Interview With A Teacher

I thought this interview was very interesting. It was so fascinating to be able to hear a teacher’s perspective about the different aspects of their classroom. I was ask a teacher specific questions of interest, and it was interesting to see how many of the teacher’s answers correlated to what we were learning. Hearing the teacher’s different experiences really had an impact on me because it truly made me more excited to pursue teaching as my career. I will refer to this teacher as Jordan throughout this paper to ensure confidentiality. Jordan had been a teacher for 6 years. After Jordan graduated from college, she knew immediately that she wanted to go into the teaching profession. She had taken courses and participated in many different

In her first year, she was so overwhelmed. She was so meticulous and if things did not go to her schedule, she would become flustered and discouraged. She truly wanted to be a good teacher, but she did not have the confidence to accept that being flexible is an important aspect in teaching. In the Sadker & Zittleman (2012) text, it even discusses that teaching is difficult, and there are several pros and cons. One con included that she was an idealist and she really wanted to change the school district, but it was so difficult for her in the classroom to maintain total control of her students (pg. 7). However as time passed, she slowly began to realize that schedules do not matter and that it is ok to be flexible. When she started to acknowledge that, she slowly started to become a better teacher. She was able to be more relaxed with her students and to allow them to have more input in the classroom. She realized that patience is really important and actually knowing the students specific needs in education was the turning point in her short teaching

She now knows her purpose as a teacher. She told me that there are always going to be “curveballs thrown at me, but I am starting to get better at hitting those pitches” (Interview, 2017). She now feels as if she is experienced enough to handle her classroom and face adversity. She also feels as the more difficult aspects in teaching, such as loosing her idealistic mentality, are slowly starting to fade as the years go on. She states, “When I was first teaching I was very optimistic and I lost that mentality after a couple of years teaching. However, now that I have gained so much more experience in the classroom, I am more optimistic about my profession because I am now comfortable” (Interview, 2017). She even feels more comfortable because there is slowly a progression moving away from teacher-centered philosophies, and more towards student centered philosophies. This is what Jordan has wanted all along. She stressed that it is important to help students achieve academic greatness by having them reach the standards of math and science, but she also thinks that it is important to have these students grow not only as learners, but also as human beings. She wants her students to be better people and have them be prepared for the real world, and to not only stress the importance of test scores. With the new policies slowly being