Kurt Blancaflor

5/2/16

HCDE 313

Interview 1:

Interviewee:

Name: (PRIVATE)

Age: (PRIVATE)

School: (PRIVATE)

Teaching Grade: 2nd

Teaching Experience: 13 years

Q: How do you usually decide what to teach from day to day?

o Several factors:
What did they do yesterday?
What do they need from her?
Gauging it from there.
o Has a general planning guide for the entire year based on the standards that the students
are supposed to meet.
Gets to integrate things into this schedule.
o Follow Up: How do you prioritize activities and how do you restructure lesson
plans based on these changes?
It dependsif students dont understand something shell revisit lessons.
Theyre given a set of material and told it is a tool to teach with.
Theyre given standards to get the students up to date with.
o Theyre given leeway with how to approach this.
The school as a whole works to figure this out and support each other.
o Follow Up: How do you usually plan out the years activities?
Uses general planning guide based on standards.

Q: How do you feel about the current system that guides your teaching?

o Thinks being a new teacher would be hard with the system

Lots of different factors/information to take in
Often contradictory
 Curriculum
Pacing guides
Standards
Danielson framework
Being evaluated on the methods
o Starts to formulate own teaching style as you learn more about your preferences and
gain experience.
o Used to tell them that the material that theyre given is a tool not a set curriculum.
If they have an idea that works better theyre encouraged to act on it.
o Teachers need to understand that they teach children, not subjects.
Theyre given leeway for the most part as long as their exploration shows results.
o Follow Up: Do you feel supported by the curriculum?
No one curriculum has it all.
You gotta add and take from the curriculum.
Depends on what your students need to understand.
It cannot encompass everything.
Freedom isnt always given but its kind of taken.
Desire to make things quantitative but youre dealing with humans, not products.
There is no one thing thats going to work.
You have to take different routes to meet the requirements.
The district sometimes approaches them and says: you have to do this.
o But they usually realize as the conversation develops that theres
many different branches to take.
If they dont take this route then the teaching becomes
stymied and kids get bored.
So many conversations about the structure of the system.
o Follow Up: What do you think about the way things are structured?
Its not working for everybody.
Balance between helping students explore their interests and pressing them to
explore something theyre not interested in.
We need to go back to having a discussion about developing a whole person.
Were becoming obsessed with comparing ourselves with the
educational systems of other countries.

Q: What is the most difficult thing about teaching?

o Meeting the needs of every single student.
Trying to make sure that everyones getting something everyday.
And that no ones slipping through the cracks.
o Conditions that are out of her control.
(Home, life, etc.)
o Making her classroom a place where everyone can learn.
Everyone has different situations at home and with family dynamics.
How do we make school an equalizer?
 Q: Do you feel that your students are appropriately challenged with the provided
curriculum?
o If she just used the provided curriculum: No.
Its suited for one grade level at one time.
o Doesnt take into account the students that are way below or way above.
You need to know where your students are and what they need.

Q: Do you ever find yourself needing to create material to challenge a student more, or
help a student that is behind?
o Constantly.
o Follow Up: How do you usually go about doing that?
She taught 4th/5th grade before so she knows how to teach that material.
She uses her past experience as a preschool teacher to help students that are
falling behind.
Works hard to communicate with parents to help introduce new concepts
to students.
Follow Up: What percentage of the material you teach is your own?
Maybe 50%?
Social studies: No provided curriculum.
Science: Work around with the lab kits.
Literacy: Uses what they have and builds on it a lot.
Writing: new curriculum but most of them are making it their own.
Good starting point but most of them are adapting it to their students
needs.
o Follow Up: Do you usually take into account what your students may want or is
this usually to keep students up-to-date with material?
Always make sure theyre heading toward the standards.
Tries to grasp their interests in the meantime.
Tries to teach beyond standards.

Q: How do you ensure that every student is up-to-date by educational standards?

o As they work on a unit she constantly tries to assess them.
o Checks in with them with every new concept.
Adjusts future plans according to her assessment.
o Follow Up: How is the pacing overall?
Depends on the groups from year to year.
Last year they were able to go so far beyond what they needed.
This year they have a huge mix.
Talk to next years teachersfind out the most important things to teach them.
 Ex: If third grade wants them to be more developed with
roundingfocused on rounding.
o Follow Up: Do you feel that you have enough time?
No.
If you rush through it youre not doing them any favors either.
Balance of We need to get all of this stuff
No point if they hit on all of the checklists if no one hit mastery level.
Follow Up: Any reasons for that?
Theres just so much to learn.
Mentions Common Core
Feels like shes running around based on student diversity
Teaching is so varied
Trying not to rush it
o She wants to focus on teaching right as opposed to teaching
more.
Follow Up: Tell me a little more about Common Core
o Developed to help nationalize the curriculum
o So that students moving around the state or moving between
states dont have as many gaps in their knowledge.
o Theory that there would be more focus areas to give more time
to master more stuff per grade.
o Trying to equalize knowledge
o Companies making money calling themselves Common Core
aligned arent necessarily so.
o Follow Up: Where do the companies fit in?
They put together units of study.
Most teachers use it as a backbone
Then they go off to find examples to personalize
teaching.
Their job is to get districts to buy their material.
o Follow Up: Has your teaching been affected by the creation
of Common Core?
Washington state standards were pretty similar to the
new curriculum.
The change wasnt very noticeable as a teacher.
The expectations for writing have been pretty intense.
Taking into account the biases of the writers of their
curriculum.
They had to find material that was interesting for their
students.
Its been helpful to look at the standards and adjust what
they teach.
 Side Question: What do you have trouble with and how do you think it can be improved?
o Theres a lot of backlash towards teachers.
o Some bad apples make other teachers look bad.
o Some teachers may follow the curriculum by the page.
But theres an art to teaching.
o Part of what she loves is knowing her students.
Being challenged to figure out what they need to grow.

Side Notes:
o Follow Up: Tell me about the different theoretical systems around education:
o Theory 1: Education is for job preparation.
o Theory 2: Education is about supporting the mind.
o Do we develop a human with all of the arts and sciences and then have them decide later
on?
o Or do we have them pick a job at 7?
o The human mind grows and then decides on vocations based on their experiences.
o Or could focus things down at early age.
o She would choose the system that creates a whole person.
Can always find something to do with more knowledge.
o Follow Up: Do you ever have a student thats not ready for the next year?
They dont really get to make that call.
There have been studies that show that it doesnt help to hold them back.
Follow Up: Is there snowballing occurring at that point?
Glad she moved back to 2nd grade
o Less disparity at this point
o Gets to be preventative
o Theory 3: You move on to the next level when youve attained a
certain mastery with it. (Not based on age).
o People with developmental disabilities arent gonna learn to grow
and function the way.

Final Notes:
o Think the teaching profession is an ever changing field
o Would be nice if teachers that are involved in education are making the decisions on
education
As opposed to businesses.