Running head: FIELD INTERVIEW 1

Field Interview

By Kimberly McAteer

Kansas University
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Abstract

I had the opportunity to interview my mentor. She has helped me to become a better Special

Education Teacher. She has helped me to develop better IEPs with better goals. I got a chance to

ask her questions that I probably wouldnt have asked her otherwise.
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My interviewee was Sheila McKnight. She is the Exceptional Childrens Case Teacher at

the school I work at in Fayetteville North Carolina. I have worked with her at two different

schools and have worked with her for four years.

I asked her questions that I probably wouldnt have asked just in general conversations. I

found out that she has been in education for over thirty years. She started out as a daycare worker

working in preschool for about twenty years in New York. She has been working in secondary

education in special education for about eleven years.

When she moved from New York to North Carolina she decided she needed a change.

She also decided that she still wanted to stay in education. She really couldnt compare North

Carolina to New York because she worked in two different systems. She did know that in New

York her daughter seemed to get more services than she got in North Carolina.

Sheila decided to move into secondary education as her daughter grew older. Her

daughter has disabilities as well and she hoped it would let her become more knowledgeable to

better help her. As she learned more she was able to help her daughter too. She benefitted from

her experience.

Sheila is the Case Teacher at my school. She is the main LEA in our school. She has been

for the last three years. She currently has two schools that she LEAs for. She is at our school on

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She works at her other school on Tuesday, and Thursday. She

is in charge of all of the case folders and making sure that they are all correct. She also has to

input data from the information she gathers as well. She wears a lot of different hats when it

comes to being a Case Teacher.

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I asked her about her teaching philosophy. She said that she truly believes all children can

learn no matter the disability or where they come from. As a teacher we need to be able to

activate prior knowledge and we need to relate things to something the students already know.

This way they will retain the knowledge we teach them.

When I asked her how she interacts and meets the needs of all learners, especially

disabled learners, she told me that she meets all of the students that have IEPs. She has some

interaction with the parents as well. She is responsible for doing all of the re-evaluation of all of

the students. Re-evaluations take place every three years. That doesnt necessarily mean retesting

or anything like that. She just makes sure that the students still need services.

When asked about collaboration, she said that she mainly collaborated with her teachers,

the ones in the Exceptional Childrens department, and the principal. She does occasionally go

on home visits with the social worker, especially if she has to get paperwork signed. I also asked

her about collaborating with her peers. She explained that she does that during her professional

development meetings. Every year they have three professional development meeting where they

get together and talk about best practices and how to do their job the right way. As Case

Teachers they have to know the law because IEPs are legal binding documents.

I wondered if she missed the classroom. She explained to me that she did miss it

sometimes but she didnt miss the behaviors that come with the students. Our school is in a low

socioeconomic area. The average family consists of one parent and two to three kids. Most times

the parent is working. We dont have a lot of opportunities to work with the parents. We

schedule IEP meetings and we send out two notices to make sure they get a notice of a meeting.

We have about a 33% rate of parents showing up for their students meeting. I think a lot of them

just dont understand actually how important these meetings are. It would be nice if parents had
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to go through a mini session explaining how important it is for them to attend and to know what

goals we have set for their child. We need their input as well. They know their child the best.

They could let us know what works and what doesnt.

Sheila makes the first contact with parents of students who are new to our school and

have IEPs. She calls the parent to make initial referrals for students. She has to get permission

from parents to start testing students to see if they are eligible to receive exceptional children

services. After our psychologist has tested the student, Sheila along with the psychologists

recommendation make the determination if the child needs services and what services the child

needs. At our school we have four self-contained rooms and six resource periods and thirteen co-

op periods. We try to move students out of resource into co-op as much as possible. We want our

students to grow. Sometimes the students comes to us in the wrong placement. We have to

determine if we have another place for the student move to that will be more conducive to their

ability. In a situation like that, she gets the specialist to come over and look at the students folder

and work samples and gets her recommendation, especially when we are sending a students into

a self-contained room. We need to be sure we are doing the right thing for the student.

When asked about how she could evolve her position, she looks at this as more of a team

effort. She believes that if she can help her teachers write good IEPs and help them to become

better teachers she is evolving her position as well. She still has to make sure there arent any

errors and such, but this makes her job a lot easier.

I asked her about any changes she would like to see. Sheila would like to see procedures

become easier for teachers. She says that between making sure that these IEPs are following

IDEA guidelines and the system we use, it is quite tedious. She would like to see an easier

system being used and she would like to see the same system used all across the United States.
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All states are different so it is hard to tell what services a student has if it isnt written clearly.

Sometimes she has to search to find where to place this student. If we all used the same system

then we would know where to look and be able to read the IEPs easier. Also parents would be

used to the same thing as well.

I enjoyed getting to know my mentor better. I got to see things from her perspective as

well. I always learn something from her when we talk. Today I learned a lot more than I thought

I would. Thank you for this assignment. I truly enjoyed interviewing her. I have attached the list

of questions that I asked and her responses.

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References

McKnight, S. (March 7, 2016). Personal Interview

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1. What is your name and position? Sheila McKnight

2. What do you do? EC Case Teacher

3. How did you come to this position? Her principal asked for her to come to this position

4. How long have you been in your position? 3 years

5. How long have you been in education? She started out in early childhood education.

Total about 30 years. Secondary education for 11 years.

6. Do you miss being in the classroom? Yes and no, she misses the students. But she doesnt

miss their behaviors

7. What is your philosophy on teaching? I feel like all students can learn no matter disability

or where they come from as teacher we need to be able to activate their prior knowledge

and we need to relate things to something they know already

8. What other states have you worked in? New York for daycare and preschool

9. How different was it? I couldnt say I was doing something completely different

10. Would you have done anything different? No I love secondary

11. How do you interact and meet the needs of all learners, especially disabled learners? I am

in charge of the IEPs at our school. I meet all of the students and I have some interaction

with their parents. I try to LEA all of the meetings in school. I am also responsible for

doing all of the re-evaluations of all of the students. I am only at one school 3 days and

another school 2 days.

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12. Who all do you collaborate with? I mostly collaborate with the principal and my teachers.

I do occasionally go on home visits with the social worker, especially if I have to get

some paperwork signed

13. How do you collaborate with your peers? We have professional development at least 3

times a year

14. How do you interact with parents? My teachers schedule IEP meetings and I LEA for

these meetings. I also make first contact when a new student that has an IEP enrolls. I

make phone calls to start initial referrals

15. Are there any instructional or behavioral practices you implement? I dont teach the

students, but when we have

16. How do you continue to evolve in your position? By becoming the best EC Case Teacher

I can be. I strive to do my best every day for the students and myself

17. How do you think we could get parents more involved? Maybe by making more phone

calls and sending out more letters.

18. How could you be better prepared for your job? I could make more schedules out and be

better organized.

19. What are some changes you would make? I dont know if I would make any changes. I

would make some procedures easier for the teachers.

20. If you could have done anything else would you? I cant see myself doing anything else. I

truly love my job.