Interviewing my 4th grade teacher
When I interviewed my 4th grade teacher, some of the questions were obvious while others were rather unexpected. The big picture behind interviewing a teacher is to understand what being an impactful teacher is all about. Every teacher is different, but what I got from my teacher is that being an impactful teacher means to set expectations for yourself and students, and go through with those expectations. For example, if you tell the whole class that they should be quiet during reading time, you should hold them to that. It doesn’t mean that “oh it’s been 5 minutes they can talk now,” or “those two students can talk but the rest of the students can’t.” My teacher said in the interview that this something that she struggled with as a new teacher, as well as something she saw her student teacher had a difficult time with. It can be hard to set rules for yourself and your students, and then be consistent on following them no matter the situation. I think this shows how impactful the teacher is because it shows that the teacher has trust in her students that if she holds them to high expectations, they will be able to follow them. Another impactful thing that my teacher that I interviewed does is understanding the students and bringing herself to that level. For example, this year she said that her whole class is unable to sit for long periods of time. So she accommodated to them and asked the principle if it was okay for her to bring her whole class outside and take a lap around the school. This is a great example of being an impactful teacher because she is understanding of her students and their needs in order to learn. This might be something that her students will remember doing as they go into the next years of school. Being an impactful teacher I think means knowing your students, being able to meet them where they are, but also having high expectations for them and holding them to those expectations.
