Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read the assigned chapters in Introduction to education: Choosing to teach by Krogh. Chapter 5 considers the “community” in conventional classrooms giving strategies and techniques for creating a classroom where children thrive socially and academically. Models for classroom management are discussed in detail.

Chapter 6 examines the complexity of curriculum development while also analyzing the different forms of assessment. Chapter 9 considers the nature of teaching and the occasional controversy over its definition as a profession. This will allow the reader to reflect on if they display a “goodness of fit” as a potential future educator.

In your paper,

• Summarize the responses of your interviewee in third-person point of view.
• Analyze how the educator’s responses did or did not align with concepts addressed in your textbook and two other scholarly sources.
• Evaluate your “goodness of fit” for the profession, using specific details and research to support your conclusion.
• Describe concerns you might still have about your chosen profession and how you would resolve them.

For the Final Paper, you will demonstrate an understanding of the complex set of issues that must be considered as you embark on your professional preparation to become an educator. The best way to do this is to conduct an interview of an educator to get a realistic perspective of the profession. It is hoped that after the interview you will have a better understanding of the daily responsibilities and how the teaching philosophies and learning theories guide the educator in making decisions. In addition, you will then have an opportunity to reflect on your own “goodness of fit” as a future educator.

Please be courteous of the professionals you are interviewing. Plan and schedule your interviews early. It can be difficult to secure an interview date. Writing or emailing a thank-you note is a recommended professional practice.

Interview Questions: You will interview one educator at the elementary level (K-5) or secondary level (6-12) depending on where your own teaching interests lie.

Please ask your educator the following questions and record his or her responses. Please note the directions for the location of your responses/analysis within your

Final Paper. If you choose to interview a librarian, skip to the section with questions for librarians that appear after the teacher questions.

Questions for a teacher interview: If you have selected a teacher to interview, use this set of questions.

 

Teacher responses/analysis below will go into Section 2:

1. Why did you decide to become an educator? What was your motivation and what attributes do you think are important for an educator to exhibit to be effective? (Attributes/Motivation)
2. What is your philosophy of education? What is the role of the educator and the students? (Teaching Philosophy)
3. What are your learning goals for your students? How do you effectively meet their needs? (Learning Theory)

 

Teacher responses/analysis below will go into Section 3:

1. What do you believe are the most effective methods for educating students? (Learning Theory)
2. What is your comfort level with technology and how do you integrate it within your lesson planning? (Technology)
3. How do academic standards drive your instruction? Do you feel a need to teach to the test? Why or why not? (Academic standards)
4. What types of assessment do you use in your classroom? Can you give me an example of a formative and summative assessment? (Assessment)
5. How do you incorporate elements of multicultural education in your classroom? Can you provide a specific example? (Diversity)
6. How do you effectively manage a classroom? What is most challenging about issues related to discipline and classroom management? (Discipline and Classroom Management)

 

Teacher responses/analysis below will go into Section 4:

1. How do you foster a positive relationship with students, parents, and the community? (Relationships)
2. What are the best and worst parts of the teaching profession? What concerns might you have for the future of our education system? (Contemporary Concerns)
3. As you have gained experience, how has your philosophy of education changed?

**Alternative Option: If you have selected to interview a librarian in lieu of a classroom teacher, this is acceptable, provided you still meet the expectations of the Final Paper. The alternative questions are as follows:

 

Librarian responses/analysis below will go into Section 2:

1. Why did you decide to become a librarian? What was your motivation and what attributes do you think are important for a librarian to exhibit to be effective? (Attributes/Motivation)
2. What is your philosophy of education? What is the role of the librarian and the students? (Teaching Philosophy)
3. What are your learning goals for your students? How do you effectively meet their needs? (Learning Theory)

 

Librarian responses/analysis below will go into Section 3:

1. What do you believe are the most effective methods for teaching library concepts? (Learning Theory)
2. What is your comfort level with technology and how might you integrate it in the library? (Technology)
3. How do academic standards drive your instruction? (Academic standards)
4. Can you give me an example of a formative and summative assessment you might use in the library? (Assessment)
5. How do you incorporate elements of multicultural education in the library? Can you provide a specific example? (Diversity) 
6. How do you effectively manage your groups of students? What is most challenging about issues related to discipline and student management? (Discipline and Classroom Management)

 

Librarian responses/analysis below will go into Section 4:

1. How do you foster a positive relationship with library patrons and the community? (Relationships)
2. What are the best and worst parts of being a librarian? What concerns might you have for the future of library sciences? (Contemporary Concerns)
3. As you have gained experience, how has your philosophy of education/library sciences changed?

