Teacher Interview

For my teacher interview, I chose to speak with Mr. Zach Scipioni, one of two Physical Education teachers at Fulton Elementary School in Tinley Park, IL. Mr. Scipioni has been a Physical Education teacher at Fulton for 6 years now, where he began his teaching career. I chose to interview this specific teacher because he is both of my two boys’ PE teacher, and they both never have enough good things to say about him. The fact that his experience and philosophy is primarily encouraged by today’s youth culture, and the fact my kids, who encompass the general public youth I will be educating were two of the most determining factors I felt his ideas would make for a formidable interview, and possibly instill in me some ideas of how to manage a PE classroom in today’s society.

Below are the questions answered by Mr. Scipioni throughout the duration of the interview:

1)How many years have you been teaching PE, and where have you taught?

2) What is your philosophy on classroom management?

3) Has your philosophy changed since you began teaching?

4) Have you ever implemented a reinforcement system into your classroom? If so, how did it work?

5) What is your go-to strategy to encourage participation from your students who do not want to participate?

6) How do you handle distractions, internally (students), and externally (phone calls, fire drills, etc)  in your classroom?

7) What strategies do you use to maximize education time in an already short time period?

8) How do you and the other PE teacher work together to manage the class?

9) Has your co-teacher influenced your philosophy in any way?

10) If you had to give your classroom management style a personality trait, what would it be and why?

11) What is the best advice you could give to an aspiring PE teacher on positively managing such an unconventional classroom environment?

Through interviewing Mr. Scipioni I learned a lot of interesting details about the evolution of classroom management as professional maturation takes shape through knowledge and experience. My biggest take away from the interview when it came to the idea of change in philosophy was that Zach’s answer and my expected answer were polar opposites. My assumption was that, as a new teacher 6 years ago, Zach would have been a much more rigid teacher trying to keep each class the same and as he matured as a teacher become more lax and fluid, treating each class independently. On the absolute opposite end of the spectrum, Zach mentioned that his biggest fault as a beginning teacher was that he tried to mix it up too much from class to class. As he got older, he now realizes the best way to manage a class is incorporating routine. Through routine, every student knows the expectations of the classroom from the moment they walk in to the moment they walk out. They know to follow the routine and the class will run unbothered. This is a very similar understanding of the ideas of routines in a classroom Woolfork made on page 494 of the text.

Mr. Scipioni is a huge proponent of the philosophy of positivity and encouragement. He believes that with enough positivity and encouragement every child will feel positive and find the positive in physical activity. A big part of Mr. Scipioni’s management in class is the inclusion of positive reinforcement in the classroom. He has even taken it to the next step by implementing the homeroom teachers’ reinforcement strategies into his own classroom for that period, keeping a steady flow of routine in the class during the transition from one teacher to another. In his words “I noticed in the classrooms all the teachers have these special boards that the kids put tokens or stickers on as they move up and follow directions, so I encouraged the teachers to let me use the boards in PE. This way the kids would know if they follow directions and follow the rules in PE it would help them get good things like Friday free time in the classroom. It has really helped keep them focused and motivated.”

One thing I really enjoyed about Mr. Scipioni’s reinforcement tactics is that he did not limit the reinforcements for the students to come from just himself and his co-teacher, but from the other students as well. To do this, Zach created a “Rock Out System” where at any time during the class period if a student sees another student do a good thing, such as shooting a basketball well or trying to run the pacer hard, that student can give him a “rock,” a fist bump followed by 2 seconds of dancing. I love the idea because it keeps the kids active, but also teaches kids the importance and value of peer respect. To Mr. Scipion “At the elementary age, it is important to build those social/emotional skills into them. A lot of our students don’t participate in out of school activities. A lot of them just sit at home and have no sense of how to communicate with each other. This way the kids are interacting in a positive way, building self-esteem.” This follows strongly to the beliefs by Woolfolk on page 258, “adding or subtracting something following a behavior that has the effect of strengthening the behavior.” This is certainly a great way to strengthen a student’s behavior, physical and social/emotionally, and an idea I fully expect to implement in my own classroom.

When it comes to distractions, Mr. Scipioni tends to follow Woolfolk’s idea of reinforcing with teacher attention (pg. 263.) Although not his exact words, Zach explained that he likes to walk around the classroom rather than stay in one spot to be available to all kids and decrease the likelihood of students acting up in class. He feels that by walking around and giving the students positive feedback at different intervals, it not only shows the kids that he is paying attention to what they are doing, but also that he is proud of them, or to make them feel proud of themselves and happy to be in the gym. He does not acknowledge students for their negative behaviors, but rather privately re-engage them onto the task positively.

I think Zach summed up the way to achieve positive classroom management best by accident. When asked what personality trait his classroom management style was, his answer was positive and encouraging. He then went on to say that you have to be positive and encouraging because not every kid has athletic ability. Not every kid wants to try because they know they aren’t but if the students feel your excitement and your energy for them as a teacher, eventually they will begin to feel that excitement and energy in themselves building their self-esteem, making them want to learn. To quote Mr. Scipioni “With that positive encouragement going on all the time it will give the kids a good positive attitude toward PE and want to come here every day and not goof around.” This is strangely familiar to Pavolv’s idea of classical conditioning found on page 254 & 255. If you treat the students in a positive manner and show excitement in the material, the student will associate your class, and your subject matter with a good time, making it fun to learn about and excited to come back to.

After the interview, I could clearly see why my children enjoy Mr. Scipioni as a teacher. As I venture down my own educational path there are a lot of things I know I can take from this interview and incorporate it into my own educational philosophy of classroom management. For one, I am totally taking his “Rock Out Station.” I highly agree that today’s children are more in need than ever for social/emotional stability, and this is a great way to encourage teamwork, positivity, and community. Another thing he mentioned, during the last question asking for advice, was stick to your personality. Don’t try to be somebody you aren’t. I could not agree more. No matter hard positive or encouraging you are, you have to be yourself if you want your students to respect and respond to you.

It was a privilege to sit down with Mr. Scipioni. I got to get to know kids’ teacher a little better, and I learned some great advice on classroom management I know I will be able to utilize in my own classroom in the near future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPjTKT83l3s

Forgive the humming, I only had enough time for one take between the teacher's class periods.