Interview with

Students

Respectfully Presented to:

Kendra Vair
Presented by:
Ronald W Gentry
As partial fulfillment of the requirements
of
EDUC 350

As I sit in my office at 4:30 in the morning, smug with my decision to

purchase a coffee maker for our small apartment at university village, I am settling
in and replaying events from my interview with two 6 th grade students at Conrad
Ball Middle school yesterday. As I look through my notes and recall our
conversations I find common threads from both students who we will call Jack and
Jill. As I reflect on the interview and tie it to my return to teaching I am pleased to
know that some of what I already am is good and a few tweaks will make me even
better.
When I asked Jack and Jill who their favorite teacher was at Conrad Ball, they
both responded that Mr. Popp was by far their favorite teacher. Interestingly they
both had different reasons why ranging from few rules in the classroom to flexibility
and more of a student centered model with options of assignments. However, they
both said that he was very nice. He makes them feel safe to share ideas and grow.
This is no small task with a group of new 6 th graders who are learning a new school
and beginning the struggle to find their identities. By the simple act of kindness to
his students he is able to overcome these feelings of anxiety that his students are
feeling. Being nice also is incorporated into the classroom with everyone respecting
each other. I found this concept so simple and easy I had to be sure. I asked my
five-year-old son why he liked his kindergarten teacher so much. As you can
probably guess he responded with she is really nice to me and she smiles all the
time.
As teachers we are nice people and we try to be nice to our students, isnt
that just part of the job? Some days this is easier said than done, home situations,
pressure from administrators, time constraints, lack of sleep, are all real parts of
teaching that follow us into the classroom and can make us not as nice as we want
to be. Ultimately, it is my responsibility to my students to leave all of that baggage
in my desk drawer, put on my best smile and remember that I am happiest when I
am with my students. Everyone has hard days and we will too. It is important to
remember that we are not perfect beings and we will not always be what our
students need at all times. In such cases swallowing your pride, exhibiting humility,
recognizing and apologizing are ways to make up for those off days. Your students
will be able to forgive you and recognize that you respect them and you are trying
your best for them.
Teachers are sales people, selling Ideas and concepts. Sometimes part of the
sales pitch is the box the product comes in. How do we present our wares to our
customers as teachers? In the same boring container that they have seen countless
times already in their other classrooms, or in an eye catching and engaging
package? It doesnt take a marketing major to figure this one out, as people we like
exciting and fresh, so do our students. Our classroom is our package that makes
the consumer want to take it off the shelf and put it in their cart. When asked about
their ideal classroom Jack and Jill wanted exciting classrooms with lots of cool
stuff. Multicolored LED lights, non-traditional furniture with lots of color, interactive
and eye appealing items on the walls, all are parts of setting your package apart
and making the product more exciting. I can see doing lots of fun and innovative
things in my classroom making the room less sterile and more inviting. Changing

the layout of the room often is another way to keep things fresh for students and for
me as well.
I asked Jack and Jill what teachers do that drive them crazy. Jill was quick to
answer with millions of rules. That makes sense because one of the reasons she
likes Mr. Popp is because he doesnt have a bunch of rules. I think our kids are
yearning for ownership and responsibility. By allowing them more freedom we are
giving them that along with pride and confidence. I also like the one rule approach
and will be incorporating that into my classroom management next year.
Jack was a bit more reflective on the question. He doesnt like
homework being due the next day after it is assigned. Jack wants more flexibility in
his schedule and feels pressured to learn on the teachers time table not his own.
Jack would like my class because one: I dont believe in a whole bunch of
homework, and two: the home work that I assign is generally big projects that take
a lot of time to develop. We have mini due dates with various key parts of the
project along the way to help students to focus and not lose track of time.
On most of the other questions that I asked I got varied answers from the
pair. At first I didnt know what to do with this information. I thought perhaps I had
asked the wrong questions and failed to achieve the goals of the assignment. Then
it occurred to me this is not a failure, this is truly enlightening. This is a
representation of how varied my students are. If two students answered 70% of the
questions differently how much variation will 20-30 students have? What as a
teacher can I take home from this? The lesson is that we have to be varied in our
approaches, not all tactics will work for all students. They each have different
driving influences in their lives. They are each unique and special and cannot be
clumped together to fit a standard learning mold dictated by me the teacher. That
just isnt fair to them. I must incorporate different approaches into each lesson to
try to cover as much variation in my classroom as I can. As we progress together as
a learning team I must be learning about my individual students and what works
best for each of them.
My final question to the two was what does a perfect teacher do? Their
responses were varied but all drove to the same point. A perfect teacher in the
eyes of these two students is one who is respectful to them as individuals.
Someone who listens to them, someone who is there to help them to understand
what they are learning, someone who cares. Someone who cares is the biggest
thing that I got from Jack and Jill. They want to know that I care about them as
individuals. I know this not only from their interview questions but also reflecting on
my time as a manager of 30+ individuals at my former job. I am a disciple of the
great Lou Holtz and believe fervently in his teachings. His basic premise is that
people will do great things for you if they know that you care about them, that you
show love (kindness) to them, you are committed to excellence, and they know that
they can trust you. This was so evident to me in the way that Jack and Jill answered
their questions. They want to know that their teachers care about them, love them
as individuals, and they can trust their teachers to do the right thing for them. That
their teachers are committed to them to help them achieve excellence. I used this

philosophy as my compass in 15 years of management and thanks to Jack and Jill I

know that I can continue to rely on these guiding principles in the class room.
In closing I am excited about what these students have taught me. I will use
their input to further strengthen ideals that I already have along with adopting new
ones in the quest to reach more of my kids. As I have said before I am so thankful
for the chance to be shown this and will continue to use the lessons that I have
been taught this week. Perhaps on the first day of school asking my classes what a
perfect teacher looks like to them? I am a facilitator of learning, and anything I can
use to help them achieve excellence and earn their trust shows them that I care
about them and love them as individuals.