Kathryn Weathers

March 14, 2015

Teacher Interview
How do you write a typical lesson plan? There are 4 teachers in 2nd grade and
they meet twice a week for planning. Look at the objective they need to
cover and use 4 minds instead of 1. They also pull from past years.
What types of materials do you need available when you plan lessons?
Computer, other teachers, schoolbooks
In what ways do you plan to accommodate individual differences in the
classroom? They do small groups and centers based on the level of each
student.
What are some of your instructional challenges as a teacher? Getting things
done, being flexible, and meeting the needs of every student
What have been some of your instructional successes as a teacher? Bring
kinds as a community and family. She spends the first 6-7 weeks of school
bonding.
What do you consider essential characteristics for successful teaching? Being
flexible, showing love, communication, admitting to making mistakes
How often do your students receive social studies/science instruction? They
have integrated theme centers about 3 days a week.
Are you satisfied with the amount of time that you currently allot for social
studies/science instruction? As a teacher you could always use more hours in
the day for every area. They do have more time for social studies and science
instruction than other places I have seen.
What social studies and science topics/units will be studied during the second
week of my clinical experience? What are possible goals/objectives I could
address for my lessons? Do you have any instructional resources that would
support these goals/objective? Students are learning about 4 countries in the
unit we are in. (Africa, Australia, Japan and Mexico) During the week I am
there it will be Africa. They learn about the clothing, crafts, music, food,
animals, etc. of each country.
What does reading instruction look like in your classroom? What reading
topics will be studied during the 2nd week of my clinical experience? What are
possible goals/objectives I could address for my reading lesson? Do you have
any instructional resources that would support these goals/objectives? For
instruction she uses mini lessons. During my time there they are covering
nouns and adjectives. She gave me a sheet she had to help explain
adjectives to students and where/how they should elaborate.
What motivation tactics do you use to ensure the desire to learn? Positive
reinforcement

Tell me about the classroom community. What are the class rules? How is
student behavior monitored? In what ways is positive behavior reinforced? In
what ways are negative behaviors prevented? Tell me about the
consequences for negative behavior? She really focuses on treating each
other how you want to be treated and to be respectful to each other. She also
tries to get students to work things out themselves instead of telling on each
other.
Tell me about the pacing of lessons and interaction in the classroom-use of
time- and other aspects of timewait time, and time using teacher talk and
student talk. What works well with your students? The style of teaching that
works best for her students are mini lessons. When pacing lessons she looks
to see if they look like they are getting bored and not focused on that topic
anymore. If they look this way she moves on to the next thing. Any time there
is a wait time students are expected to pull a book out to read independently.
How are students graded or assessed in your class/school? In K-5 students are
assessed. Students do not receive grades. On report cards each standard is
listed and students are ranked a 1, 2, or 3. One is for no mastery and three
they have mastered that standard.
Reflection:
During my interview with Mrs. Belnap I learned many things about the way
she teaches, the way the school works, and what she enjoys the most. There
were a few things that she said during our interview that really intrigued me.
The first was how the students in K-5 are assessed and graded. When I was in
school and been in other schools for clinicals I saw actually grading, but in
Community School of Davidson they do not give grades. Students are rated
1-3 on each standard for the grade they are in. I think this really breaks it
down for parents to see on report cards exactly what their child is learning.
The parent can see how they are doing for each thing they need to know for
their grade level and provide help for their child at home on the things they
need help on. I also liked that in K-5 students have the same teacher two
years in a row. For example, I was placed in a 2 nd grade classroom with Mrs.
Belnap. Mrs. Belnap will have these same students for 3 rd grade. She said the
benefits for this is that she knows exactly where she left off in 2 nd grade and
will know right where to pick up in 3 rd grade. She said this saves a lot of time
at the beginning of a school year because you do not need to do as many
assessments to see where her students are. The students will also already
know her expectations and rules for the classroom.
I also found it very interesting that she said that mini lessons work best for
her students. I had always wondered if the principal decides how lessons
should be taught or if it is individual preference. She says the reason she uses
mini lessons is because in 2nd grade it is very hard to keep their focus. Mini
lessons keep things shorter so that she has their full attention during that
amount of time. Mrs. Belnap also uses a lot of centers for many areas of
learning. She has literacy centers which include: Work with teacher, Word
work, Read to Self, Work on Writing, Literacy Games, and Read to Someone.

Students are split into groups and rotate through the centers. I think this
creates variety for students to learn in different ways. She also has math
centers where she places different math activities/games around the room for
students to do. The games and activities are picked based on what they are
learning. For example while I was there they were working on fractions. One
center was a fraction bingo game. She also does centers for Social Studies
and Science, which are integrated. The past few weeks they have been
learning about four different countries (Africa, Australia, Japan, and Mexico). I
was there during Australia and Africa. The centers around the classroom were
food, crafts, clothing, etc. Students are at a different center every day to
learn about that thing in the country they are studying.