Gisselle Bravo

EDU 280

Joni Flowers

February 29, 2022

Teacher Interview

Part One

At Cozine Elementary School I had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Sansevero but also

known as Mrs.S. She has been teaching at Cozine for years and she absolutely loves it! She is a

very bright and outgoing person, so her room matches her energy. I would say that one word

would describe her classroom is very colorful. As soon as you walk in there’s a chart where

students have their punching card. Punching cards are used to get a hole punch is the student is

on task and doing what they are supposed to. Once a student receives 10 punch holes, they can

get from the small treasure box but if a student waits to get 20, they can receive something from

the big tressure box. Next to the chart full of behavior cards there is a s soon as you walk in there

a little couch area with a library full of amazing of interesting books and educational games.

Under her library she has this huge colorful alphabet carpet. In the corner she has her desk next

to her white board and the desks in her classroom are the long desks with colorful circles to help

students space out and sit where they feel comfortable. As in for the chair, she does not have just

regular boring chairs, instead she has bouncing balls, chairs that move and roll which the kids

absolutely love! She has so many colors input into her posters on the wall, and her markers are

different colors which makes it stand out. She also has this board full of work that the students

do, and my absolute favorite is the comfort corner. She has the corner decorated with pillows and

little tent that hovers whoever is in it. There is a timer so whenever the student feels upset or sad,
she/he can go in at any time with no questions asked. It makes them feel better and makes them

feel like they are being hugged.

Student Characteristics

Cozine Elementary school is a school full of students that are diverse. As far as having

students in her classroom, she doesn’t have many because she is a resource teacher but still plays

a huge role in the student’s life. Although she can’t give me last names, below there is their

ethnicity and the reason why they visit her throughout the day.

Students:

Leo is Hispanic, he doesn’t haven’t a disability but does need extra assistance.

Adalynn is Hispanic, she doesn’t have a disability but does need extra assistance.

Jacob is African American; he has a learning disorder where he just says no and doesn’t want to

do the work.

Angelique is Hispanic and she just needs more assistance.

Chevy is Hispanic and needs just a little bit of assistance.

Makyi is African American and has dyslexia.

Kaddari is African American and has to have someone to be there for him to complete a task.

Bella is Hispanic and she just needs more assistance.

Reily is Caucasian and she just needs extra assistance.

Sofia is Hispanic, she is an ELL student.

Jasmin is Hispanic and she just needs extra assistance.

Part 2

How does your school benefit from integrating multicultural education into the classroom?
The school’s benefits from this because relationships are gained along with the connection with

students. Without connecting with the students, you won’t have the engagement from them. You

need to be able to learn about them, their background’s and use that to connect with them in

order to get far. If you do gain these things, it will be very beneficial.

What kinds of experiences have you had in relating with people whose backgrounds are

different than your own? When you are a teacher, you are going to come across those students

that are different. Different cultures and traditions. Understanding and learning about their

traditions and culture is very important. She mentions that she lets the students talk to her about

their selves and how different they are within each other, it is a great learning experience for both

of them. She then talks about how listening is very important. She mentions that Hispanics she

finds very fun to learn about. Student’s that are Hispanic shared so much with her such as how

they are with family, how involved they are, and etc.

What kind of teaching strategies do you use (if any) to integrate cultural diversity into your

classroom? One of the teaching strategies to integrate cultural diversity in her classroom is

holidays. Holiday’s are big opening she says and finds it a great way to learn about different

cultures and traditions. Another way is the packet that gets given in the beginning of the year

where the students get to write down things about them. For example, using the question “What

does your day look like?”. These top things are great to get o know the students background,

cultures, and traditions.

Has Diversity played a role in shaping your teaching stele? If so, how? Absolutely, she says

that being able to understand that there is more than one perception to look at things is definitely

one of them. She feels that as she involved herself, she became a better human and a better
teacher. With being able to do this, it helped her better connect with them, and be able to reach

out to better help them.

What kind of cultural activities do you integrate into your lesson plans?

Packet (get to know students) individualized assignments

In the lesson plans themselves. Knowing their background and students helps you know how to

add certain things to make the students feel connected. For example, the example she gave was

that if black history was never taught, and most of your class is African American, the student

won’t feel connected. She wants to use things students can connect with. Knowing your student

backgrounds and student and what’s important helps you find ways to connect your lesson plans.

Are you comfortable discussing race-related topics with your students?

She has gotten better. She wants to be better and most definitely makes an effort. She is aware

that this is something that you have to be cautious about and need to know what you’re saying

before you say it. This is a new thing and does need to be addressed and need to be spoken about.

Educators should think before sharing that way they don’t end up saying or converting it into

your opinion.

5 Additional Interview Questions

Do you think students have benefitted from multicultural teaching?

Absolutely! If we weren’t able to connect w students? That’s the best way. They need to feel part

of something. They connect better with other people, and they get to learn about other students

and accept and be aware that everyone is different.

Why do you think teaching multiculturalism is important?

Multiculturalism is important because they feel like they are a part of something. They feel

connected and involved and to Mrs. S. In order to do this, you have to be able to connect with

their background.

How many multicultural assignments do you integrate throughout the year?

As far as multicultural assignments, since she is a resource teacher, she gives out a minimum of

5 worksheets throughout the year. She does for sure the two assignments mentioned before

which was the different holiday’s and all about me packet. She does love to throw in small

holidays she celebrates that way the students get to know about her, and she gets to see if her

students celebrate them as well.

What would you do in the situation where a student is disrespecting someone else’s

culture?

Having a conservation. She talked about how this happened before and how she handled the

situation was having a conversation with them and making them realize if they were in the

opposite situation, they would not like it. She makes it clear that she stays calm and then she has

the conversation with them, she is not harsh.

What are some of the challenges that come with creating and teaching diverse lesson

plans?

As far as challenges, she says that one of them would be seeing if the lesson plan will be a “hit or

miss”. Being able to have them engaged enough for them to learn. As for teaching multicultural,

Friction can be caused. She says that kids see how important their things are important but do not

see that others have things as important to them as well. Some kids are strong opinions so they

may have a harder time to talk about.