Teacher Interview

Name: Kamila Zaremba
School: DePaul College Prep
Subject: World and US History
Grades: 10-12

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?
I would describe my classroom management philosophy as democratic, respectful, and consistent. Democratic because at the beginning of the year we made a classroom constitution in every class in terms of expectations and consequences if there was behavior that was disrespectful. Respectful in terms of when something happens that is against our classroom constitution or the expectations of school conduct, I will tell a student exactly what was violated and then if they try arguing I ask them to stay after class so that we can discuss it. Or if they are doing things in partners and it will be cause too much of a distraction to the class, I take them outside the classroom and we talk about it 1:1. Consistent since students value consistency in regards to expectations. What informs my decisions is educational research, my own teaching philosophy, and the overall class behavior and needs.

2. How do you handle disruptive/misbehaving students who make it difficult for others to learn?
I partially answered this in my last response, so you can also pull from there. In my morning periods, things are usually more mellow since students are still waking up. If students do talk too much or get off topic, I redirect them and typically that is enough. In my last period of the day, where many of my students struggle with learning and many also have ADHD, I try to keep a tighter hold on the class. Oftentimes, this means we will do individual work compared to partners or groups because then we get very off track compared to the other classes. I stand by my students who usually get off topic more because the subtle action of me standing by them is usually enough to ensure they stay on track.

3. How does the organization of your room (student desk arrangements, teachers desk, furniture, proximity to students, etc.) affect your classroom management plan?
The organization of my room plays a big role in my classroom management plan. We have tables instead of individual desks. I have the tables in a U shape, a bigger U and a smaller U. Smaller U has 3 tables with 8 students there. They are closest to me, so I usually put the students who need to be redirect more often there. The larger U fits the rest of the students. This usually also aids with discussions, since we do a lot of those. My desk is in the back. I never use it. I sit at the podium in the front if I ever get a chance to sit, otherwise I am standing or sitting next to a student and moving to the next kiddo.

4. Instead of sending a student to the dean, what are some disciplinary methods you found effective for in classroom use?
If I have to ask students more than 3-4 times to settle down and it gets to be very loud, I keep them after class 1-2 minutes and they sit in silence. This usually only happens with my 8th period. I have done this once with 4th period, but that was a rare occurrence. We then discuss what should happen next time. Detentions are given out after I have redirected a student 3 times. I usually also email parents if I give a student a detention or if I know that parent participation will solve the behavioral problem more than a detention would. If this problem continues, I confiscate phones, call parents, talk to coaches (this is particularly effective), and have meetings with the student and parent(s)/guardian(s). Sending students down to the dean is not a common practice here since we do not have hall monitors and that is typically what happens when schools have them, so that the hall monitor walks the student down to the dean’s. Otherwise, the student will not go down to the dean’s.

5. Do you believe that a reward system is beneficial to classroom management? Does it help with student management?
I do not have a reward system. I do not think it would help with classroom management all that much. Expectations should be made together with students and then they should be followed. If you step out of those bounds, then there is a consequence. If a student is truly on task, I will speak to them one-on-one and let them know and call home that they are doing well. Especially, if they are usually the student who is disruptive.

6. What classroom management strategies work best for you? Are there strategies that some teachers use that you disagree with?
I believe what works best for me is my seating arrangement, verbal warnings, and one-on-one conversations. Additionally, since our students have iPads, we use Apple Classroom where I can see what they are doing. If they are on social media or playing games, then I can lock them into an app and have them work on what we are doing. I disagree with giving out detentions immediately. Something I wish I could implement brain breaks more often or meditating. When I notice at times that students are especially out of the norm, we stop everything and do a 3 minute meditation. Something that I have implemented once was an apology letter to me. I had turned around to set up a video on one of my classes and a group of 5 students started throwing around a roll of tape. I was disappointed in not just their behavior, but that no one said anything to get them to stop or say that’s not cool. I want them to say something when they see something, since as an American society we struggle with this and I want the next generation to do better. I disagree with reprimanding students in front of all their peers. That is why I have one-on-one conversations with them.

Summary of interview:
While conducting the interview with Kamila, I realized how much truly important an effective classroom management plan is. Although we read about how significant they can be, hearing it from an actual person and their way of reasoning for it was a completely eye opening experience. She started the interview off with a very strong point, which I also thought was important, regarding her philosophy as "democratic, respectful, and consistent". I could not think of 3 better words or ways of creating a classroom management plan. During the interview I kept thinking about to chapter 13 and the importance of rules, learning environments, communication, and disciplinary tactics. Each of these 4 things she mentioned in her interview and her explanations of how she implemented them made it even more clear to me as to how important they are. I was very happy to see that she mentioned the topic of technology since that is going to be my research paper topic and she made a very good point as to how technology can be used effectively. Kamila briefly spoke about methods of teaching and how her students learn best which I also enjoyed listening to. She was able to relate some of the things she does to chapter 7 in the book, which allowed me to get a deeper more personal understanding for effective ways to create positive student learning experiences. Overall the interview was a major success in my opinion and allowed me to get a more personal, first hand experience as to how teachers create the best environments for their students.