UNIVERSITY OF LA VERNE

ED 468: INTRODUCTORY SUPERVISED TEACHING

SCHOOL-SITE SUPERVISOR INTERVIEW/QUESTIONNAIRE

Responses to these questions and the information collected

will become part of your Supervised Teaching Portfolio.

Your primary information source will be the school-site

supervisor to whose class you have been assigned. Schedule
an uninterrupted in-service time that will allow you to freely
discuss the questions listed below.

Please address the following areas in your interview:

Teacher: School: District: Grade Level: Stevenson, ALJHS, Alta

Loma Elementary, 8

1. How do you plan for the year? What do you decide to teach
and in what order?
How do you plan for a month?
How do you plan for a week?
How do you plan for each day?
Dan plans out of the book for each year. He collaborates with the other
8th grade math teacher and looks at each section to include content
that meets high school expectations. They teachers create and use a
pacing guide. They cross out non-essential standards of the publisher.
The content/ standards of the year are split up into 3 semester. The
goal is to try to get all academic content taught prior to CAASPP
testing.
During the week: Week lessons, review, test/quiz.
Daily: Teacher goes off sections in the book and uses student feedback
to determine if the class can move on or if he needs to reteach.
Typically each section takes one day of instruction, but larger sections
can take more time. The standards that are essential standards for 8 th
grade are heavily stressed and more time is taken.

2. Learning about students:

How many boys and girls do you have in the class?
9 boys 21 girls
How many ELL do you have at the beginning,
intermediate, and advanced level?
1 EL at the advanced level

Which of the students have learning disabilities or

health issues, and what are they? What special instructional
or assessment adjustments should be made for them?
 Two of the students have learning disabilities (IEP) and several have
health issues.
One of the students has area of needs in reading comprehension
and writing. He has a 280 OHI. He also has a note about behavior
being a health issue. This student has a Math Success Class to help
him answer questions he has in general education math. If needed,
he can be given more time to complete assignments, and is given
priority seating.
The second student has a 290 SLD. His area of need is also reading
comprehension. He receives group specialized academic instruction
in a separate class. In the general math class, he also receives
priority seating and is able to take his tests and quizzes in a
separate quiet side room.
The students who have health issues do not need adjustments. The
health concerns include: asthma.
How is your class divided socio-economically?
Teachers dont have access to that data. However, teachers can notice
name brands and worn out clothes on their students and make a
guess. The greatschools.org website says that 31% of the students
from ALJHS come from low income families.
How many children appear to be performing at grade
level? How many below?
Out of all of the math classes, 57 students are above grade level, 65
are at grade level, and 24 are below.

Do you use any kind of differentiated grouping of

students, i.e. math groups, class switching?
The classes are leveled to differentiate instruction. There is a higher
level class for advanced students, a regular class for grade level
students, and a SPED Math for students who need extra help. In each
class, he lets students work on assignments with classmates of their
choice. Dan found that in putting 1 high, 2 medium and 1 low student
grouped together does not work due to the social aspect. He found that
students work more and better when they are allowed to work with
their friends.

What are the general mental and emotional

characteristics of children at this grade level?
The students are generally happy and emotionally stable. They have a
lot of stuff going on in their lives (mostly family illnesses, deaths, and
divorce) and tend to react more emotional than adults. They express
their problems emotionally at school. Whatever is going on at home
and outside of the classroom usually affects students in the classroom.
How are they different from children at the preceding
grade level? The following grade level?
Preceding level: 7th graders are sweeter and scared because they are
new on campus. They tend to still like teachers and school.
ALJHS is unique in that it is only 7/8 grade. After the first half of
 the year the students begin to mature; they learn to control
socializing in the classroom and are less squirmy.
Following: 9th grade : The school is only grades 7-8, so it is assumed
that in 9th grade the students will be slightly more reserved
again being at a new school.

What are some of the types of things in which these

children seem to have strong interests?
Interests: phones, opposite sex (dating), fashion (clothes/ hair) pop
culture
Is there anything else I should know about this group of
children that would help me work more effectively with
them?
More irresponsible than youd think. Loose/ dont bring
pencils and materials. Need to repeat everything

3. What kind of classroom management system do you use?

How does it work
procedurally?
Classroom management used: The structure of desks- traditional rows.
In chatty classes the teacher can spread rows out. When it comes time
to work on the assignment, the students can move desks to work
together. A key element of classroom management is getting to know
their names, make immediate corrections for misbehavior (mostly
talking) and sending kids outside to discuss their behavior without
disrupting the class.

Procedure: Routines to get books, white boards and papers. Usually the
front rows are asked to pass out materials.
Daily structure: Students come into class, sit down, take
homework out, go over homework, then write notes for
the lesson, and work on assignments in groups. The
students then make sure the room is back in order and
trash is picked up before dismissed. The rest of the week
consists of a review and quiz or test; however,
assemblies, 3 day weekends, and breaks sometimes
mess up the schedule.

4. What would you say are three things most important for
beginning teachers to know?
1. Learn kids names (classroom management)
2. Know content (instruction)
3. Be professional in all aspects (showing up on time to all duties/
meetings, on time for work. Dress professionally)