Teacher Interview


Teacher Interview Video

After completing my interview, I was pleasantly surprised by all of the good information my teacher interviewee had. Although this is her second school year, I feel like she was able to answer all of my interview questions with solid advice and information. I've never worked or observed in a pre-school setting, so I've honestly had a preconceived idea that a pre-school class is full of chaos, but I think she has changed that idea for me.

When it came to negative behaviors in the classroom, something Angelica mentioned frequently was trying to understand the "why" of the behaviors. She mentioned that though a situation may present itself as one thing, there may be an underlying reason as to why a student is acting out. The text describes this as a functional behavior assessment (Woolfolk, 2009, page 284).  It is thought of as the "A-B-C's (antecedents, behaviors, consequences)" Page 284 and 285 explain in detail the steps a teacher should follow. The chart on 285 gives an example of a behavior, and then what that consequence may look like. For example, if a student is acting out in order to receive a tangible item, giving in to this is a positive reinforcement that the next time they behave like this, they will receive that item again.

Angelica's classroom strictly follows the idea of social isolation for punishment. In situations of repeated disruptions, she gives her students three warnings, and then they get a "time out". I think this is really age-appropriate in pre-school. Especially because the time outs are not done for long periods of time, and they also include reasoning as to why the time out was given. Angelica mentions very frequently that she's not comfortable with blind punishment, because her students can't correct their behaviors if they do not understand the punishment. The Woolfolk text states "If a brief timeout does not help improve the situation, don't try a longer time out" (Woolfolk, 2009. Page 281). The text states that if it is not working, then more positive reinforcement needs to be included.

Something that I thought was great about Angelica's teaching routine and classroom management was her last story. I wasn't able to include this in my initial video due to time. As one of her success stories, Angelica talks about two students successfully taking turns. In a pre-school classroom, I imagine sometimes this can go very bad. On the contrary, Angelica mentions that two students are trying to take turns for a specific toy. Instead of intervening, she watches them. They decide they'll take turns by using a timer, and they ask her for one and set it for ten minutes. Angelica says she's especially proud because the timers were an idea that was introduced by the teachers.

I think overall, Angelica gave me great insight into not only her classroom but her teaching style. I think many of her ideas and beliefs follow what is considered best practice in the classroom. I love the fact that her class has a steady routine, and her students know to follow it. I think overall, she is a fantastic teacher and she gave me lots of information that I can use at any grade. I would definitely come to her for advice if I was ever hired for a pre-school classroom.


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