1. education
2. school

What would your worst critic say about you?
I believe my worst critic would say that I tend to beat myself up too much if I do something
that I would classify as a failure in the classroom or in my own life. Yes, I know failure is an inevitable
part of human nature, but no amount of telling myself that can keep me from letting a failure go
easily. For a majority of my life, I do my let failures go. However, until I do, they do have the
tendency to follow me. For example, if I have a rough class where the students aren't particularly
engaged in the lesson, or if I am having trouble controlling one or more students, I can’t help but think
about that specific day throughout the night, and I blame myself.
However, nowadays I am beginning to turn this negative personality trait into a positive
teaching tool. While I still can’t help blaming myself for the rough school days, I have begun to
improve my teaching style on evaluating why my rough days didn’t go the way I had planned them. I
ask myself what worked and what didn’t work, and I force myself to let it go by the next school day.
To my surprise and delight, the next school day is always brighter and better compared to my
previous rough days.
How do you help students experience success?
In my opinion and experience, when working with students on different abilities level, the
best way that a majority of my students have experienced success is when I gave them opportunities
to show me what they have learned in their own way, whether it is typing up a paper, performing a
skit or creating a visual image. No matter what writing or reading assignment I give my students, I
always try to make more than one option available to all students.
What is your experience working with special education students? English Language Learners?
As of right now, I have not worked with students that could be classified or labeled as “special
education” students. It wasn’t like the school I student taught at didn’t believe in inclusion, it was just
that my classes did not have those students in them.
As for English Language Learners, I had three African born males students who I taught. One
was in my eighth grade reading and writing class, while my other two were attended my seventh
grade writing class. My eighth grader had been in America the longest and could be classified as
“Americanized.” He spoke fluent English without much trouble, he was an excellent reader and
writer, and was a higher functioning student in my class.
On the other hand, my two seventh grade English Language Learners struggled for a number
of reasons. First off, they both spoke fluent English, so I didn’t have a language barrier with them so
much as I had a culture barrier with them. When I first took over their class, both students were very
disruptive and disrespectful. One of the students would erupt into anger whenever I tried to speak to
him about his behavior, while the other student barely acknowledged my attempts to talk to him and
because they rarely did their class work or writing assignments, I didn’t know their writing abilities.
When I spoke to my mentor and the other seventh grade teachers on what I should do, I found out
that almost all the female teachers struggled with both students. They explained to me that the
equality between men and women in their culture wasn’t balanced, which helped me understand why
I was having so much trouble with them. When I understood that, my approached changed.
I started talking to them about interests they have displayed in the classroom. I talked to
them about video games they have played and let them explain the games in detail. I asked them to
help me understand the rules of football, because they were both on the school team. Eventually as
my rapport with them grew, they became more active members of the class even though they were
still very rowdy. I found out they both struggled with reading and writing, so I adapted visual with my
instructions and explanations, that helped them with their assignments.
Give an example of something valuable you learned from a colleague.
One of the most valuable pieces of advice I learned from my mentor teacher is that teaching is
essentially is a trial and error job. She said if one way to manage a classroom, or engage a lesson or
discipline a student doesn’t work, use a different technique. I know that is something future teachers
are constantly told, but it is different when someone tells you it after they watched you have an
extremely rough class.
During my first few weeks of completely taking over for my mentor teacher, I realized that
running a classroom really is nothing but trials and errors. I messed up a few times, but she told me
that it is okay for a teacher to begin her class on the wrong foot because there are so many ways and
techniques to improve the classroom, and that really stuck with me.
What do you feel is the most effective way to communicate with parents? Describe how you have
used these techniques?
To be honest, I don’t feel there is “a most effective way” to communicate with parents. To
me, the quickest and most effective way to communicate with or contact a parent is finding out which
method works for each individual parent. For example, in my student teaching experience, I had a
number of parents who could only be reached through email. Other parents could be contacted by
phone calls, while I’d only see some parent every once in a great while face to face. For the parents
that I couldn’t reach through more advanced ways, I sent letters home with the students.
No matter which way I chose to communicate with the parents with, I always made sure I
documented who I contacted, in which way, for what reason.
Discuss your general philosophies related to grading, assignments, types of assessments, extra
credit, etc.
When it comes to my seventh and eighth grade writing classes, the summative grades I give
students are not considered final until the new quarter or semester begins. Because it is my firm
belief that writing is a process rather than a permanent finished product, the students are given the
opportunity to revise their papers for better grades if they are unhappy with their final grades for that
specific major writing assignment.
In regards to my reading class, the only assignment I allow the students to revise for a better
grade is their reading comprehension quizzes they complete during the time they are reading their
novels. However, in order to achieve some of their points back, they not only have to give me the
correct answer to the questions they missed, they also have to provide a page number and the
evidence that supports their answer, regardless if the question is multiple choice, short answer, or
extended response. This method forces the students to reread the chapters they were quizzed on
and allows them to gain a better understanding of the chapters.