Final Paper Requirements: After you have collected the responses from your educator, prepare an eight- to 10-page paper to include the following sections. Use the recommended Final Paper Template to organize your work.

Section 1: Introduction:

Provide an introduction that includes demographic information (educator name, school, grade or discipline taught, number of children at that school, other pertinent information). Include why it is important to seek out and speak to current professionals in the field you are interested in entering. What is the rationale for conducting an interview?

Section 2: Summary and Analysis: Motivation and Philosophy

Summarize the answers the educator gave to the interview questions 1 through 3 in third-person point of view. Remember that a summary is a “retelling” of what the educator said; you may not to use direct quotes from the educator or copy/paste questions and answers directly. For each response, you must also analyze how the educator’s responses aligned or did not align with the information presented in your text and two other scholarly sources. Show how the responses of the educator supported or did not support what you learned in this class. You must have at least two in-text research citations in each section. Please refer to the Final Paper Template for correct organization of each section.

Section 3: Summary and Analysis: Instructional Practices

Summarize the answers the educator gave to the interview questions 4 through 9 in third-person point of view. Remember that a summary is a “retelling” of what the educator said; you may not to use direct quotes from the educator or copy/paste questions and answers directly. For each response, you must also analyze how the educator’s responses aligned or did not align with the information presented in your text and two other scholarly sources. Show how the responses of the educator supported or did not support what you learned in this class. You must have at least two in-text research citations in each section. Please refer to the Final Paper Template for correct organization of each section.

Section 4: Summary and Analysis: Relationship-Building and Reflection

Summarize the answers the educator gave to the interview questions 10 through 12 in third-person point of view. Remember that a summary is a “retelling” of what the educator said; you may not to use direct quotes from the educator or copy/paste questions and answers directly. For each response, you must also analyze how the educator’s responses aligned or didn’t align with the information presented in your text and two other scholarly sources. Show how the responses of the educator supported or didn’t support what you learned in this class. You must have at least two in-text research citations in each section. Please refer to the Final Paper Template for correct organization of each section.

Section 5: Conclusion: End your paper by redefining your specific career goal in the field of education. Discuss your experience with the research portion of this final assignment. What surprised you most about the information you learned from your informational interview? Do you think you are a “good fit” for your career goal? Why or why not? Consider the attributes that you exhibit that make you a good fit and what motivates you to pursue the career you have identified. What concerns do you have and how might you resolve them? End with a powerful, inspirational statement that leaves your reader satisfied.

Your paper should be formatted according to APA Style and must include a title page and reference page. You may find the Introduction to APA (Links to an external site.) resource helpful.  Please refer to important APA style reminders. You must use a minimum of two scholarly sources in addition to the course text. For help in planning and organizing your assignment, please access the Final Paper Template.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

 Click to view an EXAMPLE of this week’s final paper.

Running head: INTERVIEW WITH AN EDUCATOR 1

 

INTERVIEW WITH AN EDUCATOR 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with an Educator

Exemplary Student

EDU 304

Instructor X

December 14, 2017

 

Include a properly formatted title page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with an Educator

Include a brief introduction.

 

 

It seems practical and relevant that our EDU 304 course concludes with an interview of a respected educator. The teacher that I chose is a friend and co-worker of mine at Shenandoah Caverns. His name is Anthony Hammer. He works at the caverns during the summer with me. His full-time job, though, is serving as the Spanish teacher at Stonewall Jackson High School in Quicksburg, Virginia. His students range from freshmen to seniors. He teaches three classes per semester that meet daily. He has one section of Spanish 1 with sixteen students and two sections of Spanish 2, which have twenty-four students and nineteen students, respectively. The information I learned from this candid, detailed interview was instrumental in helping me to determine whether I have the “goodness of fit” for a career in education.

Summary and Analysis: Motivation and Philosophy

I was extremely excited to interview Mr. Hammer for this assignment. He is an entertaining person to work with at the caverns and I knew he must be an amazing teacher. When I asked him why he decided to become a teacher, he said it was because he wanted to make a difference in peoples’ lives. He knew that the teaching profession lended itself to that. He wanted to see his students grow into better individuals and well-informed citizens because of his direction. Mr. Hammer’s philosophy on education is simple: student-centered learning is key. Since he teaches Spanish, there is no state test that is mandatory for students to take. This allows him to have more creativity with his students. He lets his students explore their creative freedom and lets them know that it is ok to be different from their peers. He makes sure they realize that it is ok to make mistakes when learning a new language. His philosophy is that the students are the focus of the classroom and that they are the leaders and innovators of their learning. He is comfortable in his role as the facilitator.

