Interviewing a Student-Group B

I have been observing in the primary grades of Brookside Elementary School in the Beaumont School District. My interview was done with a first grade girl who has been in Mrs. Calderwoods kindergarten/first grade class this past year. Mrs. Calderwood is a teacher I look up to a lot and have spent lots of time observing. She is not afraid to look silly and that is the personality you need when you’re in a class full of young children with huge imaginations.

At this age children don’t really notice genders and don’t see the differences between the two of them. They are still all best friends and nobody has “Cooties”. Mrs. Calderwood is still able to place them in desks “Boy, girl, boy, girl”, and they enjoy each other and don’t think any different of one another. So when I asked this young girl if the teacher treats boys and girls differently, or if they noticed anything different between boys and girls she could not think of anything. They still have innocence at this age where they accept all for who they are.

My next question was asking her what made her teacher a good teacher. She couldn’t stop giving reasons. “She helps us with every question we have, she has magic words, she dresses up, she makes up songs, etc.” At this age, as a teacher you are a major part of your students life, and you can do no wrong. Even the days that you become strict with the, it does not even last 24hours. The next day they are right back at that classroom door excited to learn. The truth behind that was shown in Mrs. Calderwoods class. The kids looked up to her so much and loved every minute in her class. They knew when it was time to have fun, and when it was time to be serious. One of my favorite things, which were also the kids, was her magic words. When they were moving from one activity to the next, Mrs. Calderwood first explained what they were going to do, and then they repeated it to show they were paying attention, then on the magic word they got up and did it. Now they magic words, were just made up every time and the kids loved it. I heard all sorts of words including, “Wiggidy Wiggidy, Wowza Mowza, Blabiddy Blu, etc.”. This kept them excited about each activity they were about to do.

Then I asked this little girl what her favorite thing about school was and this was one of my favorite answers. She said counting numbers in Mrs. Calderwoods class. This makes me excited about teaching and this certain age in particular. This is the age when they still love school and just want to be there every second of every day. She did not say PE, recess, or lunch like the older kids would have. The best part of the day of a kid this age is when they get to go to school and that is so exciting for a teacher.

I ended our interview by asking what she wanted to be when she grew up and her answer was “Mrs. Calderwood”. This showed how much she looked up to her teacher because she wanted to be just like her one day. To have that kind of affect on your students, to the point they want to be just like you, has to be one of the greatest feelings. Throughout this interview, this little girl just assured me even more on every reason why I want to be a teacher for primary grades in particular. The excitement and imagination in such an age group is what I absolutely love.