Teacher interview

Q: Do you like working at YHS?

A: Yes - I enjoy working at YHS very much.

Q: What is it about YHS that you really like?

A: I like that the faculty are all very vested in student success, that they seem to sincerely care about

each other and their students.

Q: How long have you been teaching?

A: I have been teaching 18 years - since 1992.

Q: Have you found your administration helpful when it comes to classroom issues?

A: Generally, yes. However, one of my long-standing concerns is that administration tends to act as an

intermediary between teachers and parents - which I take issue with. Principals should be involved if

the parent and teacher cannot solve an issue together. Our principals tend to deal with parent

concerns rather than first directing the parent to deal with the teacher first. That is how it is supposed

to work: parent contacts teacher and discusses issue - not parent calls principal to complain. That's

disrespectful to the teacher and I do not understand why our administration doesn't simply ask

parents "Have you spoken to the teacher? I would suggest you start there, since s/he is the person

who best knows what is going on with your child." Instead, they field the phone call/complaint and

then contact us. Parents need to understand that they must deal with us rather than go over our head

to administration without even giving us the courtesy of contacting us first. For the most part they do

a decent job dealing with the issue we send to them.

Q: What are your actions for discipline in the classroom

A: Generally, I try to be proactive in dealing with problems by setting a clear expectation from the

beginning that behaviors that are disrespectful or that impede the learning of others won't be

tolerated. Classroom rules are given at the outset and students are made clear on those rules

throughout the year. If a student is misbehaving, I have a few options: I might remove the student

from the room if the behavior is really disruptive and put him/her outside for a set amount of time and

then speak to him/her before allowing him/her to return to class. I might pull the student out for a

quick conversation to find out what the issue at hand is. What I prefer not to do is to get into a

confrontation in front of the class - kids tend to get more defiant when they've got an audience (they

have to "save face" you know) so removing them from the room first generally takes care of any

defiance or pride issues. Other times, a student may be held after class for a discussion. All

discussions are documented so that - should I need to meet with parents/counselor/principal - I have

a paper trail regarding the student's behavior.

Q: Do you notice the community playing a role on the students' education at all? If so, is it negative or

positive?

A: The only thing I can see in terms of the community is the lack of parent involvement - this seen

primarily through Back To School Night. Except for AP classes, these events are largely under-

attended. Where as I'll get 12-15 sets of parents for AP classes, I may get 5-6 for regular classes.

Atrocious. If parents can't spare one night a year to show interest in their kids' education, why should

they care? I will say, however, that in times of crisis (budget cuts, teacher contract disputes) the

community has done a good job supporting its kids and their teachers. I just wish they'd be more

directly involved in their kids' education.

Q: Does the school ever place special needs students in your class because of budget? If so, how do you

accommodate to their needs?
A: Placement of students is a tricky issue. "Special needs" is not a clear term. If you mean "special

education" - yes - they are placed in our classes, but not to my knowledge due to money issues.

Special ed has been moving over the years towards mainstreaming more kids (a mistake in my

opinion), but this isn't due to money (at least as far as I'm aware). What they HAVE done as a result

of money issues is to move ELL (English Language Learner) students of level 3 into our rooms. (The

ELL students are classes from 1-5, 5 being a fluent English speaker.) Three's generally are not put in

mainstream classes because they lack the language skills. So, when threes were put in my class last

year - they failed - largely because they quit attending class (obviously - why would they want to

attend a class they feel overwhelmed by?). In terms of any special ed kids placed in class, we

accommodate them according to their IEP or 504 plan.

Q: How do you incorporate "non-academic" subjects into the classroom?

A: I'm not sure what you mean by "non academic" subjects? I try and pull many things into my class in

order to connect literature to the larger frame of students' lives - I think that good teachers should

always do so in order that kids don't think that knowledge from school occurs in a vacuum: what we

teach is relevant to life.

Q: What do you do to keep your students interested and involved?

A: This relates to the previous question: I show my students that I love what I teach (they won't be

interested if you're not interested in what you teach); I try to communicate that what I teach is

important, that it connects with their lives HERE and NOW. I attempt to show them that my class has

VALUE and that it is time well-spent for them to be present and learning. I want them to feel like they

are walking away from my room with something useful. As well, pacing is important - you must keep

the kids moving along and try to vary your activities as much as possible. Good planning is half of your

classroom management.

Q: What is the most important "lesson" you hope to teach your high school students aside from the

curriculum?

A: I hope to teach my students that learning matters, that they matter, that they are far too valuable to

waste their time and waste their lives. I want them to see that life is good, the learning is good, that

being a thinking, expressive individual is something to be pursued and treasured; I want them to see

that there is so much more to learning and life than they imagined.

Q: Do you ever incorporate technology in the classroom? If yes, how so?

A: A little bit; I tend to shy away from it - technology assists learning, but it also inhibits it to a certain

degree. I want kids to focus on the basics: writing, reading, speaking. And I want them to develop the

depth that I think comes from learning the old fashioned way. I'm sure this will change as time goes

on, but I'm not a huge fan of endless technology - I think the toys tend to obscure the message too

much.

Q: What are your beliefs on homework? Is it helpful or detrimental?

A: I think homework is valuable, but not totally essential. I certainly don't give it that often - I've got too

much to grade already. Studies show that kids retain more if you assign homework. Good. But kids

need to be kids too.

When I interviewed Monty Martin, an A.P. English teacher at Yucaipa High School, I was intrigued by a lot of his perspectives. The first point that he brought to my attention was about the administration. When I asked him whether his administration was supportive of him and his decisions, he mentioned how often times if there is a problem, the parents will go straight to admin instead of talking to him first. In my eyes, this is almost like a “tattle-tale” situation. I do agree with him that it is really important that parents have open communication with the teachers and not jump to a higher authority when there is a conflict.

I had done an essay previously on community involvement and it was very interesting to see that his main complaint was the basis of my paper. He spoke of the lack of parent turn out for Back to School Night which is just one day out of the year. He said that if parents can’t care enough to come to just one night, it doesn’t seem that they really care about their child’s education. In the book, it talked about how this is the view of a lot of teachers but the problem may be that the parents don’t feel welcome or numerous other reasons. A possible solution to his problem could maybe be a personal phone call to each parent reminding them that it is back to school night and he would really appreciate it if they came to meet him. However, this may be unreasonable because working at a high school; he has at least 150 students.

I asked about the integration of special education and ELL students into his classes and he said that it is not uncommon. I was always under the impression that it was a big deal and detrimental to their education but Mr. Martin made it out to be the norm. He did mention that it can have bad outcomes but it doesn’t always have to end bad. I thought this was very interesting.

Another very insightful thought that Mr. Martin shared was the connection he tries to create with all of his lessons to real life. He wants his students to realize that education is valuable and deserves a lot of effort on both the teacher and the student. With this, he is able to keep his students involved and eager to learn.