Summarize the educator’s answers. Do not quote them.

 

After interviewing Mr. Hammer, I think that his teaching style ties into learning theory that we learned in our textbook. A learning theory “provides a framework to test hypotheses about human behavior” and “makes predictions about human acquisition of knowledge” (Krogh, Fielstein, Phelps, & Newman, 2015, Ch. 2). His theory is that education should have a high-level of student input and that this will yield the best results. Mr. Hammer demonstrates many of the attributes necessary to be a successful teacher. He is knowledgeable and fluent in the Spanish language. He is a charismatic and fun-loving teacher. He is extremely interested in the well-being of his students. All these things and more make him a successful educator. Mr. Hammer does not think his philosophy of education has changed over the years. He is still trying to keep his classroom as student-centered as possible. He always wants to remain the facilitator of learning and have his students remain the innovators of education. Through this interview, I wanted to determine how contrasting teachers may be from one another, and Mr. Hammer and I are certainly different. Our philosophies of education are unique from one another.

Mr. Hammer’s main learning goal for his students is to make his classroom fun and engaging to his students but he also wants to make sure they are learning. He wants his students to feel comfortable as they speak the Spanish language. He doesn’t expect them to leave his classroom and be fluent speakers of Spanish but he wants them to have the knowledge and the tools to be able to go out and speak with people in their community using the language. He hopes they recognize the potential difficulties they may encounter as they speak another language besides English. He attempts to accomplish his goals by offering different types of speaking activities throughout the course of their studies to build up their confidence.

 

 

Summary and Analysis: Instructional Practices

Use level headings to help guide your reader.

 

 

Mr. Hammer believes that hands-on instruction is the most effective method of teaching. He thinks that lecture-based instruction is a thing of the past. If teachers want to make sure their students are learning, they need to be sure that the students are producing classroom products in their own creative manner. Another important learning tool to him is peer-to-peer learning. In his experience, students often understand more from their peers versus their teachers.

When I asked Mr. Hammer how comfortable he is with technology in his classroom, he smiled and laughed. He said that he is very comfortable with technology in the classroom. Every lesson that he teaches uses technology in some way. He has access to a SMARTBOARD, document camera, clickers, Chromebook, and green screen technology. He uses these resources daily. Technology plays a large part in every classroom today. Our students today are exposed to “a range of tools to engage them and help them explore the world” (Krogh et al., 2015, Ch. 7). It can be anything from tablets to video equipment and everything in between. Mr. Hammer fully embraces technology in his classroom. He uses Chromebook and green screen technology daily and believes that the days of the traditional classroom are long gone. This saddens me because I want to teach from the traditional perspective.

He does not feel as though academic standards drive his instruction. He rarely looks at the state standards, which are the Virginia Standards of Learning tests. He does not have a test to prepare his students for. Therefore, in his classroom, he teaches how he wants to and what he wants to at the pace he wants. This must be a liberating feeling as an educator. He uses many different types of formative assessments in his classroom. He prefers to use entry slips, exit slips, whiteboards, clickers, and team games and activities to evaluate how his students are learning the material. These assessments show his creative tendencies once again. Summative assessments are only given at the end of a unit and they tend to be unit tests. He gives both oral and written versions of the tests.

Mr. Hammer does not find it difficult to incorporate elements of multiculturalism into his classroom. He tries to make his students aware, as often as he can, of different cultural barriers between the United States and Spanish-speaking countries. He asks his students to do reports on different cultural elements, such as music, dance, food, celebrations, etc. Additionally, they are asked to focus on identifying the similarities and differences between our culture and the culture of the specific country they research. This gives students a decent understanding of why every person is unique in their own way and have their own stories to tell. His classroom is diverse in that he embraces multiculturalism whole-heartedly. Diversity “is conceptualized in many different ways in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, language and class” (Angus & de Oliveira, 2012, p. 7). Mr. Hammer exposes his students to different elements of the Spanish culture, such as through recipes and watching documentaries about Spanish speaking countries from all around the world. He does not worry about using standards and assessments to drive his instruction. Because it is a Spanish class that he teaches, there is not mandatory statewide assessments. This is a big difference compared to regulations that are enforced upon teachers who teach the core subjects.

