Western Governors University
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