Bryan Downer
002525691
Teacher Interview
Paper
The title for this paper ought to be “observations of a spiritual traveler on the
journey of the educational career path.” Three teachers were asked the same three
questions.
1. What are your biggest challenges in your department, with peers, and with
parents?
2. What kind of staff development or support would help the most?
3. How has teaching changed your life?
By comparing the interview answers using the table accompanying this paper, the
most relevant conclusion is that teachers become more student centered as time goes on
in their careers. The answers from the teachers interviewed in the earliest stages of the
profession raised a couple of questions and concerns that I feel I would have as an
administrator. Do credential programs really prepare teachers for the realities of the
profession? Or do they focus on a philosophical, idealistic set of standards of what
teaching “should be like”?
Furthermore, analyzing the responses next to each other showed evidence for the
idea that those who choose the educational career path embark on a journey. Not a
physical, geographical trip across vast distances, but a theoretical journey that challenges
the ideas and ideals of the teacher. Overall, this exercise demonstrates that as teachers
mature in the profession, so does the thought process, the arrival of different conclusions,
and ability to see society as well as the students from a different point of view.
In the beginning of the career, teachers feel rushed. They feel caught between a
curriculum guide and challenging their own expectations of what the profession was
going to be like. Discipline was a major concern for the second year teacher. She
confessed disappointment at the arrival of the conclusion that many of the parents have
little or no educational expectations of their children in school. As a result, the children
have none either. Furthermore, that in all too many cases, the classroom is the “only
demanding arena in their lives”. Discipline is a major concern for the second year
teacher as well as the challenge of her pre-conceived notion that the vast majority of
children will understand the value of education they receive.
For the sixth and 12th year teachers, parent support is again a concern. However,
the focus is less on behavior and more on support in the curriculum. The sixth year
teacher, a mathematics teacher, explains, “Many parents admit that they cannot help their
children on homework.” This is not due to time or apathy, but due to their own (the
parents’) lack of skills and ability, especially in mathematics.
In the progression of the profession, coming to grips with the idea or reality that
teachers need to work together is a common challenge. Here is where some similarities
begin to appear in the responses to the questions. It appears that something that all the
responders had in common was that they are experiencing difficulties with peers, albeit
for different reasons. For the experienced teacher, as people are “getting their hands
dirty” in the profession, there is more tension about the idea of cooperation and
collaboration. The PLCs and regular data team meetings under DAIT mandates have
brought this on more than ever before.
Consistently, teachers talk about having trouble with strong personalities in their
peer groups. The 6th year teacher made a very astute statement about the conundrum: “It
is very difficult to get a large group of teachers, with a wide range of experience, to agree
on one thing.” This is a new process to the profession. In the textbook for this class, The
Basic Guide to Supervision, by Carl Glickman, a study is referred to which labels modern
schools as “…impoverished intellectual climates for adults”(24). This is a reference to
the fact that schools have a history of isolating teachers inside the organization. Maybe
teachers have favored to isolate themselves or a combination of the two. Nevertheless,
the idea of Professional Learning Communities is a concept designed to overcome the
isolationist policies. The problem lies in the fact that the most experienced teachers have
spent the vast majority of their time as teachers in atmospheres where collaboration is
unusual. Many have become comfortable or complacent with the idea of isolating
themselves. PLC’s seek to change all that. Many of the more experienced teachers are
wrestling with the idea of collaboration. Specifically, compromising on items like testing
format. Should departments be using multiple choice because it mimics the standardized
tests? Should they be using a fill in the blank, essay, or open ended math problems
because they are more authentic for assessing student learning of the concepts taught in
class? Everyone has an opinion, and the more experienced a teacher is usually means the
teacher has spent more time in isolation and developed a passion for the way he or she
likes to do things. Many experienced teachers can see the value in PLCs, however, other
experienced teachers feel that this is simply a passing fad like so many others that have
been through education. As the 12th year veteran teacher stated, “So they are reluctant to
truly invest themselves in a system that may completely change next year or when the
next superintendent is in place.”
Watching this and trying to take part in it at the same time must be hard for a
newer teacher. The rookie sees others acting on their personal experiences of the history
of educational fads. The new teacher often becomes frustrated as she tries to learn and do
what she is supposed to, even in the face of her peers’ opposition to and rejection of the
required protocol or strategies.
Another common concern among all three teachers was frustration with parental
support. The frustration level ranges from complete shock and disbelief at the
overwhelming lack of support and the negative attitude, to more one of acceptance and
the most mature, searching for solutions for lack of parental participation. Perhaps the
complete shock comes from the maturity level of the newest teachers. Young teachers
who are young in age and early in the profession often act on the idealism that made them
pursue the career in the first place. Frequently newer teachers act on their pre-conceived
expectations like, “Who would not appreciate a concerned call from a teacher?” They are
often surprised and aren’t sure what to think when the opposite of flattery is given in
response to the call. For example, the second year teacher was surprised at the fact that
when a teacher calls a parent, the reaction of the parent may be complete anger and
shock, not at the student behavior, but at the audacity of the teacher for finding fault with
the student or the teacher calling in the first place.
Other similarities involved views on staff development. All teachers were asked
an open ended question about the most helpful staff development. Teachers across the
spectrum of experience agree that meaningful staff development is needed and
welcomed. Two agreed that QTEL was a huge success and more training opportunities
within the program would be of great benefit. Another teacher favored more
development on the use of technology.
The final question asked to the teachers was a great question to wrap things up:
How has teaching changed your life? From the analysis of the responses to this question,
the following conclusion may be surmised: People who enter professions in education
are passionate people who go on a journey of self improvement, evolving thought
processes to finding comfort and contentment in the career path they have chosen. For
example, the beginning teacher remarked several times how this experience has
challenged her mental models of society. She mused, “I really didn’t know there was a
majority of people who don’t support education,” and prior to becoming a teacher,
“…thought there were only a very few who were not behind the school in a community.”
The 6th year teacher answers this question from the perspective of professional growth.
She remarks that she has become a better leader and public speaker as examples of ways
that she has identified weaknesses and is becoming stronger. She views the profession as
a venue for overcoming personal challenges and strengthening professionalism. As such
it has become a career that she loves.
The more experienced teacher has a very philosophical way of looking at her life as a
teacher. She conceded that teaching hasn’t changed her life as much as someone else
who entered the profession later. Teaching is all she knows. However, she allows that
being a teacher has enabled her to develop more empathy for students and people in
general. Also, she sees her job as more of a path similar to a nun. She tends to children’s
education and their hearts. According to this teacher, “The only other way to do that
[develop such empathy and have a great connection to youth] would be to marry
somebody rich so you would have time to do a lot of charity work.”