Cite all sources in APA style.

 

 

To effectively manage his classroom, he sets his behavior expectations from day one and holds his students accountable any time they misbehave. He also models good and bad behaviors often so students know when boundaries have been crossed. He recognizes that discipline can be a big issue amongst high school classrooms. Students in high school often try to test the teacher, therefore it is important to make sure they know that the teacher is in charge and that misbehavior will not be tolerated. According to author Tracey Farrell Garrett (2015), too many people believe that a properly managed classroom is a quiet classroom. This is not true. A “productive learning environment can often be noisy because learning is not a passive activity” (Garrett, 2015, p. 46). Mr. Hammer approaches teaching in this way. If his students are being loud but are getting their work done, he doesn’t have a problem with that. It’s when they are being loud and unproductive that there will be a problem. He makes sure the students have a clear understanding of the consequences for their actions.

Cite outside sources to demonstrate how the educator’s responses align or don’t align with information presented in the course.

 

Summary and Analysis: Relationship-Building and Reflection

In order to foster positive relationships in his classroom, Mr. Hammer makes sure that he gets to know his students personally. He treats them with respect. He always makes sure that he is aware of students’ likes and dislikes and tries to make his lessons adhere to that. If he has students who participate in extracurricular activities, he is present at their competitions. He makes himself available to be a ‘listening ear’ when students need someone to share their problems with. He builds good rapport with parents by contacting them regularly about their child’s progress and behavior in the classroom (good and bad). He also invites them to come and be a part of the learning experience and spend a day in the classroom volunteering (especially on big project days).

As I asked him what the best and worst parts of the teaching profession are, he smiled and said that the good parts outweigh the bad parts in the teaching profession. He thinks that it is amazing to see students grow as learners and individuals over the course of four years and see how proud they are when they walk across the graduation stage after working hard for four years. The worst part of teaching for him is the paper trail. As a teacher, he is always having to fill out documents and other “important” information that gets sent to the school board office to justify their positions and salaries. He said that education has become too data-based, which is why school divisions lose such good teachers. He said that teachers can’t just teach anymore without someone wanting to see every single data point of growth and decline among the students. Mr. Hammer does not seem to have many contemporary concerns that plague schools today. He doesn’t have to worry about ‘teaching to the test’. There isn’t pressure to have his students meet specific state criteria. Yes, they still have to work hard and attempt to get good grades, but there isn’t the added stress of having to meet state standards. Another contemporary issue that Mr. Hammer doesn’t have to worry about is lack of technology. Many schools in the United States do not have access to technology, so they are developmentally behind in those areas. His students are exposed to many forms of technology, and he enjoys getting to use that technology in his instruction.

Include a brief conclusion.

 

 

Conclusion

After my discussion with Mr. Hammer, I know even more that I want to be an English teacher. Because of him, I also know that I am going to be a more traditional teacher. I am not interested in relying heavily upon technology. That’s just not who I am. I want to use my power of speech to inspire my students and use my blackboard and projector to keep them intrigued. I think the biggest thing that surprised me about this interview is how different I am compared to Mr. Hammer. We get along so well at the caverns that I assumed we would have common ground as it pertains to teaching. With that, I know that I am still a good fit for the role of educator. It’s perfectly fine that we teach differently, as long as the students are learning effectively. My greatest motivators to teach are my two little girls. I want them to see that hard work does pay off and that you are never too old to achieve your dreams. My oldest daughter has said for the past two years that she wants to be a pediatrician, and I hope that she will always keep that dream alive. The overwhelming concern that I have is that I will never be as technologically savvy as my students and they won’t respect me because of it. I will do my best to keep up as the times change but I will never be as quick as them. I will have to rest easy knowing that I did my absolute best to positively influence my students and that is all anybody can ask for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Include a references list in APA format.

 

 

Angus, R., & de Oliveira, L. C. (2012). Diversity in secondary English classrooms: Conceptions and enactments. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 11(4), pp. 7-18.

Garrett, T. F. (2015, January). Misconceptions and goals of classroom management. Education Digest, 80(5), pp. 45-49.

Krogh, S., Fielstein, L., Phelps, P., & Newman, R. (2015). Introduction to education: Choosing to teach. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.