Anna Duplisea

Teacher Interview & Reflection

4/2/15
Interviewee: S. Bucklin
Interview Date: 3/1/15
Planning Questions:
What materials do you need available when you plan lessons? Do you plan
on paper or electronically?
My final plans are in electronic format (Im finally learning how to use a Mac), but I
do use the actual social studies book, and a math worksheet book to help me along.
When you plan, do you make any modifications/accommodations for
students?
I always make sure the work is something all of my students can do. For two
students, I tend to give them an alternate assignment, but I never just reduce the
work.
Do you plan individually, cooperatively, or both? Please explain.
For math, we all teach a different homeroom, so typically I plan alone. Some of the
other teachers plan together, but since we are departmentalized I sometimes find
that it works to plan alone too. We have planning time at 2:05 every day and there
are other things we have to take care of during that time together (like parent
teacher conferences). We do all still stay on the same page with our students, its
important to communicate.
Instructional Questions:
What are some of your instructional challenges as a teacher?
I was teaching in first grade and am new to fifth; that transition alone is difficult. I
feel as though I have students from every level A-Z, and thats hard in just one
class.
What have been some of your instructional successes as a teacher?
Nothing really just comes easy, everything is hard work, but its nice to see a
student succeed after they have had a hard time with something. Its like one day,
you say something, and they just get it!
What characteristics are essential for a successful teacher to have?
Good time management, organization, and patience.
What are the advantages to teaching partially departmentalized as you
do? Disadvantages?
Being partially departmentalized, I have a lot more time to plan my particular
lessons and I feel like they are more powerful because of that. The disadvantage is
that I have more students to teach.
How is technology used in the classroom?

Every student has a chrome book in the classroom and I use the SmartBoard a lot
for instruction.
What are possible goals/objectives I could address for my lessons?
(Math, Reading, Science, and Social Studies)
Fractions would be a great thing for you to focus on. I would really like to group the
class so that the students who dont seem to be grasping it as much. As for social
studies, we are currently talking about the American Revolution, we will have to see
where that takes us.
-Do you have any instructional resources that would support
these goals/objectives?
I have a really great book of math sheets that my students have in the form of a
packet, you may could pull from that for your lesson. I also have the social studies
book that I use to pull lesson ideas from. The lessons are really informative and
each student already has their own copy. We can also sit down during planning time
and you are welcome to use me as a resource.
o

Classroom Management Questions:

What motivation tactics do you use to ensure a desire to learn?
The students use each other as motivation. Being in fifth grade, they are well aware
of who is doing well, and who is notand they dont want to be known by their
friends as not doing well. I use the PBIS cards each student has to encourage them
to stay on task and responsible for their own learning throughout the day.
Tell me about the classroom community:
How is student behavior monitored?
How is positive behavior encouraged/rewarded?
How is negative behavior discouraged/disciplined?
Students each have their PBIS cards for negative and positive behavior, but in
addition to that, a behavior chart/binder is kept. The students earn Dojo points
throughout the quarters and there are rewards for reaching a certain level; they
want to reach yellow every time.
How does communication happen between the team of teachers?
o -between teachers and students?
o -between teachers and parents/guardians?
As teachers, we hold PLC (Professional Learning Community) throughout the weeks
to make sure we stay in communication with one another.
As teachers with students, we very frequently talk with them during recess or in the
morning before the day begins to try and make sure we are on the same page.
We hold parent teacher conferences frequently to make sure parents know whats
going on and we also require a lot of signatures. I communicate via e-mail with
many parents.

*Since this interview a new rule was put in place that students must have their
teacher sign their agenda and a parent/guardian sign their agenda each day. Im
sure this aids communication as well.

Reflection:
As I reflect on this interview, I am really glad that we were required to do this.
The questions I asked arent necessarily all going to come up in conversation,
although many may have. It was really eye-opening to hear from a teacher what
those different aspects of the job were like. Unfortunately, we had to take the time
to sit down for this over lunch in the cafeteria, so there was a lot of background
noise. However, I was very grateful that she found time in her, already busy, day to
give me her undivided attention.
I think this interview went well. I got answers to every question I posed. The
one bit of conversation that stuck out to me was when I asked What motivation
tactics do you use to ensure a desire to learn? and she proceeded to tell me
how independent the students were. They held themselves and others accountable
and I saw that throughout the time I was there. That whole concept was a new one
to be because I had never had an experience with upper elementary (except for
EOG proctoring). I think that the students attitudes towards the classroom,
learning, and each other really speaks volumes for her teaching. She is fun to be
around, but doesnt play games when it comes to learning, and that transfers over
to many of her students!
The biggest benefit to doing this interview was that I was able to break the
ice. Our first meeting was via Skype, and this was the first time I met this teacher in
person. It was so helpful to talk with her about these things right off the bat
because throughout the days I was in the classroom, she would mention the terms
(PBIS, PBL, etc.). Already knowing what to expect from a lot of her answers during
our interview took a little bit of the first week nervousness away.
Overall, I enjoyed this process. I hope to be of help to a teacher candidate
one day in the future, as this teacher has helped me!