Running Head: TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT

Teacher Interview Project

Maxwell Pawlus
Ivy Tech Community College

TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT

INTASC Standard, Description and Rationale

Standard #1: Learner Development

The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and
development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and
physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning
experiences.
Name of Artifact: Teacher Interview Project
Date: October 7, 2014
Course: EDUC 101

Brief Description: For this assignment, Christina Gutierrez as well as myself interviewed two Special
Education teachers at Perry Meridian High School. In this paper, I have documented both interviews,
compared and contrasted the responses provided by both teachers, and provided comparison to my own
personal beliefs and traits.

Rationale: To document my understanding of Standard #1, Learner Development, I have interviewed

two teachers with questions pertaining to their experience with learner development across different
cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical backgrounds. In addition I have applied my own
thoughts to these concepts.

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Teacher Interview Project

Albert Einstein once said, I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in
which they can learn. In order to provide our future students with the proper conditions in which they
can learn, we must first discover how learners grow and develop. So, how does a future teacher discover
the optimal conditions to provide their students with so that they can flourish? My partner Christina and
I looked straight to the source to gather the perspective of real professional teachers. Teacher A is a
Special Education teacher at Perry Meridian High School. She has been teaching for 14 years, and chose
to become a full time teacher after her experience as a substitute. Teacher B is also a Special Education
teacher at Perry Meridian High School. She has been teaching for one and a half years. She was inspired
to become a special education teacher by her experience with the Special Olympics and Best Buddies.
Given that both of the interviewees are Special Education teachers, their experiences are going to differ
from normal teachers. However the concepts they apply to their jobs are just magnified versions of the
concepts applied in all classrooms. Using the information I have gathered from these interviews I am
going to discuss the following: important traits and philosophies of a teacher, job satisfaction and
measurement of success of a teacher, and how their responses fall in line with my own beliefs. First, we
will take a look at the important traits, qualities, and philosophies of a successful teacher.
Even though their answers were slightly different, both Teacher A and Teacher B always came
back to one central theme. You must accommodate your lessons to cater to each individual students
needs. Given that both of these teachers work in Special Education classrooms, this concept is without a
doubt crucial in their every day lives. They have to deal with an extreme range of differing disabilities,
IQs, and ages. For these teachers every student is unpredictable and they must find a way to reach
students with different disabilities. In a normal classroom setting the practicality of this concept may not
be as apparent, but every single student in any given classroom needs to be accommodated. So what are

TEACHER INTERVIEW PROJECT

those proper conditions that give students the best chance to learn? The answer isnt written in black and
white and its not always going to be simple. Every class, every semester, and every year you are going
to encounter a student that requires accommodations that you have never given before. Theyre not
going to raise their hands on the first day and tell you about all their baggage. Your job as a teacher is to
uncover that by earning that trust and showing you care. Once you understand what a child needs to
develop, learning the material becomes much easier. Unfortunately youre not going to able to reach
every student that comes through that classroom. Teacher B explained that not having full knowledge of
her students backgrounds has been one of her biggest difficulties in her career. This is why she
preached having patience with her students, because when students have issues at school there is usually
an underlying factor. Along those same lines, Teacher A told us about a student she had in years past
that would respond to nearly everything she said by cussing her out. Dealing with this on a daily basis is
clearly less than ideal, but she understood that this was a result of the childs environment and mental
disabilities. She knew that she was going to have to be patient with him and accommodate his needs.
She spent eight years with this student and by the time he graduated he was down to only cussing at her
once a day. This may seem like a failure from an outside perspective because the student was still
having an issue with cursing. However, to a teacher this is a victory. It may not align perfectly with their
hopes for this student, but to have a child in your classroom with a problem and to promote growth in
that child is what being a teacher is about. Like with many public servant jobs, i.e. doctor, police officer,
etc., teaching is often a battle that cannot be won. That is why you fight for those small victories, and if
you truly care about each student and try to accommodate each one based on their individual needs, you
will change someones life. In my opinion, one former student coming to you to tell you that you
changed their life for the better is enough to validate an entire career. Next up, we are going to look at
the job satisfaction and success of the teachers we interviewed.

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How does a teacher measure their success? Is it by test scores? Is it by completion rates? Or is it
something else? Both Teacher A and Teacher B without much hesitation claimed that they measure their
success by the success of their students. Teacher B described her favorite thing about teaching is when
the student has that light bulb moment and you know they understand what you are trying to teach them.
Teacher A said that her favorite part of being a teacher is when she sees her students walk across the
stage at graduation. Based of these answers its clear to me that caring about your students is what
makes teaching rewarding. It might go without being said, but if you dont care about students, then you
shouldnt become a teacher. Both teachers also had some interesting advice for us as future educators.
Teacher A said that it is crucial to understand that with the teaching profession there are going to be
challenging days and there are going to be rewarding days rewarding days. She even described a time
where she was nine years into her teaching career and she was about to go on maternity leave. During
that time she felt guilty for being excited to get away from her students. I believe that with any career,
there are going to be days where you want to call it quits and there are going to be days where you feel
on top of the world. I believe that with teaching this is even truer. That is because these are real people
you are affecting. When you see them fail, you feel as though youve failed. I think it is very important
as a teacher to always remember why you do what you do. You have to reminisce on the moments that
validate you decision to become a teacher. When youre finally able to get them to understand a concept,
or when you see them walk across that stage. Those are the days that you have to live for as a teacher,
and not dwell on your failures. Now that I have some insight into what being a teacher is about, I can
begin to see if I fit the role.
I believe I possess many of the characteristics to be an effective teacher. First of all, I have the
passion. Many of the people I grew up with came from poverty and broken homes. Unfortunately many
of them didnt graduate from high school, and may never get their lives in order. I myself believe that

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there are many things I have missed out on due to a lack of a positive role model. This is what really
drives my decisions to become a teacher. More than anything, a teacher is a role model to their students.
Teaching them subjects and material is important, but teaching them how to think is invaluable. You
cant teach a student who doesnt care about school. When you open their mind to the satisfaction of
knowledge and the rewards of hard work, then they too become passionate. I would throw away every
lesson for an entire year if it meant getting my students to understand that with education and hard work,
they truly can be whatever they want to be. Secondly, I have great patience and flexibility. I almost
never get frustrated by the way others act to the point that I become angry. I can keep calm in most
situations. Last of all, I have always been very good at connecting with people. My entire life nearly
every relationship I have had outside of casual acquaintances has been genuine. People have always
trusted me enough to be their selves around me and I believe this will benefit me. Not only will my
students know that I care about each and every one of them, but I will also be able to uncover aspects of
their personalities that will aide me in my attempt to educate them. This project has reinforced many of
my previous beliefs about the teacher profession and encouraged my desire to become a teacher.
This experience has been extremely beneficial to my future as a teacher. Both teachers really
drove home the importance of INTASC Standard #1. Whether your student has a mental handicap,
physical handicap, speech impediment, issues at home, or is just a normal student, you still have to
understand that each learner develops in their own unique way and your job as a teacher is to discover
how their brain is mapped out so that you can make those connections and instill understanding in them.
Anyone can teach a lesson plan, but like Albert Einstein said, the real challenge of the educator lies in
providing each individual student with an environment that caters to their unique learner development,
while still helping them grow together.

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References