Amanda's Austin's Interview with a Math Teacher

Mr. A is an outspoken, energetic teacher. He constantly has a smile on his face and each time I have visited his classroom the students have been actively engaged, excited and smiling right along with him. I have tried, over the course of this interview, to figure out his secret.

Mr. A teaches at a rural high school located in an agricultural area of Monterey County. There are about 1300 students in the high school. The ethnic make-up of the school is 66% Hispanic, 29% White, 2% Asian and 2% African-American. Many of the students have English as a second language, are bilingual in Spanish, and/or speak Spanish at their home and with their friends. Twenty percent of the students are officially classified as English Learners. Half of the students are also on free or reduced lunch programs.

This is Mr. A's ninth year of teaching all levels of math at this high school. He started out his career not in education, but in the Air Force and then in private industry. He decided to make a career change when the stress and long work weeks of the private industry began to get to him. Despite the pay being lower as a teacher, he says that "teaching is the best job in the world."

Mr. A believes that the students need to be actively engaged, creating projects and solving interesting problems that truly challenge them. In that manner, the students are more interested in the material and learn much more than if they are merely lectured to. Mr. A has his students working in groups very often and develops special projects for each unit. The students help develop the grading criteria for these projects. Currently, his Geometry class is designing bridges made of popsicle sticks. Despite a lot of pressure from the administration for the math department to stress the standards and improve test scores, Mr. A keeps in mind his students╒ development and makes time for them to explore things that he thinks are important for them. He takes the administration seriously, but figures "the best thing for my students is to really understand the things they are learning, not just skim over the top of a lot of material."

Walking into Mr. A's classroom, I can tell that he teaches a little differently from other teachers at the school. Instead of desks in rows, he "procured tables so the students can work together more easily." The walls are covered with various projects that his students have completed. Mr. A spends some time lecturing to get the ideas across and discuss problems that the students have had, but much of the class is spent with the students working collaboratively in groups on various problems. The students talk with each other quite a bit and Mr. A keeps them on task by constantly circulating the room and checking in with each of the students at some point. The students seem to respect him and enjoy the chance to work with their peers as well as have a little one-on-one interaction with Mr. A.

Mr. A is constantly enthusiastic about his job. Even when he has had a bad day, he still has a smile on his face. When asked about his seemingly endless optimism, he says that "the students make it all worth it. Even on the bad days, you just have to have fun with the kids and focus on the good." He truly enjoys his students and loves having the opportunity to get to know them both as students and people. It is these connections that he develops with his students that make the job rewarding to him. Seeing their success and getting to be a positive influence in their lives makes all of the challenges of teaching worth it.

My interview with Mr. A taught me a lot about keeping a good attitude in the teaching profession. While he definitely acknowledges that there are challenges, he keeps a focus on the fun and exciting parts of the job. Mr. A's optimism taught me to recognize when I have a bad day and spend some time reflecting on what did not go well to try and make things better, but not to dwell on them. Teaching inherently has its ups and downs, and to keep your sanity and sense of hope, you need to always be looking at the successes.

It was inspiring to visit Mr. A's classroom and see a teacher who incorporates a lot of group work and creative projects into his curriculum. As a new teacher, I keep hearing how these things are important, but do not get very many opportunities to see them in practice. The students respond well to this approach also, appearing active and happy to be working together on learning the material.

One of the main things that I learned from talking with Mr. A is to have fun with your students and to treat them with respect. Developing that bond with your students makes the classroom environment one in which both the students and the teacher are comfortable and productive. It is also one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.