Kristen Yates

Education 1301
September 19, 2015
Interviewing a Teacher
The point of this assignment was to interview a teacher to learn some of the feelings the
teachers in the classroom today have towards the teaching profession. This author chose to
interview three teachers and an special education aide, all of which have different levels of
experience, and education, as well as different levels of skills and responsiblity to the classroom.
This author chose several different pre-k teachers and aides from general education Pre-K four
classroom with years of experience here in Texas to just starting here in a Pre-K four classroom
to a Pre-K three teacher to a bilingual special education classroom aide and each of these ladies
bring something different to the table but all work on the same campus of LP Waters here in
Greenville, Texas. This author wanted to see if the area in which they were assigned would
make any difference to the answers given. For the ease of reading of this essay, each teacher or
aide will have a separate paragraph to showcase each ones responses to the question given, and
then one last paragraph to compare some of the things they commented on that were the same
and how will this author will take this to her classroom.
We shall start with Mrs. Vicki Thomason, who has been a kindergarten and Pre-K four
teacher (in her words) for nineteen wonderful years, with fifteen of them here in the Greenville
Independent School District. In addition to her classroom assignment, she is also the mentor
teacher for new teachers, and serves on various committees, as well as helping with various
events around the school. Most days she is one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave,
which shows her dedication to the school and her students, and this author knows when she is

subbing on campus that Mrs. Thomason is someone who she can turn to if she needs help, a
question answered, or just anything in general. What made her decide to become a teacher? She
originally wanted to be a secretary and after attending ETSU she begin to work at the local
company L3 but when she had children she decided to stay home. It was not until her children
were old enough to start school did the idea of teaching cross her mind. She told me once her
sons started school she began to volunteer her sons classrooms both in kindergarten and first
grade when parent volunteers are so important. It was when her youngest son was in first grade
she was bitten by the teaching bug and fell in love with the reward of seeing childrens faces
light up as they understood something new that they had not before. She stated seeing that light
is one of the greatest rewards of being a teacher now. As the years go on, she has some
frustrations with some of the behaviors that come though her classroom, however, she is still
overall very happy and satisfied with her job. The hardest part of this job assignment as a
general education teacher for her is the need some of the parents to learn that being in Pre-K is
not like daycare. The students are here to learn so they will be successful in the future and the
teacher is not there as a babysitter for their children but instead to teach their students. Having
parents who understand we are here to learn and it is not just babysitting is also the only thing
she would change about her job if she could. Her advice to this author, as a potential new
teacher, is: yes, its a good job to go into, but you must have the heart for it as it is not about the
money or the summers off. Mrs. Thomason also stated this profession is for the love of helping
the kids grow and learn.
Next, we shall move on to Mrs. Laura Cloidt, who is currently a Pre-K four teacher at LP
Waters but has worked previously as a teacher for five years, three of which were in New York
and the other two have been here in Texas. While in New York, she was a kindergarten sub, and

has also worked as a special education sub and worked with the criminally insane. This author
started off the interview by asking how teaching in Texas and teaching in New York differ, to
which she replied that Texas is more structure than New York. New York follows Common
Core so its a totally different aspect of how to teachwhere as in Texas its is more focused on
the student rather than the outcomes.1 When Mrs. Cloidt was asked what made her decide to
become a teacher she replied she wanted to be a lawyer first but when she started teaching
martial arts she saw the glow one of her students got when they started to figure out how to do
something and then the glowing grew brighter as they mastered the technique, which was one of
the most amazing and rewarding things she could do. For Mrs. Cloidt, the biggest reward is
knowing, even it is clich, she is making a difference on the future. When asked how satisfied
she was with her job she stated without hesitation, Honestly, I sat down before moving to Texas
and I dont see myself doing anything else. Ive tried [other areas]nothing is as rewarding or
as comfortable or as natural to me as teaching. She has had to deal with the frustration in which
she has discovered some of the material, techniques and ideas taught to her in college do not
necessarily work in the real world and sometime you must stumble some in your first month of
teaching before you can become a successful teacher. Another hard thing for her to deal with,
other than the initial stumbling, is coming to terms with not being perfect, and when to end her
day because she always feels like there is so much more she could be doing. Another thing is the
not knowing of how much of impact she is having till she gives her students an assignment to
show if her teaching is actually sinking in with them. She had one compliant about the
profession of teaching, which was due to all the testing and TEKs that teachers have to get
though in the course of a year her students are not really getting to be kids anymore. She would
1 I did some research on what common core was after my interview. I discovered while it is similar to the Texas Teks it is
different as the Common Core focuses on developing the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills students will
need to be successful.

