Miller Interviews

Curriculum Interview
Teacher: Mary Ball
Date: 10/15/14
1. What is your teaching background?

a. Always taught science
b. 3 years in Watertown
i. 7th life
c. 25 years at Whittier
i. 7th and 8th life and earth science
2. What is your philosophy regarding curriculum?
a. It has changed over the years because of state standards and NCLB
b. When she started teaching- the curriculum was a guide and the
colleagues were a big help in helping her navigate the curriculum
c. Since the focus of standards based education, curriculum has gotten
more rigid and less user friendly
i. Choice and freedoms to teach are no longer existent
d. Some of the changes are good
e. Now- you have to go what the district/state/ federal government
wants you to do
3. What is your background with curriculum? What type- currently? What typein the past?
a. 2 curriculum studies
b. State standard writing process
i. Interesting process- its had to get all the districts and teachers
to follow what is expected
4. What would be your ideal curriculum?
a. Blend between Project based/ hands on learning, technology, and
having a text book
b. Technology isnt the end all be all
i. It is a tool for students and teachers
5. What are your beliefs regarding curriculum?
a. It should be relevant, engaging, should make kids think and allow kids
to do
6. What are your thoughts on curriculum adoption?
a. In Sioux Falls, it is a long process that because of the size of the district
it is difficult to please all
b. Being on the committee and getting to see the resources is good,
however, most textbook companies are consolidated (they are
together) only a few companies are left out there
c. In Sioux Falls and other district s, it is hard to meet the needs of the
students and to be teacher friendly
7. How do you integrate technology with your curriculum?
a. Sioux falls is a 1 to 1 district
b. Try to use the CB at least once a day
c. It can enhance learning, but she also believes that it isnt the only was
student learning
d. With technology comes a whole new set of management issues
i. Even accelerated students have a difficult task staying on topic
and not venturing out into inappropriate sites
e. You always have technology issues with the server, CB crashing, and
uncertainty of whether your lesson will be a success because of
technology debacles
Teacher: Carmen Kastens
Date: 10/14/2014

a. Taught 2 years of Spanish in an international baccalaureate program
(also 1 science class)- Virginia
b. 4 years of Spanish, science, and another class (rotated)
i. Affluent middle school- Maryland
c. 8 years at Whittier Middle School Science and 1 year of ELL math
a. It is a guide
i. This is influenced by the fact that Whittier has had the same
science curriculum for since before Carmen got to Whittier
(possibly 10 years)
a. Mostly she has been given the curriculum and hasnt had a choice
b. The IB program was pretty specific about what had to be taught
c. Most districts provide a guide
d. Spanish- no curriculum
e. She is now on the curriculum committee
a. A blend of a variety of learning styles
a. There needs to be standards, a curriculum as a guide that sets the
expectations for student learning
b. How you go about using the curriculum, implementing and
supplementing- needs to have room for personal choice and change
depending on student clientele.
a. It needs to be well rounded
b. Every child in the district needs to be considered
c. Knowing that we might be stuck with it for a while it needs to be
something other than a passing trend
a. Google classroom
b. Websites- brain pop, study jams, YouTube
c. Student research using chrome books
d. When necessary- but not all the time
Teacher: Emily Leitheiser
Date: 10/14/14

a. ELA at Whittier Middle School for 4 years
a. Curriculum should be real life and relevant
b. It should connect to skills that students will need to be successful in
their future careers
a. What type now- use a guide (dont really have a set curriculum)
b. They have skills and standards that they need to focus on
c. There is a required significant task each quarter
a. Laid out exactly- in terms or reading and writing pieces
b. Have a common writing scoring rubric
c. Still have autonomy- but it all goes back to a common rubric so they
are all working on the same skills
a. Reevaluated quite frequently and adjusted due to the population at
the school
i. In a district like SF you cannot always do the same thing
across the district and you have to choose activities to fit your
population.
a. It tends to be added too quickly without first having the curriculum
piloted and researched
b. We tend to jump in too quickly because other places are doing
something similar.
a. Try to access as many online periodicals as possible to keep relevancy
and to also get the students comfortable with reading online
i. Focus on reading online- because it is different than reading in
a book
1. Skills to prepare them for real work experiences
ii. Focus on typing and writing skills
Teacher: Rebekka Peterson
Date: 10/21/14

a. Student taught at Whittier and in a 4th grade classroom
b. Taught 1 year of Facs
c. 2 years of 7th grade math
d. 5 years of middle school science
a. At this age it is more about teaching them how to learn. We are
teaching them how to be problem solvers.
a. Science- only used Glencoe Science
i. But she hardly uses this
ii. She uses more things that teachers have pulled together to
supplement the curriculum.
b. FACS- there wasnt really a set curriculum. She had to find everything
on her own. (It wasnt connected- individual units)
c. Math- CMP2 (Very structured) a lot of problem solving with deeper
level questions.
a. Science- engaging and allow us to go deeper into the topics and not
have as many topics
b. We arent doing them justice by quickly touching on topics that they
have had in the past
c. PBL would be ideal
a. She thinks we are trying to get the students to do too much
i. Too much surface knowledge.
b. It is hard to teach them to preserve and be problem solvers when they
jut have to memorize things
a. She hope that what is adopted has a lot more activities and not just so
much information.
b. They big projects are good, but they are time consuming when we are
starting from starch
i. It is daunting
a. No paper push- almost everything is done on Chrome books
b. Researching
c. Virtual labs
d. Assessments
e. It is used everyday
Teacher: Angie Schlenker
a. Special Education degree and a middle elementary school
endorsement
b. Teaching for 22 years
i. Currently- 7th ELA
a. She assumes the school district has done the background research to
pick a good curriculum. She uses the curriculum as a guide.
a. Past- special ed- some sort of direct instruction curriculum. SRA and
national programs
b. In recent years she has not been on a curriculum committee. But she
has gone to in-services about the curriculum (preview materials from
the companies)
i. In-services used to be more based on the curriculum
1. Grade level time to discuss how they are teaching it.
a. It would fit each student
b. Motivate each student
c. It would be clear
d. It would allow some variation
e. Lead to higher student achievement
a. It is a starting point on helping her know what to teach
b. She still has to come up with the how
a. She likes how the district tries to get representation from every
building.
b. Sometimes it seems like a decision has been made before the meeting
c. It takes a lot of time- it makes it hard to get good teachers to volunteer
a. Typing written responses
b. CBs for research
c. Library databases for research
d. Reviews and quizzes (multiple choice) on CBs

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Miller Interviews

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Curriculum Interview

Teacher: Mary Ball

1. What is your teaching background?

1. What is your teaching background?

1. What is your teaching background?

1. What is your teaching background?

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