Katelyn Burns

Prof. Carnahan-Cook

Online MCLDDV-101 (9449)

22 November 2020

Interview Questions

Lynzi Layton Rojas, 1st grade teacher at American Preparatory Academy

(801) 815-6813 --- llaytonrojas83@gmail.com

1. What are the most rewarding parts of your job?

“For me, the most rewarding part of my job is being able to watch each child become

more confident in themself and grow into themselves throughout the year. There are not a

lot of jobs that allow someone to have such a big and positive role in someone’s life and

development. What I love is getting emails from parents and from students after they

have moved on from my classroom setting and hearing how grateful they are for the

songs and activities that I taught them that helps them remember things in a fun way.”

2. What do you like most about working with children?

“The part that I like the most about working with children is being there for their

achievements. I love seeing their little eyes light up when they start getting the hang of a

topic they have been stuck on and seeing them problem solve. It is a magnificent thing to

see them grow in this aspect.”

3. What do you like least about working with children?

“I think of course it comes with its challenges such as very special accommodations or

the ‘drama’ that sometimes occurs with students or even with parents. As a teacher there

comes a lot of pressure to please everyone and that can be difficult, but you do the best
 that you can by finding ways to help with communication and by being open to

suggestions.”

4. How do you help families support their child’s development?

“What I like to do is keep the families in ‘the know’ by sending them emails and updates a few

times a month. This helps keep them in touch and aware of what their children are learning so

that they can reach out if needed. One thing that is also a lot of fun is having the parents

volunteer in the class. The children always love that and seem to look up to them.”

5. What program model do you closely relate to/follow?

“I personally find myself relating to the Core Knowledge Sequence based on the work of E.D.

Hirsch. It ​provides content-specific, cumulative, and coherent curriculum guidelines for all major

content areas: language arts, history and geography, visual arts, music, mathematics, and

science.​”

6. What kind of education do you need to do your job?

“So to get where I am now, I studied early childhood education/elementary education at a four

year university (I went to the University of Utah), and after getting my degree, I then got my

teaching license. It was a lot of work but it was a really great experience and I learned so many

things to help me on my path.”

7. What classes best supported your development as a teacher?

“When I was in college, the class I took that made my fall in love with teaching children was just

the school’s general child development. Beforehand, I had always loved children and I had some

babysitting experience up my sleeve, but I had never considered teaching until I took this class.

My professor was absolutely darling and she helped me see children in an entirely new way. I

learned more in depth things from my other children and teaching centered classes, but this was
by far my favorite and it really opened my eyes to how each child grows and functions

differently.”

8. Was there a personal experience that helped you to decide to choose this career?

“I have always adored being with children of all ages and thought that they were so much fun to

interact with, but like I mentioned, it was the child development class that I took that really made

me want to make teaching my career. Their minds are able to learn so much and after taking that

class, I was very enthusiastic about my future as a teacher.”

9. What are some current issues in this field?

“One thing that especially comes to mind for me at least, is funding for the arts and for activities

that our very creative students can be involved in. I feel as though many of my students and

many students that are not even mine are so gifted in art and music and at the school that I teach

along with many others, the administration does not give them as much attention as they deserve.

I would love to see them expand and be given more opportunities, so I try to help find

opportunities if I can in fairs and other competitions or activities that they can do as extra

curricular activities.”

10. Can you share any techniques that would be beneficial to my later career?

“Be open to working with others and working in teams. Education is not easy to handle by

yourself and you can’t carry the burden of learning by yourself, so you need to make sure that

your students are also open to cooperation and learning. Many teachers see themselves as leaders

that should take charge when it comes to educating students but I believe that a good teacher will

put themselves in the position of a guide, rather than being a leader and be comfortable asking

for help when needed and working with others.”

Katelyn Burns

Prof. Carnahan-Cook

Online MCLDDV-101 (9449)

22 November 2020

Reflection

Overall, I loved this activity because I was able to reach out to one of my family

members who has been a first grade teacher for about ten years and be able to learn from her and

hear her perspective on what teaching is like. I loved the way that she described working with the

children and how she talked about using outside sources such as the fair to try and help give the

more artistic students opportunities as well. It reminds me a lot of how my 2nd grade teacher was

able to do that for me and how that really helped my self esteem and allowed me to believe in

myself at that age. I had forgotten about the ​Core Knowledge Sequence however that was based

on the work of E.D. Hirsch. I think it is interesting hearing how each school approaches learning

and teaching and uses different ways to do it.

I do think that this is a career I am still interested in, but I am not sure if it is the one for

me. I am a very shy and usually a reserved person and I think a job such as being a nanny or an

au pair would be a lot of fun for me, but would allow me to have a more personal relationship

with who I am working for and I would not feel so much like I have to put on a show everyday. I

love working with children, but there is so much that a person has to factor in when being a

teacher and so many individuals along with their parents as well that a teacher has to include and

cater to. Teaching is definitely a tricky job from the sounds of it, but I think that it is an amazing

job. I just think that a teacher has to be filled by a certain type of person, otherwise it could have

negative effects.