change the amount of testing overall in all of the grades but especially in the lower ones. She
think it is an amazing career to go into today and she would push anyone to go into it but warn
them its tough. Mrs. Cloidt offered this author this advice: sub as much as you can and to sub in
as many different districts as you can and go to as many professional developments as you can as
that is something she did not get to do herself.2
Third, on this list of wonderful teachers is a Pre-K three teacher name Mrs. Ebony
Flowers, who is in her ninth month being a first year teacher. The spring semester of the school
year 2014-2015 was her first semester of being a teacher. When asked why she wanted to be a
teacher she replied her second grade teacher, Mr. Evans, was so awesome she wanted to be a
teacher because of him. Just like the other two teachers discussed above the biggest reward for
her is seeing the joy and/or glow children get when something clicks finally and they understand
the concept being taught. This glow brings a warm feeling to her heart and lets her know that
she is doing her job right. She feels like even though she is not teaching to the test there are days
where she has to teach to the test and most of the time she does not like that feeling, which
means even though she loves her job she also kind of dislikes her job at the same time because of
all the testing. In addition to the frustration of feeling she is teaching to the test on some days,
her other frustration is dealing with parent communication or lack thereof. She does her best to
call, text or even use Dojo (a new app used for discipline and commutating with parents) to
contact the parent so they are well informed throughout the day. There are some parents who
will still blame the teacher when something goes wrong and claim the teacher did not tell them
even after all the phone calls, text, Dojo messages, newsletters, and notes sent home.
Communication with the parents (or lack of) is also one of the hardest parts of this job for her
2 This author currently works as a substitute in GISD with a focus on the LP Waters
campus.

especially during an emergency (like a child having a bathroom accident). If she could change
anything she would make it were the class transitions from place to place were shorter in length
so she would have more time to teach as well as giving them more time for classroom activities
to show that they really are learning. She would also like more time to get things ready for the
week so she would not have to bring prep work home with her. When ask if teaching was a good
career to have today she said yes as long as you have a love for it as well as a love for the kids
and a love for having fun. When asked what advice Mrs. Flowers could give this author as she
gets ready to start her career as a teacher Mrs. Flowers quoted Scar, from The Lion King
movie, by saying Always be prepared as well as to expect the unexpected."
The final teacher I interviewed for this assignment is Mrs. Gilda Rubio, who is a special
education classroom aide working in the same position in the PPCD department for 4 years and
she is also bilingual.3 She started out, in her words, as a simple classroom volunteer for her
youngest sons Pre-K class and became more and more interested in becoming a teacher and
working in the school. It was also convenient for her as she could work while her two sons went
to school but still be home take care of her two young boys when they returned in the afternoons.
This author asked her how being bilingual plays a role in her current job duties. While she says
sometimes she has to think for a moment when someone says something to her in English as she
has to translate from English to Spanish (her native language) which is sometimes a hindrance or
sometimes she forgets and talks to an English speaking student in Spanish. Overall it is
rewarding to her to have this language skill as she is glad she is able to talk to her Spanish
speaking students in their native language as well as their parents as it is one less barrier they
have to overcome to obtain the education they deserve. Speaking of rewards, some rewards of
3 PPCD stands for Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities or special education program.

this job for Mrs. Rubio is that she is learning a lot of new things she did not know before, she
loves working with her students, as well as the people she works with today. Overall, she said
loves her job very much, but if she had say one of the frustrations for her is dealing with the
daily diaper changing as not all of her students are potty trained yet but they are working on it.
Mrs. Rubio also states it is frustrating sometimes as to which method is the best to help her
students as each and every one is so very different from the other even if they are diagnosed with
the same condition (ie Autism). Every year she and her teacher whom she works with in the
classroom face a new set of challenges when their new class arrives in the fall that range from
physical disabilities to cognitive, from learned behaviors to genetic behavior disorders and each
presents with unique challenges in working with them. She has one student who is always
climbing on everything and it is poses a challenge to get him to sit down and work on that days
activity. When she finally learns what will work for the student to get them to sit and do work
then she says the hardest part of her job becomes not having enough hands to work one on one
with each of her students. If she could change anything about her job she would make it so each
of the classrooms used by the PPCD department are bigger and adding another teacher or aid in
the classroom as sometimes two is just not enough to service all the children. She would also
like to be in a classroom with better floors so if one of her students were to fall they would not
fall on the hard concrete but maybe padding. Mrs. Rubio stated, when asked if this was a good
career opportunity, it is, indeed, a good career today to go into for the fact you are making a
difference in the future. When asked what advice she could give this author who is just starting
Mrs. Rubio said have a lot of patience and love for the kids as well as a love for your job and
always be a good example to the kids.

Each of my interviews seemed to have the some of the same themes running through
them. One, they all agree the biggest reward in teaching is seeing their students succeed and the
look on their face when they realize they are learning. Two, they also all said that teaching was a
good career choice for them and this author to be in today. Three, they all love the grade they are
teaching and the campus they are teaching on. Each one gave me different piece of advice
however, but Mrs. Rubio stated it the best when I was attempting to find a conclusion that I
could draw from all of these interviews when she stated if you are doing something you love you
will be happy and the kids can tell when you are happy. Kids learn best when they learn from a
happy teacher, so my goal is to be a happy well educated teacher on a campus with support from
my fellow teachers.