Hall 1

Reed Hall

Mrs. Hill

EDUC 101

17 May, 2021

Interview Series Reflection

From doing my interviews and finally reflecting on them I had found that these two

teachers and coaches that I interviewed, along with the two students, had very similar

perspectives on school. I went to a very community based school which gives teachers and

students plenty of opportunities to bring good into the world together. After interviewing the two

teachers, they both had said that they valued communication with each individual student. Being

able to have those personal connections with kids allowed them to bring the students into the

material more and make it easier for them to be involved in the classroom. When interviewing

the teachers their main focus of the interview was to make the point that their students should

feel like they mean something and to show them how important it is to respect every single

student individually. Both of the teachers I interviewed had very similar perspectives on how to

deal with struggling students. Their teaching styles were very similar when it came to this topic

because their solution to this problem was to individualize their struggling students and find it

easy for them to get more involved in class. Giving students their freedom in the classroom was

another main focus of these teachers' teaching goals and this was another point that really

sculpted their teaching style. They emphasized the importance of a student's freedom in class and

always want their students to feel safe in their classroom no matter the circumstances. Both of

my former coaches' teaching goals had been present when I knew them on the football field, and
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I had come to realize that they were even more present in the classroom after doing these

interviews.

Both teachers I had interviewed talked about the importance of communication in the

classroom and how beneficial it is to each individual student in the classroom. Being able to

connect with your students and make them feel like they are in a safe environment in the

classroom is the most important thing a teacher can do for a student. When kids feel free to speak

their mind in class and give their own personal opinions it not only helps them learn and receive

feedback, but it also helps every other student in the class take what is said and learn from that.

When a teacher has good communication in class with their students, they are giving nothing but

opportunities for their students to learn not only the material but ultimately how effective

communication is, being one of the most valuable things a child can learn.

Another point that was agreed on between the two teachers was the fact that if a student

is struggling in class, there needs to be something that they can connect the material with to

interest them in the topic more. One of the students I interviewed said that she did not enjoy

school because she has to be in a building for eight hours a day. A majority of kids find school

boring and feel like they can’t make real world connections to the material they learn therefore it

is not intriguing information. When teachers are able to make lessons more enjoyable and get

students more involved in the learning it makes the classroom a lot easier to learn in. It is hard to

get kids interested in the material and teachers understand that so when there are opportunities

for the teachers to get the kids involved they do everything they can. Having their students be

more involved in the material only makes class easier and more enjoyable for everyone.

Another very important piece of information that I had learned from interviewing both

teachers is how important it is for students to have freedom in the classroom. This means
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freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the freedom of having personal time if needed is

very important to students. One teacher made the point that freedom in the classroom leads to

creative learning in the students. When a teacher is capable of giving their students the freedom

they need in a class their students thrive. Being able to work through your own thoughts is a

great way for students to be creative and let their thoughts build off of each other, but when a

teacher is able to give students that freedom, along with the freedom to work with their

classmates, their classroom becomes very productive.

The three main teaching points that both of the teachers I interviewed shared were the

importance of communication, finding ways to help a struggling student, and freedom in their

classroom. I know that these teaching styles and goals are very beneficial to their students

because I was able to interview two of these teachers' students. The students agreed that

communication in a classroom is a necessity in order to feel involved in the work that they have

to do. Communication is the only way a teacher can get the lesson taught to their students and

the only way to keep their students informed on what is to come. Being able to help a struggling

student is a very important job of a teacher. They are there to help these kids learn in every way

possible, and to have the ability to bring a struggling student’s grade up in a class is a very

personal and individual job. When both of these teachers described their ways of doing so they

both seemed to try and solve the problem in a very similar but individual way. Finally, the

freedom of these teachers' students in their classroom was a very central point to their teaching

style. They both talked about why a student needs freedom and how it helps them work in a

classroom, by themselves, and with others. They both understand that in order for kids to feel

safe in the classroom and to feel like their thoughts are valued, their freedom is one of the most

important things a teacher can give their students. These three teaching goals were all shared
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between these two teachers at my former high school and are very important when teaching a

class. In order for students to succeed in school, these values give their students every

opportunity to do so and are very important when trying to get students to feel safe and

productive in a classroom.