Ruben Garcia's Interview with a Fifth Grade Teacher

Ms. Smith has been in the teaching profession for a quite the time now serving public schools. She has been a dedicated teacher to her profession for twelve years now. These have been twelve rewarding years where she has seen the growth of the students year by year. She has taught 1st grade for three years, 3rd grade for two, and has been teaching 5th grade in her current school for the past seven years. The majority of the students in this public school are of Hispanic background. The school has an estimate of 800 students enrolled from K to 6th grade.

Ms. Smith states how her philosophy of teaching is being open and prepared for whatever or whoever may walk through her classroom. As a teacher one has to be ready for the unexpected with all this different types of students who come into the school year with a variety of learning levels/styles. As a teacher she says she attempts to teach in a way where none of her students are left out or feel left out due to their ability of performing. She attempts to make everyone count in the class and get every student involved as much as possible in the lesson. Furthermore, even as a teacher she has the job of learning like her students. She has to learn about her students as a way to understand them better and use that to an advantage to aid her students succeed in their education. She believes the purpose of public education is to provide equal education to every individual in our communities and equip them with proper knowledge and tools to put to use in the community to better the community.

When looking at the classroom and how it is organized, she has her classroom set in a very unique way. Her students sit in a group of four per group; all the groups of four are arranged in a way where the center of the classroom is open in a circular type area. She leaves this area open so she can have a better contact with the whole class. She has the classroom divided in five different groups named Mon-Fri, and the kids fall in the day of the week group depending in their reading level. When it comes time for the class to practice on their reading, they get in their assigned group to read a book according to their reading level. Every day the teacher works with different groups as a way to facilitate them and to see how the book is working for the group. As time goes on the students are able to move up a day of the week as their reading improves and have the opportunity to now practice their reading with peers who are at a higher level and learn from each other.

Ms. Smith, taking a deep breath explained that at times it can be challenging to meet the needs of a diverse group of students, but one has to stay focused and always think about the best way to pull the students forward with their learning. She meets the needs of her students who do learn at a different pace is by closely observing them and seeing what works for them and what does not. By observing her students and picking out areas in where they struggle the most, this gives her the opportunity to really drill in this area by starting slow and throughout time challenging the students a bit more as they go on. She will take as long as it take for her students to succeed in the material, but must be careful to not leave out other information.

When I asked her what her motives in becoming a teacher were, she cracked a huge smile and responded by blurting out that it was definitely not the pay. She wanted to be a teacher ever since she was a little girl attending school in Mexico. She enjoyed school so much in Mexico that she always knew she wanted to peruse a career in this profession. Then, making a difference in a child╒s life was another reason she gave. "I always enjoyed helping others from helping my mother cook food to helping my little brother with his school work. As long as I helped, I felt good inside. Plus it allowed me to learn new things along the way." To her, teaching is a very rewarding job. As a teacher when seeing the growth in the students and seeing the change and improvement, this is like getting paid without receiving a currency. The greatest reward for her was when the students go up to her with excitement letting her know they get the information and know how to put it to use.

Through this interview I learned how in teaching one has to be very much prepared for anything, and make adjustments at any time when needed. One has to be very familiar with their students and know what meets their needs and what does not. I also learned that teaching is not all about the income that comes in since it is not the greatest, but it is more about the wanting to teach and the wanting to help others.