Vanessa Haag's Interview with a Third Grade Teacher

Mrs. Em has been teaching for twenty-one years. In that time she has taught at an high-performing school, a low-performing school, a low SES school and a parent-participation school. She initially earned her credential in Oregon, though her teaching career has so far taken place in California. Mrs. Em has taught multiple subjects grades one through five.

The school where Mrs. Em currently works is a rural K-6 school with 563 students; 51.2% of whom are Anglo-American and 44% Hispanic; 30.2% of the students participate in the free/reduced lunch program and many of the students are English Learners.

Mrs. Em’s professional philosophy is that “everybody can learn.” She says that “sometimes you just have to find different ways.… We’re here for the kids.” Mrs. Em strives to make sure that all her students are learning and being challenged. She hopes their education leads to either vocational or higher education; she wants the students to keep on learning. Ultimately she hopes the learning “comes from themselves, that students know they are in charge of their learning.”

Mrs. Em believes in getting students to be self-initiated learners. Mrs. Em told me the story of a little girl who was her student one year. This child was an English learner and could hardly read. The story culminated in Mrs. Em’s ability to elicit a passionate response from the child that she wanted to be able to read more than anything. Mrs. Em found out what the girl’s interests were and provided her with books that correlated with those interests since the girl’s family didn’t have books for her at home. Mrs. Em told the child that it was up to her to practice reading every night and that her own self-motivated practice is what would lead to her catching up to the rest of her peers in class. Despite being over a year behind, the girl caught up to the reading level she was supposed to be at for her grade. Mrs. Em believes in “teaching kids how to learn so they’ll want to educate themselves”.

Mrs. Em explained to me how public school provides the socialization and life-skills that children need to function later on in life. Mrs. Em thinks that the purpose of public school is to “educate the masses who can’t pay for private school… so things are equal.” When discussing with Mrs. Em the function of public schooling as an equalizer she said that “it never will be [equal to private school]” but that teachers should strive to provide students with an equal chance to succeed.

In terms of instruction, Mrs. Em places her students in groups, she says this way “they’ll be able to help each other.” Within these groups she always places one or two “highs” and one “low or English learners,” then fills in what is left. Also, she always places a “pull-over” table in her classrooms so that a space will be available to work with students, for a variety of reasons, either one-on-one or in small groups, at her discretion. By working with pull-over groups, Mrs. Em is able to provide extra-support. For her advanced students she tries to make “go-to folders,” folders that are filled with things the students can do when they finish early. She says she can only tend to these folders on occasion, if time permits. This is how she meets the needs of her diverse learners.

When I asked what keeps Mrs. Em enthusiastic about teaching, her reply synched up with what she found to be the most rewarding; Mrs. Em says, “it’s the kids.” Seeing the growth and progress of the students, knowing that she makes are real difference, is what keeps her going. It’s a special treat to have the students for longer periods of time because that way “you can really see how they grow.” I can tell that Mrs. Em is proud that some of that growth is directly the result of her teaching.

While reflecting on this interview it occurred to me that Mrs. Em’s philosophy is similar in many ways to my own. I was a little surprised as Mrs. Em’s teaching style is one that it has taken me quite a bit to reconcile myself with. Mrs. Em is a very structured, disciplinary teacher. Over the while I have known her I am steadily realizing that while at first I could not picture myself teaching the way she does in her classroom that her style of teaching is effective in many ways that I hope I don’t have problems with in the future; primarily in the area of keeping order and being firm with discipline. Although Mrs. Em’s teaching style seemed foreign to me in many ways, I anticipate that eventually I will adopt some of her teaching practices.