Interviewing a Teacher-Group A

When first entering the classroom, walls were covered head to toe with the students’ work, and literature. Then I started to observe and she was an amazing teacher, the way she carried herself with confidence showed the interest her students had in her. She is in her 40’s, tall, very down to earth, and has been teaching for over 20 years. Her high school students look up to her and learned so much from her. She teaches 3 sections of 11^th grade AP Language & Composition, 1 section of 12^th grade AP Literature & Composition, and 1 section of 11^th grade CA Exit Exam.

I started my interview with simple questions including, “What made you go into teaching? And why she taught that certain subject?”. For her it was a 9^th grade teacher she absolutely loved. His name was Mr. McMiginnis and taught AP English. The way he carried himself and taught made her appreciate teaching enough to pursue it herself. She even took on the same subject as him. She chose this subject as well as her classes because she loves working with both high students and low students.

Positive experiences were in the thousands for her. She said she always had more positive than negative experiences throughout her teaching career. Some of the most important for her was not the students present in her class, but those who have graduated. They come back and call her to thank her for getting them to college and being so successful there because of her class and teaching.

She only had a couple of negative experiences and neither was in her class. The first was outside of her class one year. She was called vicious names from a group of 9^th grade girls and she could not do anything but wait for security to come. The second was while breaking up a fight, she herself was Mace by security.

When it comes to special learners, she taught ESL for six years before she moved over to the high school. She has a language specialist degree and has worked with both Special Ed and ESL students. She uses a variety of audio and visual strategies to help ensure that they get as much as they can out of her teaching.

Last I asked her if race, ethnicity, and gender were ever a problem in her classroom. It was actually opposite; the only time they came up was when diversity was celebrated. She has her students from other countries share their stories and they sing, and read poems. Whenever there is a Birthday in the classroom they sing Happy Birthday in every language known in the room. This is a positive effect on her students’. They absolutely love to share their backgrounds and learn more about their cultures. It leads to greater tolerance and acceptance.

Overall this teacher is amazing for the world of education. She makes everyone of her students want to try harder to succeed. She has the patience, and love to work with students of all types. This is the second time I went to observe her class and it was only better. Usually as teachers move on in their career although they learn more, they also lose the color in teaching and she has definitely not.