Kristin Miller

Dr. Van Osdel

EDU 522
26 October 2014

Teacher Interview Reflection

Interviewing teachers about their philosophy, background, and beliefs regarding
curriculum represents the Cognitive Mediator of the Educator as a Developing Professional
Curriculum Model (EDPCM). Educators use the given curriculum to help students learn new
information by combining the new information with what they already know. Teachers focus on
helping their students become independent and seek new information on their own. All of the
teachers I interviewed focused on their students and what helps their students the most. The
teachers need to balance the needs of their students with the curriculum that is provided for them.
Interviewing teachers about their philosophy, background, and beliefs regarding
curriculum is an example of Standard 2.3 and Standard 2.4 of the ELCC Building Level
Standards. The teachers use and evaluate a curriculum based on the needs of their students.
Teachers blend the provided curriculum with their philosophy, beliefs, and the needs of the
students. Teachers strive to create a rigorous and relevant curriculum. In addition to the
provided curriculum, teachers also use technology to enhance learning.
I choose to interview teachers from two different content areas, Science and English
Language Arts, because each curriculum is at a different stage. The science curriculum is
outdated; it was passed by for a curriculum adoption because math needed to adopt a new
curriculum. Science is currently in the process of adopting a new curriculum and gained an

instructional coach this year. The ELA curriculum has been in place for a few years and the
content area has had an instructional coach to assist the teachers.
In their book titled Align the Design, Nancy J. Mooney and Ann T. Mausbach state,
This new era will allow us to spend more time focusing on aligning curriculum and instruction,
rather than developing curriculum guides. We have shifted from focusing on what to focusing
on how. (2008, Essential Question section) I was expecting to find differences as to how ELA
and science teachers viewed the curriculum, but this was not the case. All of the teachers I
interviewed had similar philosophies and beliefs about curriculum; they viewed the curriculum
as a guide for their instruction. In addition, the teachers believe that the curriculum needs to
prepare the students to succeed in a changing world. The students need to be taught skills to be
problem solvers and to be successful in their future careers.
In regards to technology, the Sioux Falls middle schools are all one-to-one. Because of
this, all the teachers use technology to enhance the how of what they teach. The teachers
use technology in a way that will help the students to become successful in a technology filled
world. The teachers I interviewed focus on helping their students use the technology to read,
research, create, and write.
As a future leader, it was beneficial to hear about the teachers views on curriculum,
curriculum adoption, and technology. As a leader, I need to remember that teachers have
different backgrounds and views of curriculum. My role will be to equip teachers to successfully
implement the how of teaching. I think that Ann T. Mausbach (2008) said it best, As leaders,
we need to help teachers understand how the curriculum takes the kids where they need to go
and show them how to use instruction to get the kids there. We need to ask questions about not

only the objectives, but also the methods for helping students meet the objectives. (Reflections
from the Field section, para. 2)

References
Mooney, N., & Mausbach, A. (2008). Chapter 1. Developing Curriculum Leadership and Design.
In Align the Design. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Retrieved
October 27, 2014, from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108005/chapters/Developing-CurriculumLeadership-and-Design.aspx