Teacher Interview_Porter

I have been fortunate enough to have so many phenomenal teachers in my life, so when I heard that our assignment was to interview a teacher, I was ecstatic. I had such a difficult time picking which teacher I wanted to talk to. In the end, I decided to interview my mom because she is a huge reason why I decided to become a teacher in the first place. She also graduated from Trinity’s adult studies program. She taught in a preschool for around 16 years. She started as a music teacher, then became a two-year-old teacher, then became director of the entire preschool.

Our textbook gives the definition of classroom management as “techniques used to maintain a healthy learning environment, relatively free of behavior problems” (Woolfolk, 2019, p. 511). I really liked what my mom said in the interview about how she has never been one of those teachers that stands at the front of the classroom and gives a lecture. In all my years of schooling, those were always my least favorite teachers because it is so hard so focus on someone’s voice for such a long period of time, especially for young children. She mentioned that she is a big fan of having the kids in small groups, even though it does sometimes cause the classroom to be a little bit loud. Being in groups allows the children to socialize with each other and work together instead of always doing individual work. I also like that she said when a student is being disruptive, she does her best to handle the situation quickly and quietly. No student wants to feel singled out or be embarrassed by their behavior, so I think it is super important to handle it without drawing attention to that student.

Another aspect of my interview with my mom that I found to be particularly interesting was when she discussed the school she student taught at. I was in fifth grade when she was student teaching and I remember her coming home crying saying that she wishes she could do more for her students. Our book states “About 21% of Americans under the age of 18 live below the poverty level” (Woolfolk, 2019, p. 224). I don’t think she was really expecting that her students would have such an impact on her, but they did. As she mentioned, she had students who couldn’t focus in her class because they were so hungry and reading a book for class was the least of their worries. She was unprepared for how many outside factors affected these kids. Many of her kids didn’t have time for things like learning to read because they were busy trying to find a next meal for their siblings. It broke her heart. No amount of schooling can prepare you for that. Additionally, even though she was teaching eighth grade, several of her students were 17-18 because they had been held back so many times. Teaching is a profession where you really need to put 110% into your job every single day and watching my mom deal with this really taught me that.

Bullying was also an issue she had to deal with daily in her student teaching class. Table 13.3 in our textbook describes all the different types of bullying exist and explains the differences between the types. At my mom’s school, she dealt with all of them. She mentioned that the majority of her students were already involved in gangs, so it was very difficult for her to attempt to get the students to interact with each other because they were in rival gangs. It affected the way she taught immensely and oftentimes got extremely violent. It was a great learning experience for her though, because she got to experience how to handle situations like that. She also learned that the students treat her with respect if she respects them. Her cooperating teacher would scream at the students and they never paid any attention to her. My mom spoke calmly with them and would laugh with them, and they did the same to her. I learned from her that it is important to treat your students how you want them to treat you.

I learned a lot from my mom while doing this interview, but most importantly I learned she is the type of teacher I want to be. I want to have good relationships with my students and for them to enjoy coming to class. I want to hear from my students years later and know that I had a positive impact on their lives and their learning experiences.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/-v9u5vWq7nY

Steph