Teacher Interview

Teacher Interview.

I interviewed my co-worker Becky Hanson. She did not give me permission to post the video but she said if I pulled the audio I could post that. (audio is in teacher interview discussions on Moodle)  She is a pretty easy going woman and wonderful to work with. I enjoy talking to her about our students because we are able to discuss new ways of managing them when they are getting out of hand. This interview was very insightful especially because it really shows how intuitive she is with her students but still keeps her own personality.

The questions I asked where:

How long have you been teaching?

What are your rules for the classroom?

What are some of the classroom management strategies/techniques you have tried that have worked and/ or failed?

How do you keep your students on task?

How do you make your students feel comfortable and open to learning? Even the reluctant ones?

Do you have a favorite part of the day?

Any advice for new teachers?

After the interview:

I was surprised that she has worked that long. She seems extremely young and so easy going I would have pegged her for working no more than 5 years.   Her class is a very rambunctious bunch but they are all sweethearts. They just have trouble holding on to their pencils!  This next year, she also said she might add to the desk behavior charts, a pencil case with 5 pencils. If they keep the 5 pencils they will also get to choose a surprise from the treasure chest. She is trying to teach them responsibility for their belongings as well as others. She is extremely astute and wonderful person to work with.

Her classroom rules are the Golden Rule: treat others how you would like to be treated,  respect belongings, one light off means whispering, and both lights off means silence.  Keeping them busy is her way of keeping them on task so they are never not doing an assignment or lesson. For example, before this interview, they had music class and have 15 minutes before gym class so they walked in and grabbed their cursive writing sheets and immediately started working on them.