As a general rule, in-class work cannot be made up and the only way a student will not lose
points for not completing it is if they have an excused absence. On average because there are five
school days, the students can earn up to five points a week for their in-class work.
Much like classwork, homework is graded the same way. Normally I give out maybe four or
five homework assignments a week, but unlike the in-class work, I do accept late work from students
if they present the late homework to me on the same week I assigned it. For example, if a student did
not complete Monday’s homework assignment on Tuesday, but showed me a completed copy of it on
Friday, the student would receive their point for Monday. This grading rule stems from my belief that
sometimes something urgent or important comes up for a student, and the last thing that is on their
mind is completing my homework assignment. However, as long as they make up the work before
the end of the week, I will accept it and not hold it against the student.
What are the most significant challenges in teaching and learning in current classrooms?
I think one of the most significant challenge for me during my student teaching was classroom
management. Despite the rapport I had with a majority of the students, the first few days where I
completely took charge from my mentor, I had trouble controlling my classes, specifically my eighth
grade classes. I think one of the reasons why I couldn’t control the classrooms very well at first was
because I took the role as their friend/tutor during my observation time, so when I finally became
their teacher, I wasn’t looked as an authority figure to them. I think one of my biggest challenges was
that I realized I couldn’t be nice all the time. I had to be tough and send kids to the office when they
crossed the line, or call home to report behavior problems or give out detentions, and once I started
doing that, I found that I still had my positive relationships with my students, but I also had control of
my classrooms. It took me awhile, but once I found that balance my classes ran so much smoother.
As for learning in the classroom, one of the most significant challenges I came across was
trying to hold the students’ attention during teacher-centered lessons. I understand lectures can be
boring, and the students were more than happy to display that opinion as my higher function
students would talk quietly among themselves during my lesson or play on their cellphones before I
took them away. So I began to incorporate small one minute student-focused activities during my
teacher-centered lessons. For example, if I were trying to explain the concept of mood in literature, I
would give them the definition of mood. After that, I would have them take out a piece of paper and
write down every movie or book genre they could think of in thirty seconds. After the thirty seconds
they would tell me all the genres they came up with. After they gave me all the genres, I would give
them two minutes and the option to work with a partner to come up with all the moods they often
see in each genre.
I often try to keep these small student-focused activities relatable to the students’ own lives
and interest in order to keep their attention as well.
Why did you choose to become a teacher?
I think the biggest reason why I chose to become a teacher is because I absolutely love
reading, and writing and teaching allows me to share my passion with young people. To explain
myself further in a less selfish manner, for as long as I can remember, I have always been teaching
someone something about reading or writing. As a kid I was constantly helping my younger sister
with her writing homework. When I was in eighth grade I was assigned to tutor younger kids who
were struggling with their reading. I remember sitting down beside a younger kid as they slowly read
their text aloud to me. I helped them sound out the words, and then we would discuss what they just
read. This responsibility followed me throughout high school. As a strong reader, I was often paired
with a struggling classmate during my English class. I read the text aloud and my partner would follow
along, and then we would switch, and I would causually help them with the reading in a way that
wouldn’t make them feel embarrassed or make me feel as though I were being condescending.
In all of these different instances, I was enjoying myself, and I loved helping whether it was my
sister, a younger student or my fellow classmate. As young as thirteen, I realized that teaching was
something I could honestly see myself doing for the rest of my life.
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A paper was due at the end of a two-week unit. Johnny didn’t meet the deadline. He tells his
parents that he did not have enough time to finish it. His mother is a school board member. What
would you say or do?
The first thing I would do is wait for Johnny’s parents to contact me about his grade. As I
waited, I would gather up all my past lesson plans that showed times during class when the students
were given time to work on their papers. Along with that, I would also gather any past attempts I
made to contact the parents about Johnny’s unproductive use of the class time I had given him to
work on his paper.
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If I do meet the mother, I would attentively listen to her and make it known that I understand
why she is upset, but I would also let her know and show her why I gave Johnny the grade I gave him.
If you told a student (who was disruptive) to go to the office and she refused, what would you do?
The first thing I would do is make sure the student isn’t making the classroom an unsafe place
for the other students. If she isn’t a danger to the other students, I would quietly go up to her and ask
her what can I specifically do in order to help the situation since neither one of u
● Does she need to take a quiet minute outside the classroom?
● Does she want to write down how she’s feeling or what’s bothering?
● Does she have any reasonable requests she wants to offer?
If all those ways fail, and she continues to be a distraction to the class, I will have to notify the office
that I have a student who not only is constantly disrupting the class, but has also refused to follow
reasonable requests.
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