teacher interview

Dan Stekala

Teacher Interview

Mr. Darrell Reed, Physical Education/Health instructor at St. Laurence High School

Current experience: 13 years as a high school teacher, two years as a program adviser for a universities track team.

1. How would you define/describe your classroom management philosophy? That is to say, what informs your decisions to make sure your class runs smoothly on a daily basis? The philosophy is the 5 E learning model. Which is engage, explore, explain, extension and evaluate. Also to make sure every student participates, students are treated fairly and that he consistent with everything he does.

2. How do you handle disruptive/misbehaving students who make it difficult for others to learn? Talk to those students by pulling them to the side. Never wants to leave someone who just got in trouble alone. After you've taken them to the side, explain why you did so. If they continue to disrupt class, get them removed and have them serve a detention.

3. How does the organization of your room (student desk arrangements, teachers desk, furniture, proximity to students, etc.) affect your classroom management plan? Too many students in one class can be a challenge and separated locker rooms because you can't supervise all students at once.

4. How do you “set the tone” the first day(s) of the school year to communicate your (discipline) expectations to students? Have the student review the syllabus by themselves and have them go over it with their parents. Once they acknowledged what's to be expected from them have them both sign it and bring it back.

5. A student is consistently late to your class. How do you handle the situation? He would email the previous teacher to see if possibly they're letting them out late. If he finds out that's not the case, he begins to deduct point. However, he gives passes on coming late because the freshman lockers are on the opposite side of the building and the passing period of 3 minutes can still be too little for many.

6. What classroom management strategies work best for you? Are there strategies that some teachers use that you disagree with? What works best for him is holding kids accountable, whether that's good or bad. If it's bad, he doesn't want to prolong anything and have them know what they just did was wrong and on the other hand give them positive feedback for when they do something right or good. If the student has an excuse everyday for not participating or dressing, a deduction of points. The strategy he doesn't agree with is allowing students to go to the bathroom every day. The students should be able to use the bathroom during passing periods or during longer periods should use that time.

7. What is your administrations view of classroom management? Does it align with your own philosophy or does it differ in some way? The administration also follows the five E's. It 's the same one he uses in his class and was one of the one who came up with the idea for the school.

8. What is your behavior management plan? Point system for participation and seeing if they go above and beyond expectations. For good behavior, will recommend to principal for student of the month, which may include free lunch for the week or other such prizes.

9. Have you had to deal with students who have gotten into physical altercations? How did you handle it? Yes, had to get in the middle of a fight and got the area cleared out. Then sent a trustworthy student to grab a dean so they can escort the students from the class. Never want to leave the class unattended after something like that.

10. Instead of sending a student to the dean, what are some disciplinary methods you found effective in the classroom? Being consistent , firm, fair. Have to eliminate all issues as soon as they come up. Discuss the plan for the day with the students.

11. As an experienced teacher, what is one thing you wish you knew in your first years of teaching? Are there trends you can see in your school with new teaches and some of the struggles he or she may face? How to say no faster, you want to be liked by all your students so you usually let them get away with certain things such as going to the bathroom frequently. Once they see you're too friendly, they'll try to take advantage of that. The trends with new teachers are being inconsistent with their disciplining. They will let the students walk all over them and then let them feel like the job is overwhelming. The teacher must come in and set the rules day one and let them know this is how class will be and you must deal with it, but to also show that you'll be fair in doing so.

12. How do you work with students who do not have English as their primary language, and you do not speak that language? Ask another student to translate for them or a faculty member, but at the current school doesn't have that issue.